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Manchester. The John Rylands Library, English MS 78

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Source
Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • English MS 78
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • Beginning 15th century
Language
  • Middle English
Title
  • Later Version Wycliffe New Testament
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    173 folios (iii+173+iii) Leaf height: 160 mm, width: 108 mm.
    Binding:

    Blind-tooled tan morocco, early 19th century.


    Decoration:

    Rubrication

    Runing headers with rubricated paraph marks (pilcrows) in blue ink.

    Numerous 1- and 2-line rubricated red initials and red paragraph marks can be found to denote internal division. Examples on folios 7v, 50r, 73r, 122r

    Headings and text in Latin are in red ink.

    Red rubrication and large initials introduce each book and occasionally a section of a book.


    Initials

    4- and 5-line initials in burnished gold on blue and pink grounds with white penwork:

    9v: 4-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    48r: 4-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    156r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    169v: 4-line illuminated initial ‘P’

    Illuminated initials torn out on folios 72r, 113v, 142v

    Numerous 2-line initials in blue ink with red penwork flourishes:

    Pen-flourished initial ‘A’ on 57 folios. Examples: 13r, 74v, 140r, 172v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘B’ on 20 folios. Examples: 16v, 74v, 123v, 173r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘C’ on 1 folio: 155v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘D’ on 1 folio: 159v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘E’ on 1 folio: 152v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘H’ on 2 folios: 99v, 151r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘I’ on 12 folios. Examples: 11r, 57r, 134r, 170v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘L’ on 1 folio: 71v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘M’ on 2 folios: 9r, 48r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘N’ on 1 folio: 15v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘P’ on 1 folio: 66v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘R’ on 1 folio: 142v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘S’ on 2 folios: 158r, 166r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘T’ on 11 folios. Examples: 10r, 41v, 127r, 171v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘Thorn (th)’ on 9 folios. Examples: 117v, 134r, 145v, 152r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘W’ on 4 folios: 137r, 143v, 144v, 162r


    Acquisition:

    Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1897 from Henry Yates Thompson, 1838-1928, and later transferred to the John Rylands Library. Accession no. R4992. On the recto of the front endpaper is The John Rylands Library bookplate, dated 1894, with the Latin motto "Nihill sine labore".


    Layout:

    Two columns, 32 lines (written space: 128 x 80 mm) (folios 25r-55v. From folio 56r where the hand changes: Two columns, 30 lines (written space: 110 x 70 mm). Written below top line. Frame and line ruling in fine dark ink: single vertical bounding lines extending to the top of the page and into the lower margin; double horizontal bounding lines extending the full width of the page; horizontal lines not crossing the intercolumnar space; double vertical and horizontal bounding lines occasionally traversing the central margin. Pricking is evident on the external margins of many folios, for example, folio 46r.

    Calendar: five columns, 32 lines. Single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines.

    Written height: 128-110 mm, width: 80-70 mm.
    Collation:
    Quire 18 (probably 110 lacking 1 and 9)
    Quires 2-58
    Quire 68 lacking 8, blank, after folio 47
    Quires 7-158
    Quire 168 lacking 1, before folio 120
    Quire 178
    Quire 188 lacking 1, before folio 143
    Quires, 19-218

    Framed catchwords can be found in the lower, inner margin of the verso of the final leaf of each quire: 16v, 24v, 32v, 40v, 55v, 60v, 63v, 79v, 87v, 95v, 103v, 111v, 126v, 134v, 149v, 157v, 165v

    Signatures:(a)-x

    Secundo folio:gat sadoc (folio 10r).


    Script:

    Written in gothic textura by five scribes.

    Matthew is written in three hands:

    Folios 1r-24v written in gothic textura by the first sctibe.

    Folios 25r-25v (the beginning of the fourth quire) written in gothic textura by the second sctibe.

    Folios 26r-47v written in gothic textura by the third sctibe.

    The first quire of Mark, folios 44r-55v written in gothic textura by the fourth sctibe.

    The rest of the book, folios 56r-173v written in gothic textura by the fifth sctibe.


    Subject(s):
    Bible. English (Middle English) Versions Wycliffe; Christianity; Bible. New Testament; Bible. Apocrypha; Apocryphal Acts of the Apostles; Bible. Epistles of Paul--Theology
    Abstract:

    Later Wycliffite version of the New Testament, ending imperfectly at 2 Corinthians 7: 2, with a calendar of Epistles and Gospels.

    (1) Folios 1r-8v, (begins imperfectly at Thursday before Palm Sunday) '...Thus eendiþ þis kalender of lessouns pistils and gospels.' Forshall and Madden, iv. 683-98, but the text here and in English Manuscripts 76, 77, 80 and 91 differs substantially from theirs, which goes with the earlier Wycliffite version. A table for the common of saints is not provided here or in English Manuscripts 76, 78, 80 and 91: cf. Forshall and Madden, p. 696, footnote. The commemorations precede the proper of saints as in English Manuscript 77. A leaf of the proper is missing: folio 7v ends with Cyriac (8 August) and folio 8r begins with Mark Marcellus and Apuleius (7 October).

