Four Gospels, with list of lections (‘The Erfurt Gospels’)
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Contents: f. 1r: An added 13th-century ownership inscription, now partially obscured or smudged. ff. 1v-2r: St Jerome, Epistula ad Damasum papam (Epistle to Pope Damasus I). ff. 2r- 117r: The Four Gospels, with readings for major feasts marked throughout. f. 117v: List of Gospel lections, ...
Peter of Poitiers, Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi
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Contents: Peter of Poitiers (b. 1193, d. 1205), Compendium historiae in genealogia Christi, a biblical chronicle in roll form consisting of a series of roundels with names, accompanied by brief biographical entries. The genealogy of Christ from Adam and Eve is in the central line, with histori...
Anbiya. 'History of all the prophets from the Creation including the history of the island of Java’. The beginning has a date, but the year is omitted. Begins with Allah Tangala. Approximately the first 200 ff. concern the angels, Nabi Yusup, the Prophet Muhammad, etc. Thereafter the story move...
Francis Bacon, Considerations touching a war with Spain
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Copy of ‘Considerations touching a war with Spain’, by Francis Bacon, Viscount St Alban (1561–1626), Lord Chancellor, politician and philosopher. Written in 1624 and first published in 1629. This copy addresses Prince Charles as ‘the King’, indicating that it postdates the accession of Charles I...
ff. 1r–60v: A collection of poems and songs, chiefly of a religious character, written in the reign of James VI and I, but containing many of an earlier date. It is likely to have been composed by a Catholic. ff. 1r–2r: Ballad, ‘A jollie sheppard that sate on Sione hill.’ Printed in Old English...
Contents: Fourteen episodes of the French verse romance, Le Roman de Renart (Reynard the Fox), attributed to Pierre de Saint Cloud, Richard of Lison and others. The Roman is based on a large collection of tales from Oriental sources, mostly collected and translated in Picardy or the Paris area ...
Verse miscellany, containing songs and sonnets from ‘Astrophil and Stella’ by Sir Philip Sidney, author and courtier (1554-1586); anonymous autograph verses with authorial corrections; astronomical notes; and a signed autograph letter from Mary Herbert, Countess of Pembroke (1561-1621) to Barbar...