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The project is to write a comprehensive history of the chansonnier, a type of manuscript compiled from the thirteenth century into the sixteenth, each one containing from a few dozen to several hundred French songs. In contrast to previous studies, which typically focus on codicological description of individual manuscripts and/or stylistic analysis of the music, the book takes a broader view and traces the history of the chansonnier as a material and cultural object, documenting the evolution of the chansonnier in terms of physical structure, internal organization, and content, and investigating the different functions that chansonniers could serve, including reflecting and helping to transmit social values, acting as the secular equivalent of the Book of Hours, and serving as a rare opportunity for individual expression in the world of book ownership.