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Harley MS 625

Record Id:

040-001616031

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

040-001616031

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000001515.0x00016b

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 625

Title:

A collection of astronomical and mathematical treatises and tables.

Scope & Content:

The manuscript includes:

1. Two sets of tables of contents (ff. 1* and 1*v);

2. Notes (ff. 1*v-1r);

3. Abd-al-Rahman al-Sufi, Tables from Book of the constellations of the fixed stars (ff. 1v-6v);

4. Hyginus, Astronomica (extract) (f. 7v);

5. Geber (Jabir ibn Aflah Abu Muhammad al-Ishbili), Elementa astronomica, in the Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona (ff. 8r-84v);

6. Geber (Jabir ibn Aflah Abu Muhammad al-Ishbili), commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest, Almagesti Minoros libri IV (ff. 85r-123r);

7. Jordanus de Nemore, De triangulis (ff. 123r-130r);

8. A commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest, Questiones de V Almagesti (ff. 132r-136v);

9. Archimedes, De curvis superficiebus (ff. 137r-139v);

10. Richard of Wallingford, Tractatus Albionis (ff. 140r-157r);

11. Astrological tables 'tabule pro locis planetarum' (ff. 157r-164r);

12. Al-Zarkali (Ibrahim bin Yahya an-Naqqash az-Zarqali al-Qurtubi, Abu Ishaq), Opus astrolabii (Saphea), in the Latin translation by William the Englishman (ff. 164v-173r);

13. A commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest (ff. 173r-174r);

14. Boethius, De institutione musica, extract (ff. 175r-175v).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection
Harley Science Project

Hierarchy Tree:

[{ "id" : "040-001616031", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 625: A collection of astronomical and mathematical treatises and tables." , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} },{ "id" : "041-001616033", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 1*r-1*v: Tables of contents" },{ "id" : "041-001616035", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 1*v-1r: Notes on astronomy" },{ "id" : "041-001616036", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 1v-6v: Abd-al-Rahman al-Sufi, Tables from the Book of the constellations of the fixed stars (Kitab suwar al-kawakib) in a Latin…" },{ "id" : "041-001616043", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, f 7v: Hyginus, Astronomica (extract), incipit: 'Arietis exortu sinistra pars'." },{ "id" : "041-001616045", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 8r-84v: Geber (Jabir ibn Aflah Abu Muhammad al-Ishbili), Elementa astronomica, in the Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona." },{ "id" : "041-001616047", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 85r-123r: Geber (Jabir ibn Aflah Abu Muhammad al-Ishbili), commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest, Almagesti Minoros libri IV" },{ "id" : "041-001616048", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 123r-130r: Jordanus de Nemore, De triangulis." },{ "id" : "041-001616050", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 132r-136v: A commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest, book 5" },{ "id" : "041-001616052", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 137r-139v: Archimedes, De curvis superficiebus" },{ "id" : "041-001616053", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 140r-157r: Richard of Wallingford, Tractatus Albionis" },{ "id" : "041-001616055", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 157r-164r: Astrological tables 'tabule pro locis planetarum'" },{ "id" : "041-001616056", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 164v-173r: Al-Zarkali (Ibrahim bin Yahya an-Naqqash az-Zarqali al-Qurtubi, Abu Ishaq), Opus astrolabii (Saphea), in the Latin…" },{ "id" : "041-001616064", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 173r-174r: A commentary on Ptolemy's Almagest" },{ "id" : "041-001616065", "parent" : "040-001616031", "text" : "Harley MS 625, ff 175r-175v.: Boethius, De institutione musica, extract." }]

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
040-001616031

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts

Harley MS 625 : A collection of astronomical and mathematical treatises and tables.

Contains:

Click here to View / search full list of parts of Harley MS 625

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[0625]/040-001616031

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

176 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_625 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1350

End Date:

1569

Date Range:

1350-1569

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment codex.

Dimensions: 280 x 200 mm (text space: 195 x 135 mm).

Foliation: viii + 1* + 176 (f. 176 is a paper flyleaf, f. 1* is a parchment flyleaf). Medieval foliation: '1-175'. Quire signatures.

Collation: Gatherings of 12.

Script: Gothic cursive (Anglicana), except ff. 157r-164r: Gothic.

Binding: Post-1600. Brown leather binding with gold fillets and marbled endpapers.

Custodial History:

Origin: England.

