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Add MS 61822
- Record Id:
- 032-001962057
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001962057
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000055.0x0000b4
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100151240269.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Add MS 61822
- Title:
-
William Briton's miscellany of Tudor prose and verse, including Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella
- Scope & Content:
-
A largely autograph miscellany of Tudor prose and verse, which belonged to William Briton (1564–c. 1636) of Kelston, Somerset. The manuscript began life as a household account-book (ff. 116v–120r) of his father, John Briton or Bryton (d. circa 1586). It consists mainly of entries made by William between c. 1586 and 1605, and includes a text of Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella together with extracts from Tudor translations of various moral and didactic works. Aside from the legal formularies (ff. 1r–54v) and the miscellaneous entries (ff. i, 103v, 110r–112r), it is entirely n William's hand.
List of contents on front paste-down (f. i) in an unidentified hand of the late 18th century. The same person inscribed the words 'Letter of Wm Duke of Normandy to Harold' on the verso of a handwritten calling card (f. iv) of 'Mr Bankes / 19 New Bond Street', formerly found loose at ff. 85v–86r. There is also some unidentifiable writing in the hand of John Harington MP (1588/9–1654), son of Sir John Harington of Kelston (d. 1612).
ff. 1r–54v: Legal formularies and notes, including a copy of a custumal of the lands of Glastonbury Abbey (ff. 7v–9v) , and a Chancery Bill,with an imperfect answer relating to W[illiam] B[riton], here described as of Preston, Gloucester, c. March 1585 (ff. 52–54v).
ff. 55r–62v: 'Rules of Husbandry, taken owt of Vergil and auctors well approued', in prose. Marginalia include notes regarding practical application of the precepts between 1594 and 1602.
ff. 77r–90v: Undated 'Pithie sentences and wise sayinges', in prose and verse, partly in Latin.
ff. 77r–80r: Twenty-four emblems from Andreas Alciatus.
ff. 80v–84r: Proverbs and sayings of philosophers, partly in English verse, and partly Latin; verses originally from Sir Thomas Elyot's The boke named the gouernour (1531), together with three prose quotations found in William Baldwin's A treatise of Morall Phylosophie of 1547 (f. 84r).
ff. 84r–v: Nine extracts from Googe's translation of Palingenius' Zodiacus Vitae (1560).
ff. 84v–85r: Thirteen extracts from Sir Thomas Chaloner's translation of More's Encomium Moriae (1549).
ff. 85v–89r: Fifty-four extracts taken in a series (seriatim) from Thomas Blennerhasset's Seconde Part of the Mirrour for Magistrates (1578).
ff. 89v–90v: Twenty-four extracts taken seriatim from the first edition of Norton and Sackville's Tragedie of Gorboduc [1565].
ff. 91r–103r: Sir Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella; c. 1586–1596. The sequence, which lacks a title, comprises 100 out of the 108 sonnets in the version first published in 1591. The eleven songs are also omitted. The order of sonnets runs: 1, 6-8, 10, 22, 31, 32, 34, 38, 44, 47, 3–4, 49-54, 56, 55, 57–108, 2, 5, 9, 11–21, 23, 26, 27, 29, 30, 33, 36, 39, 41–43 and 48. If the contents of the miscellany were entered seriatim then the sonnets must have been copied at some time between 1586 and 1596, or more probably between 1594 and 1596. The copy-text was apparently a now-lost manuscript belonging to Sir John Harington of Kelston. The present text is collated and described in The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, ed. Ringler (1962), pp. 163–237, 540–42.
f. 103v: 'Gen: 18.2.19.1.15', note in the hand of John Harington MP, son of Sir John Harington of Kelston (undated, before 1654).
ff. 104v–109r: 'Rules of husbandry partly practysed by my selfe, partly taken owt of other authors in anno 1596', repeating and rearranging the material of the earlier set, with marginalia dated from 1594 to 1605.
f. 110r: A Latin note in Harington's hand (undated, before 1654).
ff. 110v–112r: Other jottings in Harrington's hand.
ff. 113r–116r: Miscellaneous notes.
ff. 113r–v: Further notes relating to husbandry.
f. 114r: Notes of fruits grafted at Kelston orchard in March 1593.
f. 114v: Notes on how to make a trap for a mole (with an ink drawing of a mole trap), and two methods for killing mice and rats.
f. 115r: Undated abstracts of four charters, 1482–1521, relating to the manor of Kelston.
ff. 115v–116r: List of fruit grafted at Kelston, 2 January 1589.
f. 116r: List of fruit grafted at Kelston, 2 January 1589, and at Corston (undated).
ff. 116v–119v: John Bryton's accounts, 1564–1571, crossed-out.
f. 120r: A brief note giving the date of his son William's birth and his godparents.
f. 120v: Torn page with notes about fruits.
A collection of notes by William Ringler Jr, R.B. McKerrow and Quaritch relating to Add MS 61822 are kept separately as Add MS 61822/1.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Additional Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-001962057", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Add MS 61822: William Briton's miscellany of Tudor prose and verse, including Philip Sidney's Astrophel and Stella" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001962057
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-001962057
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100151240269.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1559
- End Date:
- 1659
- Date Range:
- c 1564-c 1654
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
- Restrictions to access apply please consult British Library staff
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper. The watermark of the paper resembles Briquet no. 9667 (dated 1539). The margins of the text-pages are scored throughout with stylus.
Dimensions: 377 x 243 mm.
Foliation: ff. iv + 120. The manuscript was foliated by W. H. Bond, Librarian of Harvard University, on 8 August 1950 (pencil note at the foot of the inner margin of f. ii).
Binding: Late 16th century English blind-stamped binding of dark brown calf on wooden boards, repaired and rebacked, with the remains of two brass clasps, now preserved in a modern red morocco slip-case.The upper fore edge carries an illegible ink inscription in capitals.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
William Briton (1564–c. 1636) of Kelston, Somerset.
Provenance:
John Harington, MP (1588/9–1654), son of Sir John Harington of Kelston (d. 1612): owned in the 17th century.
Henry Harington (1727–1816), MD and composer.
Bernard Quaritch Ltd, booksellers: acquired from a bookseller in Salisbury at least as early as 1932.
Arthur Amory Houghton Jr (1906–1990), bibliophile: purchased from Quaritch in June 1950, and owned until 1980. His red morocco gilt bookplate is on f. i.
Purchased by the British Library at Part II of the sale of Houghton Jr's library at Christie's, 12 June 1980, lot 427.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts issued to Commemorate the One Hundredth Anniversary of the Firm of Bernard Quaritch, 1847–1947 (London: Quaritch, 1947), item 198.
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts: New Series, 1976–1980 (London: British Library, 1995), pp. 283–285.
CELM: Catalogue of English Literary Manuscripts 1450–1700: http://www.celm-ms.org.uk/repositories/british-library-additional-60000.html [accessed 25 July 2019]
The Poems of Sir Philip Sidney, ed. William A. Ringler Jr (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1962), pp. 163–237, 540–42.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)