How much medieval literature has been lost to time?

Projected true number of original works of medieval vernacular literature, using an ecological "unseen species" model.

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Includes heroic and chivalric fiction in Dutch, English, French, German, Icelandic, and Irish.

Chart: Rose Mintzer-SweeneySource: Mike Kestemont et al., Forgotten books: The application of unseen species models to the survival of culture. Science 375, 765-769 (2022). DOI: 10.1126/science.abl7655