Add MS 63077

The British Library Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts, New Series 1981-1985, 2 vols (London: The British Library, 1994), I: Descriptions, pp. 217-18: 'GLOSSED BOOK OF GENESIS: England, Rievaulx Abbey(?); 12th cent., second half. Latin. On glossed books of the Bible in general, see C. de Hamel, Glossed Books of the Bible and the Origins of the Paris Booktrade (1984). The gloss is that of the Glossa Ordinaria, with extracts frequently preceded by attribution to authors such as Augustine and Isidore, found here in an unusual form owing to the inclusion of extensive extracts from the commentaries of Bede. The contemporary ex libris inscription of the Cistercian Abbey of St Mary, Rievaulx, co. York ('Liber Sancte Marie Rievallalis') occurs at the head of f. 1. The book occurs under press P in the 13th cent. library catalogue of Rievaulx, now Cambridge, Jesus College, MS. 35, printed by E. Edwards, Memoirs of Libraries (1859), I, p. 340. Harl. 5273 is a glossed Book of Job of very similar date and origin. For other Rievaulx books see N. R. Ker, Medieval Libraries of Great Britain (1964), p. 159. On f. ii is a bond for £40, due next Michaelmas, between Sir William Pykering of Oswaldkirk (d. 1542, Knight-Marshall to King Henry VIII), William Priestman, yeoman of Newtongrange, William Walker of Oswaldkirk, yeoman, and William, abbot of Rievaulx. This is endorsed on f. ii verso. Various hands of the late 15th-16th cent. have added pen trials to the flyleaves and paste-downs, recording the names 'Richardus Gyllyng monachus Rievallys', Dodson, Wyghtman, Thomas Dawson and 'Richardus 1569'. A 17th cent. inscription on f. ii verso reads 'John Dodesworth of Thornton Watlas ys the owner of this Boke' and it is possible that the manuscript passed into the ownership of the Dodsworth family of the nearby village of Thornton Watlas, co. York, soon after the Dissolution (see VCH, North Riding of Yorkshire, 1914, I, p. 345). It appears to have remained in the area ever since. Purchased at Christie's, 30 May 1984, lot 207.

Vellum; ff. iii+106. Sec. fol.: 'esset bona et' (main text). 294 x 190mm. Gatherings (15) of 8, except iv8 (wants 4), vi6 (wants 4-6), xiv8 (wants 8) and xv6 (wants 1-3 and 5-6, the latter two blank). Original vellum paste-downs and front flyleaf. Ruled (double bounding lines) in hard-point, with some ink, for a single text column of 12-22 lines and for surrounding gloss of 60 lines, maximum. Text above top line. Written space 193 x 150mm. (including layout for gloss). Script is a late Protogothic textualis, with accompanying glossularis, by several hands. Initials (including a simple major initial I on f. 1) and chapter numbers in red. Quire numeration on final verso of the quire. An important original binding of white leather over wooden boards, covered with a contemporary chemise of roughly tawed skin retaining coarse brown fur. Traces of a foredge clasp (lost). Four bosses originally adorned and protected each cover (of which three later medieval replacements remain on the upper board and two originals on the lower). The lower cover also carries a circular brass shield bearing the title 'Genesis Glo'. Sewn on 3 double cords, with blue and white endbands and similar finishing to semi-circular tabs to the head and tail of the flat spine (these also being dyed pink on their inner surfaces). For a slightly similar binding of the late 12th-early 13th cent. from Fountains Abbey, but without chemise, see M. M. Foot, The Henry Davies Gift (1983), II, no. 1. A chemise binding adorns another late 12th-13th cent. book from Fountains Abbey, Add. MS 62129. The Ormsby Psalter (Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Douce 366) carries a similar English binding of the 14th cent. See also G. Pollard, 'The Construction of English Twelfth-century Bindings', The Library, 5th ser., XVII (1962), pp. 1-22'.