Add MS 71716

CONYBEARE'S COLLATION OF 'BEOWULF': Interleaved copy of Grímur Jónsson Thorkelin, De Danorum Rebus Gestis (Copenhagen, 1815), the first edition of 'Beowulf', annotated by Reverend John Josias Conybeare, geologist and Rawlinson Professor of Anglo-Saxon at the University of Oxford; 1817-1820. Partly Latin. Partly printed. Conybeare's annotations include a detailed collation of Thorkelin's edition with the original MS. of 'Beowulf', Cotton MS. Vitellius A. xv, ff. 132-201, which provides, in the words of Professor Whitney Bolton, 'the first independent witness to the MS in the early nineteenth century': 'The Conybeare Copy of Thorkelin', English Studies, 55 (1974), p. 97. The present annotated copy of Thorkelin was used in preparing the abstract, select translations and corrected edition of 'Beowulf' in Conybeare's Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, published posthumously in 1826 by his brother, William Daniel Conybeare, Dean of Llandaff. According to notes on ff. 217v-218 (printed in Bolton, op. cit., p. 105; the third note was also printed by W. D. Conybeare in Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, p. v), the collation was undertaken by Conybeare at various times between 1817 and 1820. The first collation began early in 1817 and was complete by June 10; a second check was complete by July 14; further work was undertaken in 1818-1819; and a final review was made in 1820, concentrating on the Latin translation. The volume was forwarded to the printers in 1821. See further W. F. Bolton, 'The Conybeare Copy of Thorkelin', English Studies, 55 (1974), pp. 97-107; K. S. Kiernan, Beowulf and the Beowulf Manuscript (2nd ed., Ann Arbor, 1996), p. 137 n. 47; idem., The Thorkelin Transcripts of Beowulf, Anglistica, xxv (1986), p. 150 n. 46; J. R. Hall, 'The Conybeare "Caedmon": A Turning Point in the History of Old English Scholarship', Harvard Library Bulletin, 33 (1987 for 1985), p. 382; idem., 'The First Two Editions of Beowulf' in D. Scragg and P. Szarmach, eds., The Editing of Old English (Woodbridge, 1994), p. 246; K. S. Kiernan, 'The Conybeare-Madden Collation of Thorkelin's Beowulf' in Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts and Their Heritage, ed. P. Pulsiano and E. Treharne (forthcoming). The present volume was presented to Conybeare by his brother in 1817 (f. i). Passed after J. J. Conybeare's death to W. D. Conybeare, and was lot 205 in his sale at Sotheby, 7 December 1857, when it was sold for 13 shillings to Boone. Subsequently owned by William Morris (bookplate, inside front cover). An entry for the volume in an unidentified sale catalogue, when it was lot 277, is pasted on the inside front cover. Presented by Professor Whitney Bolton of Rutgers University, January 1994, to facilitate scanning of the volume as part of the Electronic Beowulf project.

Paper; ff. 262 + i. Calf binding, with gold tooling and marbled endpapers. The volume was rebacked in the later nineteenth century. The spine label reads 'Poema Danicum per Thorkelin'.

Contents:-

1. Annotations by J. J. Conybeare comprising: - (a) collation of Thorkelin's edition with the original MS. Those parts of the damaged original MS. which had disappeared between the time that Thorkelin used the MS. and Conybeare's examination of it are underscored by Conybeare. This provides important evidence as to the condition of the MS. at the time Conybeare used it. A table summarising Conybeare's collation was published in Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, pp. 137-155. Corrected versions of select portions of Thorkelin's edition were also published in ibid., pp. 82-136; - (b) corrections to Thorkelin's Latin translation of 'Beowulf'. Some of these were published in Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, pp. 82-136; - (c) draft translations into modern English of select portions of 'Beowulf' and notes summarising parts of the narrative. These translations were printed in Illustrations in Anglo-Saxon Poetry, pp. 35-79. They occur mostly between ff. 136v-218. A further group are written on the leaves at the end of the volume, ff. 260-262, accompanied by a large number of sketches of heads, landscapes, etc.; - (d) miscellaneous material, as follows:- (i) f. 15. A drawing apparently by J. J. Conybeare of an unidentified emblem with the motto 'Adoratione / Investigatione'; - (ii) ff. 2-2v. Disconnected notes on 'Beowulf' which Bolton, op. cit., p. 99, suggests are not the work of J. J. Conybeare. They are, however, in the same hand as the draft translations of the poem, so were presumably made by J. J. Conybeare. They are apparently working notes related to the 'Notes to Beowulf', printed in Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry, pp. 156-167; - (iii) ff. 250-250v. Notes by J. J. Conybeare on chemical experiments; - (iv) f. 258. Three lines of verse , beg. 'Reader, if thou be doom'd like these', accompanied by two sketches of heads.

2. Additional material by W. D. Conybeare, added in the course of preparing his brother's book for the press. All presumably date from between 1824 and 1826. Comprising:- (a) f. i. Calculation of number of pages of the book; - (b) f. ib. Names of possible printers;- (c) ff. 4-8. Drafts of the introduction to the Appendix of Illustrations of Anglo-Saxon Poetry (pp. 171-172) and of the introductory notice to the specimens from Junius's transcript of Caedmon (imperfect; only covers the first part of the introductory notice, corresponding to pp. 183-188 in the printed volume);- (d) f. 15v. List of cantos in 'Beowulf'; - (e) ff. 230-232v. Notes on historical episodes in 'Beowulf' and genealogies of royal persons mentioned in the poem. Presumably compiled in the course of preparing the 'Additional Note by the Editor on the Historical Traditions preserved in the Poem of Beowulf', printed in Illustrations, pp. 281-286; - (f) f. 256. List of receipients of presentation copies of Illustrations;- (g) Draft list of contents of Illustrations; - (h) List of subscribers to Illustrations.

3. Line numbers added to the edition in pencil. It is not clear who added these line numbers. Most likely it was one of the Conybeare brothers, but possibly the printer to whom Conybeare delivered the volume in 1821 (presumably Richard Taylor, who printed the Illustrations) may have been responsible.