This is the first edition for sixty years, and only the second edition ever published, of the earliest surviving autobiography in English, a unique account of the extraordinary life, travels and revelations of Margery Kempe. For the first time the original text is presented in an accessible form for modern readers, with full on-page glossing and a glossary of common words. The unrivalled on-page annotation provides the first commentary of its kind on the Book, bringing together the insights of scholarship on Kempe since the discovery of the manuscript in 1934. An introduction provides up-to-date information and contexts for interpretation of a text central to courses on women's studies, women's history, and medieval literature. There is also a chronology of Kempe's life, a helpful summary analysis of the chapters, and a full bibliography.