Contents: ff. 6r-11v: a calendar, with English saints; ff. 12r-181r: the Psalter portion of a Breviary, possibly Use of Sarum, with hymns and antiphons; ff. 181r-188r: the Litany, with English saints; f. 188v: added liturgical text, with spaces left for initials. Added musical notation ...
Lewis of Caerleon, collected astronomical and mathematical works
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An opera omnia of the Welsh physician and astronomer Lewis of Caerleon (d. in or after 1495), representing the largest and most complete collection of his astronomical and mathematical works. Written under Lewis's supervision, the manuscript contains self-referential rubrics (‘per me Lodowycum ...
Letter of Mary, Queen of Scots, to Jacques Bochetel de la Forest, French ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I
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An original letter from Mary, Queen of Scots (b. 1542, d. 1587; r. 1542-1567), to Jacques Bochetel de la Forest (d. 1595), French ambassador to Queen Elizabeth I (r. 1558-1603), sent from Carlisle and dated 26 June 1568. The letter asks the ambassador to send George Douglas as an emissary to F...
Leaves from the manuscript of Kenilworth by Sir Walter Scott
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Two folios of the autograph manuscript of Kenilworth, numbered 16 and 17 by Scott, with insertions and corrections on the versos. The two folios belong to chapter four of volume II of the manuscript, the greater part of which is found at Egerton MS 1661. The text begins halfway through chapter ...
Charlotte Brontë, 'Characters of the Celebrated Men of the Present Time by Captain Tree'
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Miniature book by Charlotte Brontë titled, 'Characters of the Celebrated Men of the Present Time by Captain Tree'. Written in ink on hand cut paper. In ten chapters, each signed by 'CB', 'Captain Tree', 'C. Tree' or 'CT' and dated between 12 and 17 December 1829. Contents: ‘Chapter the first C...
Charlotte Brontë, letter to William Smith Williams
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Charlotte Brontë, autograph letter signed 'C. Bell' to William Smith Williams, 10 November 1847. 4 pages. Subjects include reviews of Jane Eyre and speculation about the authorship of the novel and of Poems by Currer, Ellis, and Acton Bell (1846), forthcoming novels by Charlotte's sisters Emily ...
Notebook containing 31 poems written in ink on lined paper by Emily Brontë, with some autograph revisions. Further revisions in pencil by Charlotte Brontë. The first poem is dated 11 November 1838 and the last 2 January 1846. On the first page (f. 4r) are the initials 'EJB' and 'Transcribed Febr...
Trilingual dictionary, Psalter, and Hebrew grammar
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A composite volume containing four discrete parts bound together at Ramsey Abbey in the 13th century. The most notable contents are a Hebrew-Latin-Middle French dictionary (part 2), a Hebrew Psalter with a Latin gloss (part 3), and a Hebrew-Latin grammar (part 4). The dictionary is unique, draws ...
The Red Book of Bath (Latin ‘Liber Rubeus Bathoniae’) is an administrative compilation made for the town’s officials. Its texts relate to the regulation of trade and commerce, to law and justice, and to the history of Bath. The manuscript is named after the colour of its medieval binding, which w...
Richard Rolle’s ‘The Form of Living’ and related works
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A collection of devotional texts in Hiberno-English, made for a noblewoman living in the region of Dublin. This manuscript is important for containing the works of Richard Rolle of Hampole (d. 1349), in a version dedicated uniquely to his disciple Margaret of Kirkby (d. 1391x1394). It also contai...