- Description:
- 110 leaves : vellum ; 138 x 95 (98 x 80-88) mm, bound to 138 x 110 mm
- Published:
- Produced: [England] ; [between 1400? and 1449?]
- Language:
- English, Middle (1100-1500)
- Cited In:
- Sotheby's London catalog, 26 November 1985, item 109
- Binding Details:
- Contemporary tawed pigskin over wooden boards. Mark of a single central clasp which once fitted over a pin on the lower cover (both gone). Subsequent stabs of a pair of clasps, catches missing. "IS" (for John Shaw) stamped on cover. New endpapers added and spine repaired by Sangorski & Sutcliffe, December 1945 (page 3 of cover). Outer layer of leather has flaked off on parts of spine.
- Notes:
- Title devised by cataloger, based on Sotheby's London catalog.
Quire 15 (leaves 109-110) possibly added at a later date.
Prologue to Acts is lacking (leaves 1-4 of first quire). Prologue to Revelation on leaves 75v-76r is incomplete; leaf 76v blank.
On leaves 105v-107r, excerpts from unidentified texts. Leaf 108r contains a prophecy attributed to Johann Müller Regiomontanus (1436-1476) which predicted great calamities for the year 1588 (published and translated into English in Mattingly, G. The Armada. New York: The American Heritage Library, 1987, page 176). Practice writing on remaining leaves. Notes in pencil on leaf 108r, back pastedown.
Physical description: 27 lines per page, in two columns on leaves 1-76 (quires 1-10); remainder of text, 24 long lines per page. Written in small Gothic script in black ink. Ruled with metal point; prickings in outer margin. Initials, generally 2 lines, in red or blue; initial on leaf 77r (beginning of Revelation) in blue with red pen flourishes. On rectos of leaves 1-76, Bible book written in red at top of page with chapter number. On leaf 62r, first column crossed out (repeats first column on leaf 61r). A few marginal notes. A few leaves somewhat rubbed, but still legible; mild staining. In good condition.
Collation: Vellum, fol. i (parchment) + 110 + i (parchment); 1⁸ wants 1-4, 2-8⁸, 9⁶, 10¹⁰, 11-14⁸, 15²; horizontal catchwords in scrollwork cartouches.
Origin: The date 1451 is noted on leaf 60v; likely produced in the first half of the 15th century.
Purchased from Sotheby's, London at auction on November 26, 1985.
Manuscript codex.
In Middle English.
- Local Notes:
- Source of acquisition: Sotheby's, London purchase at auction Nov. 26, 1985
Ownership history: Owners' signatures: Wyllyam Lyngam (leaf 20r); Thomas Venables [possibly of Kinderton, Cheshire; 1513-1580; knighted in 1544] (leaf 56r); John Rychardson (leaf 79v); Humfrey Barre (leaf 80v); Sir John Shawe [possibly the Lord Mayor of London; died 1503] (leaves 81r, 91v); John Hatton (leaf 90r); John Thorpe (leaf 105r); Johannes Hurleston, Archdeacon of Richmond [late 16th century], who bequeathed it to Johannes Smalwood (leaf 106r); John Shawe, priest at Sandbach [Cheshire] (leaf 107r). The name "John Shawe" is also signed on leaves 11r, 35r, 56v, 58v, 101r, but the signatures are different from the others of the same name. On ms. insert: "This m.s. translation of Wickliffe's was given to me 18 May 1851 by my father in law Samuel Merriman of Brook Street London M.D. who bought it more than 50 years ago at a book stall at the corner of Bond Street & Blenheim Street--John Ward, Wath Rectory near Ripon." On page 3 of cover, note by George Goyder that manuscript was purchased at Harmsworth sale in 1945 [Sotheby's London, 6 October 1945, lot 2034]. Bookplate of George Goyder on page 2 of cover.
- OCLC Number:
- 13029540