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Egerton MS 2880
- Record Id:
- 032-001984947
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 032-001984947
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000057.0x00031f
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100161518951.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Egerton MS 2880
- Title:
-
The New Testament in Scots, translated by Murdoch Nisbet
- Scope & Content:
-
Written during the first quarter of the 16th century, the volume contains the first translation of the New Testament into Scots, undertaken by Murdoch Nisbet (d. 1559), a Lollard and notary in the diocese of Glasgow.
Contents:
ff. 4r-6v: Martin Luther, Prologue to the New Testament, translated from the German.
ff. 6v-12v: 'Summe' of the Evangelists, Acts and the Epistles of Sts Peter, John and Jude.
ff. 13r-223v: The text of the New Testament translated into Scots by Murdoch Nisbet, with the Wycliffite prologues.
ff. 223v-234v: "The Epistles of ye auld Testament quhilk ar red in the kyrk apone certan dayes of ye yeir": the epistles and lections of Salisbury use, frequently appended to the Wycliffite version (cf Arundel MS. 254, f. 104, and Egerton MS. 1171, f. 300).
ff. 235r-249v: William Tyndale, Prologue to the Epistle of St Paul to the Romans.
ff. 250v-254r: 'Summe' of the Pauline Epistles.
There are a number of later additions, including:
f. 1r-3v: Letter from Sergeant James Nisbet to Lady Betty [Elizabeth, wife of James] Boswell of "Aufleck" [Auchinleck], on persecution; 31 May 1725.
f. 255r: Drawing of the manuscript's watermark.
f. 256r-267v: James Nisbet, 'A True Relation of the Life and Suffering of John Nisbet in Hardhill,' Edinburgh, 1719. Printed. This tract includes an account of the writing of the manuscript by Murdoch Nisbet and its descent in his family.
ff. 268r-285v: Author's draft for the first edition of the above tract, with a cancelled titlepage, dated 1718, and an address to the Christian Reader," signed Caleb Carrell, but in Nisbet's hand.
Decoration:
Large initials in red or green with penwork decoration in the same or the other colour.
Numerous initials in red, green or brown. Crosses, rubrics, running titles and marginal chapter references in red.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Egerton Manuscripts
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "032-001984947", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Egerton MS 2880: The New Testament in Scots, translated by Murdoch Nisbet" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-001984947
- Is part of:
- not applicable
- Hierarchy:
- 032-001984947
- Container:
- not applicable
- Record Type (Level):
- Fonds
- Extent:
-
1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Egerton_MS_2880 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
English, Middle
Scots - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1515
- End Date:
- 1525
- Date Range:
- 1515-1525
- 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.
Watermark: a hand with a star or flower on the middle finger, similar to Briquet No. 10706 (C. M. Briquet, Les Filigranes: Dictionnaire historique des marques du papier dès leur apparition vers 1282 jusqu'en 1600, A Facsimile of the 1907 edition with supplementary material, ed. by Allan Stevenson, 4 vols (Amsterdam: The Paper Publications Society, 1968), no. 10706).
Condition: Text has been remounted onto paper. The paper has been slightly damaged on a couple of folios.
Dimensions: 270 x 190 mm (text space: 220 x 110/20 mm).
Foliation: ff. 285 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end); ff. 1-3 are added leaves of smaller size.
Script: Gothic cursive.
Binding: Post-1600. British Museum / British Library in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Scotland.
Provenance:
Murdoch Nisbet (fl. 1531–c. 1559), Lollard and biblical translator: his notarial sign manual inscribed on several verso leaves throughout the manuscript (ff. 24v, 36v, 107v, 131v, 155v, 191v, 215v, 227v).
John Nisbet (b. 1627, d. 1685), Covenanter activist: his name inscribed in the lower margin of one folio (f. 37r).
Sir Alexander Boswell (b. 1775, d. 1822), first baronet, poet and politician: given to him by Sergeant James Nisbet.
The Boswell family of Auchinleck: their sale, Sotheby's, 23-25 June 1893, lot 722, purchased by Bernard Quaritch.
William Amhurst Tyssen-Amherst (b. 1835, d. 1909), 1st Baron Amherst of Hackney and book collector: his family crest stamped on f. [i]; his sale, Sotheby's, 24-29 March 1909, lot 898, purchased by Bernard Quaritch for £185.
Bought by the British Museum, using the Bridgewater fund (£12,000 bequeathed in 1829 by Francis Henry Egerton, 8th Earl of Bridgewater (b. 1756, d. 1829).
- Publications:
-
The New Testament in Scots, being Purvey's Revision of Wycliffe's Version Turned into Scots by Murdoch Nisbet c. 1520, ed. by Thomas Graves, 3 vols (Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1901-05).
Thomas M. Lindsay, ‘A Literary Relic of Scottish Lollardy, The Scottish Historical Review, 1 (1904), 260-73.
Paul Wiechert, 'Ober die Sprache der einzigen schottischen Bibeli.ibersetzung von Murdoch Nisbet' (unpubl. PhD thesis, Albertus University, Konigsberg, 1908).
Catalogue of Additions to the Manuscripts in the British Museum in the Years 1906-1910 (London: British Museum, 1912), no. Eg. 2880.
Graham Tulloch, A History of the Scots Bible: With Selected Texts (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1989).
Margaret H. B. Sanderson, Ayrshire and the Reformation: People and Change, 1490-1600 (East Linton: Tuckwell Press, 1997), pp. 42-3, 46-7.
Martin Holt Dotterweich, ‘The emergence of evangelical theology in Scotland to 1550’ (unpubl. PhD thesis, University of Edinburgh, 2002), pp. 57-112.
Martin Holt Dotterweich, ‘A book for Lollards and Protestants: Murdoch Nisbet’s New Testament’, Literature and the Scottish Reformation, ed. by Crawford Gribben and David George Mullan (Farnham: Ashgate, 2009), pp. 233-45.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)