    (2) Folios 9r-173v, New Testament in the later Wycliffite version, ending imperfectly 'we han' (2 Corinthians 7: 2). Forshall and Madden, no. 160. Usual prologues. There are two gaps: folio 119v ends 'My' (John 5: 17) and folio 120r begins 'how schulen' (John 5: 47); folio 142v ends 'to parten' (Romans 1: 11) and folio 143r begins 'knowist' (Romans 2: 4).


    Foliation:

    Foliated 1-173 (modern foliation). The vellum on folios 25-55 (quires 3-7) is thinner than elsewhere.


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Parchment
    Provenance:

    16th-century scribbles include names: folio 72r, 'this is John dishe is Boke' (cf. folio 128v); folio 96r, 'To all crystyan peple to whome thes present wrytyng Indentyd shall com hugh sidnam parsone of coryemalace [Curry Mallet, Somerset] sendeth gretyng...'; folio 84v, as folio 96r, but the name is 'george Repe of corymalot'; folio 132v, 'my lorde byschop of Baathe and Wells'; folio 158v, 'John Hurman hathe beten his wyfe on candelleve'. The second, third, and fourth of these scribbles are in one hand.

    William Simonds Higgs, F.S.A. His sale at Sotheby's, 26 April 1830, lot 719; sold to J. Wilkes for £4 4s.

    J. Wilks [probably John Wilks senior, 1765?-1854, attorney and politician, secretary of the Protestant Society for the Protection of Religious Liberty]. His sale at Sotheby's on 12 March 1847, lot 101; described as 'Manuscript on vellum, with all the capitals illuminated or rubricated, russia extra, gilt leaves, 8vo'.

    Thomas Rodd, 1796-1849, bookseller. According to the marked-up copy of the above Sotheby's catalogue at the Wellcome Library, it was sold for £26 to Rodd [probably Thomas Rodd junior (1796-1849)]; he purchased several other manuscripts, including lot 442, a Psalter, for £210 . Information kindly supplied by Julianne Simpson, Rare Books Librarian, Wellcome Library.

    Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, 1797-1878. A book label on the inner upper cover (pastedown) indicating the codex as having once been part of the Earl of Ashburnham's library.

    Henry Yates Thompson, 1838-1928. He purchased the Ashburnham Appendix no. 21 in May 1897 and almost immediately resold the manuscript to Mrs Rylands.


    Additions:

    Extensive, marginal scribbles on numerous folios:

    Upside-down scribble in the lower margin of folios 25r, 57r, 95v, 132v (see Provenance), 133r, 156v.

    In the lower margin of folio 87v, 142r, 146v

    Erased or partially erased scribble in the lower margin of folios 32r, 32v, 104v, 128v.

    In the upper margin of folios 47v, 87r, 85v, 86r, 93v.

    In the outer margin of folios 148r, 154r

    Vertically-oriented scribble in the outer margin of folios 94v, 95r, 154r, 156v, 157v, 158r, 158v, 159r, 159v, 160v, 161v, 162r, 168v, 171v, 172v.

    Extensive, 16th century scribbles on numerous folios (see Provenance).

    Library and provenance notations in pencil and ink on the verso of the front endpaper.

Place
  • Preferred form
    • England (United Kingdom)
    Original form
    • England
    Other form
    • Angleterre
    • Angleterre (?)
    • Angleterre.
    • Angleterre ?
    • Anglaterra
    • Inglaterra
    • Engeland
    • Angleterre (Salisbury ?)
    • Anglaterra (Salisbury?)
    • Inglaterra (Salisbury?)
    • England (Salisbury?)
    • [Oxford?]
    • [England]
    • England, Norwich?
    • England, Canterbury, St. Augustine's Abbey?
    • England, Cornwall?
    • England, St. Albans?
    • England, North?
    • England, York?
    • England, Witham?
    • England, Winchester or St. Albans
    • England, Reading or Leominster
    • England, Cirencester?
    • England, Sherborne?
    • England, Worcester?
    • England, Bury St. Edmunds?
    • England, Tewkesbury?
    • England, East Anglia?
    • England, Peterborough?
    • England, Mercia?
    • England, Canterbury, Christ Church?
    • England, Canterbury, St. Augustine's?
    • England, Winchester?
    • England, Oxford?
    • Flanders (possibly executed in England)
    • England and Netherlands
    • England, Canterbury?
    • England, West Midlands?
    • England, London?
    • England, Crowland?
    • England, Wessex?
    • England, Reading?
    • England, Northeast?
    • England, Southeast?
    • England, Ely?
    • England, Winchester or Hereford?
    • England, Salisbury?
    • England, Oxford or Salisbury
    • German (but made in England)
    • England, South East (?)
    • England. Peterborough (?) or Lincoln (?)
    • Hereford?, England
    • England, Durham ?
    • England, Durham?
    • England, probably Durham
    • England, Oxford (?)
    • England, possibly Oxford
    • England (?Oxford)
    • England, Durham (?)
    • England, London/Westminster
    • Unknown, possibly London and Cambridge
    • Royal Chancery, London; Cambridge
    • Engeland (?)
    • England (II)
    • I. England
    • [Engeland]
    • see more
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