Provenance:

Simon Bredon (d. 1372), physician and astronomer: table of contents in his hand (f. 1*r); this manuscript, Oxford, Bodleian Library, Digby 178 (ff. 1r-14r and 88r-115r), and probably Cotton Tiberius B. ix (ff. 1r-4r and 225-235) formed one volume bequeathed by Bredon to Merton College (see Watson 1976); for a table of contents of the original manuscript, see Watson 1976 and Roberts and Watson 1990 [with bibliography].

Merton College, Oxford: from Bredon's bequest; its table of contents (f. 1*v; see Watson 1976).

John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609), mathematician, astrologer, and antiquary (see Wright 1972; Roberts and Watson 1990): probably acquired by him before 1559; his manuscript 95; his three astrological marks like a crossed number '2' and inscriptions 'Joannes Dee 1557 ?' and 'Joannes Dee 1569' (f. 1*r); a note in his hand (f. 139r) (see Watson 1966, Roberts and Watson 1990).

Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton: acquired by him from the library of John Dee in 1625, or perhaps to be identified with 'De figuris Stellarum, Almegisti Liber abbreviatus, Manuscript, parchment' which D'Ewes bought 'ex Biblioteca J[ohannis] D[ee] Doctoris' for 5s. in 1626 (see Watson 1976).

Sir Simonds D’Ewes (d. 1722), 3rd baronet and grandson of the former: inherited and later sold the D’Ewes library to Robert Harley on 4 October 1705 for £450 (see Watson 1966).

The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.

Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.

Publications:

Edward Bernard, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ in unum collecti, cum indice alphabetico, 3 vols (Oxford: Sheldonian, 1697), II, p. 386, no. 9948.

A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), no. 625.

Montague R. James, Lists of manuscripts formerly owned by Dr John Dee, with preface and identifications, Transactions of the Bibliographical Society, Supplement, 1 (London: Oxford University Press for the Bibliographical Society, 1921), pp. 25-26, listed as C95.

Andrew G. Watson, 'An Identification of some Manuscripts owned by Dr. John Dee and Sir Simonds D'Ewes', The Library, 5th series, 13 (1958), 194-98 (pp. 196-97).

Lynn Thorndike, 'Notes upon Some Medieval Astronomical, Astrological and Mathematical Manuscripts at Florence, Milan, Bologna and Venice', Isis, 50 (1959), 33-50 (p. 37 n. 31).

Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), pp. 208 no. A911, 279 no. *E79, 293 no. B88?.

The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, pp. xviii-xix.

Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 126-27, 131, 384.

R. B. Thomson, 'Jordanus de Nemore: Opera', Mediaeval Studies, 38 (1976), 97-144 (p. 119).

Andrew G. Watson, 'A Merton College manuscript reconstructed: Harley 625; Digby 178, fols. 1-14, 88-115; Cotton Tiberius B. IX, fols. 1-4, 225-35', Bodleian Library Record, 9 (1976), 207-17.

Andrew G. Watson, 'Thomas Allen of Oxford and his Manuscripts', in Medieval Scribes, Manuscripts and Libraries: Essays Presented to N. R. Ker, ed. by Malcolm B. Parkes and Andrew G. Watson (London: Scolar Press, 1978), pp. 279-314 (p. 290 n. 55).

Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books ed. by Neil R. Ker, Supplement to the Second Edition, ed. by Andrew G. Watson, Royal Historical Society Guides and Handbooks, 15 (London: The Royal Historical Society, 1987), p. 55.

Calvin M. Bower, 'Boethius' De institutione musica: A Handlist of Manuscripts', Scriptorium: Revue internationale des études relative aux manuscrits, 42 (1988), 205-51 (pp. 244-45) [with further bibliography].

John Dee's Library Catalogue, ed. by R. Julian Roberts and Andrew G. Watson (London: Bibliographical Society, 1990), pp. 120-21 no. M95.

The Theory of Music, vol. IV: Manuscripts from the Carolingian Era up to c. 1500 in Great Britain and in the United States of America. Descriptive Catalogue, ed. by Christian Meyer, Michael Huglo and Nancy C. Phillips, Répertoire international des sources musicales, 4 (Munich: Henle, 1992), p. 78 [with further bibliography].

Richard Sharpe, A Handlist of the Latin Writers of Great Britain and Ireland before 1540, Publications of the Journal of Medieval Latin, 1 (Turnhout: Brepols, 1997), p. 767.

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)