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Manchester. The John Rylands Library, English MS 75

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Source
Manchester Digital Collections
Library
The John Rylands Library
Shelfmark
  • English MS 75
Biblissima authority file
Date
  • End 14th/beginning 15th century
Language
  • Middle English
Title
  • Later Version Wycliffe New Testament
Agent
Description
  • Extent:
    195 folios (iii+195+iii) Leaf height: 160 mm, width: 112 mm.
    Binding:

    Dark blue morocco, 19th century.


    Decoration:
    Rubrication

    Running headers repeated continuously in the upper margin of each folio are rubricated in red ink.

    Occasional red rubrication introduces sections in the text. Example on folio 59r.


    Initials

    Large initials of burnished gold on red and blue grounds with white penwork introduce each book on folios:

    1r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    52v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    59r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    65r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    69r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    78r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    87v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    107v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    159v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘J’
    164v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘P’
    171r: 5-line illuminated ‘Thorn (th)’ initial
    176r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    177r: 5-line illuminated initial ‘T’
    177v: 5-line illuminated initial ‘J’

    Illuminated initials on folios 21v, 73v, 80v, 91v, 168v have been excised.

    Numerous, smaller 3-line initials (some damaged) in blue ink with red penwork flourishes introduce chapters throughout:

    Pen-flourished initial ‘A’ on 43 folios. Examples: 23r, 53v, 117r, 194v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘B’ on 30 folios. Examples: 8v, 56r, 114r, 154v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘C’ on 2 folios. Examples: 21v and 68v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘D’ on 1 folio: 26v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘E’ on 3 folios: 17r, 59r, 175r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘F’ on 7 folios: 47r, 61r, 74r, 75v, 91r, 95r, 100v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘G’ on 3 folios: 52r, 91v, 92r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘H’ on 3 folios: 80r, 87r, 90r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘I’ on 6 folios: 11v, 26r, 36r, 48v, 50r, 86r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘L’ on 3 folios. Examples: 51v and 72v, 106v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘M’ on 4 folios. Examples: 160v and 161v, 171v, 174v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘O’ on 1 folio: 54v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘P’ on 1 folios: 64v
    Pen-flourished initial ‘S’ on 4 folios: 25r and 36v, 57r, 173r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘T’ on 11 folios. Examples: 6v and 67v, 107v, 167r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘Thorn (th)’ on 13 folios. Examples: 7v and 62r, 104r, 168r
    Pen-flourished initial ‘W’ on 6 folios: 2v, 4r, 5r, 30v, 162v, 178r


    Acquisition:

    Purchased by Enriqueta Rylands in 1897 from Henry Yates Thompson, 1838-1928, and later transferred to The John Rylands Library. Accession no. R4989. On the recto of the front endpaper is the John Rylands Library bookplate, dated 1894, with the Latin motto "Nihill sine labore".


    Layout:

    Single column, 26 long lines 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. Pricking is evident on the external margins of many folios, for example, folio 117r.

    Written height: 110 mm, width: 75 mm.
    Collation:
    Quire 18 lacking 1 and 2
    Quires 2-58 lacking 4-6 after folio 41
    Quire 78
    Quire 88 lacking 5 (except a scrap) after folio 63
    Quire 98 lacking 1 (except a scrap) after folio 66
    Quire 108
    Quire 118 lacking 3-5 after folio 83
    Quires 12-148
    Quire 158 + 1 leaf after 2 (folios 112) lacking 7 after folio 116, replaced by a bifolium, folios 117-18, in a larger contemporary hand (25 lines long)
    Quires 16-208
    Quire 218 lacking 7 after folio 165
    Quire 228 lacking 8 after folio 180
    Quire 248
    Quire 258 lacking 8

    Framed catchwords can be found in the lower, inner margin of the verso of the final leaf of each quire: 6v, 14v, 22v, 30v, 38v, 43v, 51v, 59v, 66v, 73v, 81v, 86v, 94v, 102v, 110v, 119v, 127v, 135v, 143v, 159v, 166v, 173v, 188v.

    Signatures:(a)-t, w, x, y, þ, z, ȝ

    Secundo folio:accordinge wiþ (folio 1r; the first quire lacks the first two leaves).


    Script:

    Written in gothic textura by a single scribe.


    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 from the end of the Prologue to Romans (beginning 'accordinge wiþ') to Apocalypse 15: 3 ('moyses þe'). There are names of numerous owners in the margins. Forshall and Madden, no. 167. Usual prologues, two (2 Corinthians, 2 Timothy) missing. There are seven gaps where leaves are missing:

    (1) Folio 41v ends 'I am her-' (1 Corinthians 16: 19) and folio 42r begins 'of israel' (2 Corinthians 3: 3).
    (2) Folio 63v ends 'reproue' (Ephesians 5: 11) and folio 64r begins 'of ȝoure' (Ephesians 6: 5).
    (3) Folio 66v ends 'i ȝou hoþe' (Philippians 2: 13) and folio 67r begins 'israel' (Philippians 3: 5).
    (4) Folio 83v ends in 1 Timothy 1: 4 and folio 84r begins 'by tymes' (2 Timothy 1: 9).
    (5) Folio 165v ends 'honourid' (1 Peter 2: 5) and folio 166r begins 'Also' (1 Peter 3: 1).
    (6) Folio 168v ends 'Vertu' (2 Peter 1: 3) and folio 169r begins 'of pardicion' (2 Peter 2: 1).
    (7) Folio 180v ends 'stire to pa-' in the prologue to Apocalypse and folio 181r begins 'golden' (Apocalpyse 1: 13).


    Foliation:

    Foliated 1-195 (modern foliation).


    Format:
    Codex
    Material:
    Parchment with paper flyleaves.
    Provenance:

    Members of the Forster family. James Forster signed several neatly written verses on folios 20v, 50v, 55v, 61r, 64v (dated 1593), 71v, 112v, 113v (dated 1600), 126v, 127r, 187v and 188v, and he wrote many calligraphic scribbles. George Forster: incription on folio 136v, signed and dated 1591. Arthur Forster: calligraphic inscription on folio 68v, signed and dated 1600. 'Phillis Forster': inscription on folio 125r.

    George Forbes. folio 105r; 'Margere Hamiltone owith this book god hir ge...' (incomplete or illegible), folio 105r; 'Frances Ireton', folio 137r.

    Rev. Charles Fletcher of Southwell, Nottinghamshire. Seen by Forster and Madden in his possession; his sale at Sotheby's, 22 July 1850, lot 69, sold to Lord Ashburnham for £13 5s.

    Bertram Ashburnham, 4th Earl of Ashburnham, 1797-1878. Appendix no. 23.

    Henry Yates Thompson, 1838-1928. He purchased the Ashburnham Appendix in May 1897.


    Additions:

    Marginal annotations throughout the manuscript, possibly by a later hand:

    Pen trials, graffiti on folios 98v, 102v, 105r, 108v, 109v, 126v, 128r-, 131r, 143v, 150r.

    Arithmetic excersises, calculations on folios 59v-60v,108v, 109v.

    Library and provenance notations in pencil and ink on the verso of the first upper 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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  • 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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