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Detailed record for Royal 4 C VI
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| Title |
Commentary on Wisdom |
| Origin |
England, S. E. (Reading?) |
| Date |
1st quarter of the 15th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Gothic cursive |
| Scribe |
John Lutton |
| Decoration |
1 historiated initial of the Virgin and Child with a portrait of the donor in the margin and a full border in colours and gold, at the beginning of the text (f. 1). Initials in blue with red pen-flourishing. Paraphs in red or blue. Some catchwords in decorated frames. |
| Dimensions in mm |
370 x 260 (275 x 180) |
| Official foliation |
ff. i + 227 (+ 2 unfoliated modern paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end, and 1 unfoliated medieval parchment flyleaf at the beginning; f. i is a medieval parchment flyleaf) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. Royal Library binding of brown leather. |
| Provenance |
John of Lutton, written by him: his colophon 'Qui scripsit scriptu[m] / Jon Lutton. est sibi nomen/ Dignus est op[er]arius mercede sua' (f. 215).
Thomas Besforde, Benedictine monk of the Reading abbey, given by him to the Benedictine abbey of Reading: inscribed, 'Hunc librum dedit frat[er] Thomas Besforde Mon[a]chus Rading[ie] / fr[at]ribus claustralib[us] ad studendum; que[m] qui alienav[er]it v[e]l fraudem / de eo fecerit v[e]l violav[er]it, anathema sit. P[re]ciu[m] lx s. Orate p[ro] a[n]i[m]a ei[us]' (f. iv); his arms and that of the Reading abbey (f. 1).
The Old Royal Library (the English Royal Library): perhaps included in the catalogue of 1666, Royal Appendix 71, f. 16; and listed in the 1698 catalogue of the library of St James's Palace (see [Edward Bernard], Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697', but 1698?), no. 7746).
Presented to the British Museum by George II in 1757 as part of the Old Royal Library. |
| Notes |
Includes two indexes ff. 215-218v and 219-227v.
Catchwords and bifolium signatures; corrector's signatures 'cor' (ff. 52-77).
Pointing hands (maniculae). |
| Select bibliography |
George F. Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London: British Museum, 1921), I, p. 88.
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books, ed. by N. R. Ker, 2nd edn, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 3 (London: Royal Historical Society, 1964), pp. 156, 295.
Alan Coates, English Medieval Books: The Reading Abbey Collections from Foundation to Dispersal (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999), pp. 99-100, 104, 168.
The Libraries of King Henry VIII, ed. by J. P. Carley, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 7 (London: The British Library, 2000), p. xxxvi, n. 48. |
| Last revised: 18 September 2009 |
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f. iv
Ownership inscription |
f. 1
Virgin and Thomas Besforde |
f. 1
Virgin and Thomas Besforde |
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f. 215
Text page |
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