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Manchester. The John Rylands Library, English MS 413

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Source
Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • English MS 413
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • Early-15th century
Language
  • Middle English
  • Latin
Title
  • Mirror of the Life of Christ (Myrrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ | Lyif of Crist | Meditatione Vitae Christi)
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    51 folios (ix+51+v) Leaf height: 230 mm, width: 170 mm.
    Binding:

    Quarter burgundy morocco, buckram-covered boards, 19th century.


    Decoration:
    3-line initials in blue ink with red penwork flourishes on folios 1r, 5r, 6v (obliterated), 10v, 11v, 14r, 16r, 30r, 32v, 34v, 37r, 38v, 40r, 41v, 43v, 48v, 50r, 50v (torn off)
    2-line initials in blue ink with red penwork flourishes on folios 22v, 26r, 28v, 47r.


    Acquisition:

    Purchased by the John Rylands Library from Mrs Elizabeth Green, widow of Joseph J. Green, on 17 January 1927 for £10.


    Layout:

    One column, 31 long lines. Ruling in red ink.

    Written height: 170 mm, width: 110 mm.
    Collation:
    Quire 18 lacking 1 and 3
    Quire 28 lacking 1-3
    Quire 38 lacking 2 and 3 after folio 12
    Quire 48
    Quire 58lacking 1 before folio 25
    Quire 68
    Quire 78lacking 6 after folio 44 and 8 after folio 45
    Quire 88lacking 5, 7 and 8 (folios 46-50)

    Secundo folio:as þei diden (folio 1r).


    Script:

    Script is written in textura.


    Subject(s):
    Religion; Christianity; Theology--History--Middle Ages, 600-1500; Passion narratives (Gospels)
    Abstract:

    A very imperfect copy of the Lyif of Christ, or Myrrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ, a translation by Nicholas Love of Pseudo-Bonaventura's Meditationes vitae Christi, dating from the beginning of the 15th century. This manuscript begins in chapter 32 of the Life and ends in chapter 55, with ten leaves between these points also missing. Inserted are notes by Joseph J. Green, cuttings and correspondence relating to the manuscript, including letters to Joseph J. Green from Walter Skeat (1835-1912), philologist; Lawrence F. Powell (1881-1975), literary scholar and librarian; and Rendell Harris, 1891-1920.

    Lyif of Christ, or Myrrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ, a translation by Nicholas Love of the Meditationes vitae Christi. Edition of Lawrence F. Powell, (1908): see bibliography below. The first words are in chapter 32, 'as þei diden we mowe' (Powell, p. 155 line 11), and the last are in chapter 55, 'medicine ayens swiche' (Powell, p. 274 line 12; folio 50 is damaged). The ten leaves missing between these points are equivalent to twenty pages of the Roxburghe Club edition :(1) folio 1v ends 'souereynly euer' (p. 157 line 21) and folio 2r begins 'of vertues' (p. 159 line 22); (2-4) folio 6v ends 'þer with þei' (p. 169 line 8) and folio 7r begins 'but wheþer' (p. 175 line 4); (5-6) folio 12v ends 'in þat preciowse' (p. 186 line 28) and folio 13r begins 'he cam nyh' (p. 190 line 22); (7) folio 24v ends 'and his preci', followed by the catchword 'owse blood' (p. 215 line 16) and folio 25r begins 'al his inward' (p. 217 line 23); (8) folio 44v ends 'of þin fowleste' (p. 256 line 18) and folio 45r begins 'but a litel' (p. 258 line 13); (9) folio 45v ends 'And so' (p. 260 line 11) and folio 46r begins 'restre. where þat' (p. 262 line 9); (10) folio 49v ends 'wiþ us in ma' (p. 270 line 12) and folio 50 begins 'and þe disciples' (p. 272 line 12).


    Foliation:

    1-6, 13, 15-27, 29-48, 50, 52-55, 57; modern foliation: 1-16, 16*, 17-50.


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Parchment
    Provenance:

    Henry Thomas Wake, c.1832-1914, Quaker bookseller of Fritchley, Derbyshire. Henry Thomas Wakeappears in Bulmer's History, topography and directory of Derbyshire (1895) as an antiquarian bookseller. Biographical dates are derived from online census and civil registration records. Purchased from him by Joseph J. Green for about £5 in c.1891, according to an inscription on the front endpaper.

    Joseph J. (Joseph Joshua) Green, 1854-1921, collector and antiquary.


    Condition:
    The front board is detached; folio 50r-50v is damaged, the upper fore edge corner torn off, affecting 9 lines of text; the verso of folio 50 is badly rubbed.
    Accompanying Material:

    Front endpaper - Flyleaf 1r: Notes on the manuscript by J. J. Green, dated 26 & 27 November 1920.

    Flyleaf 1v: Tipped in letter from Randal Harris to J. J. Green dated June 5th 1908.

    Flyleaf 2r: Tipped in letter from L.F. Powell to J. J. Green dated August 11th 1911 and an advertisement from 1912 for an early printed Wynken de Worde 'Vita Christi' with woodcuts.

    Flyleaf 2v: Tipped in catalogue entry from a bookseller's catalogue for an early 15th century manuscript of the 'Mirror of the life of Christ', along with an illustration of one of the illuminated pages. Dated May 1912.

    Flyleaf 3r: Tipped in advertisement for an early 15th century manuscript of the 'Mirror of the life of Christ'. Dated September 1915.

    Flyleaf 3v: Tipped in letter from L.F. Powell to J. J. Green dated December 19th 1920.

    Flyleaf 4r: Tipped in letter from Professor W.W. Skeat to J. J. Green dated April 21st 1891.

    Flyleaf 4v: Tipped in continuation of the letter from L.F. Powell to J. J. Green dated December 19th 1920.

    Flyleaf 5r - Flyleaf 7r: Notes by J. J. Green including a handwritten extract from the 'Gentleman's Magazine' 1814.

    Flyleaf 7v: Handwritten notes by J. J. Green dated 1897, and a newspaper cutting on another 'Life of Christ' manuscript.

    Flyleaf 8r: Tipped in catalogue entry from booksellers Bull & Auvache for a Early-15th century manuscript of the 'Mirror of the life of Christ'. Dated Christmas 1893.

    Endleaf 1r - Endleaf 2r: Tipped in insert with handwritten notes on the manuscript by J. J. Green, dated December 2nd 1920.

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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  • Provided by The University of Manchester. Zooming image © University of Manchester Library, All rights reserved. Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0). Images and Metadata made available for download are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
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