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Harley MS 167
- Record Id:
- 040-002045995
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002045995
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000596.0x000178
- LARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100155070646.0x000001
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 167
- Title:
-
An English miscellany containing texts relating to naval matters
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-202v: A large collection of tracts and letters, primarily concerning naval matters. The manuscript contains documents on the victualling of ships, navigating, shipments, prices of goods, the custom system (taxes for good exported and imported through ports). The manuscript features a 16th-century book of navigation (ff. 39r-72v) imperfect at the beginning), which may have been translated out of Spanish, as is suggested by a circular diagram with a Tudor rose circumscribed by the text: 'Dios ha dado que yo he ganado'; and the fact that it is immediately followed by instructions in Spanish or Portugese on ff. 73r-74v. It also includes a copy of a letter of Sir Francis Drake to John Foxe (1587), an original letter of Sir Francis Walsingham to the Lord Treasurer (1589), and journals by Edward Sellman and Christopher Hall of voyages to 'Meta Incognita' [The Unknown Shore] (1576-1578), now known as Baffin Island.
Decoration:
Circular diagrams of compasses in black ink, or black ink and yellow (ff. 40v, 41r, 43v), circular and rectangular diagrams in black ink for navigating by the stars in black ink (ff. 41v, 42r, 44v, 45r, 71v), and a circular diagram in black ink recording the primes and epacts of the moon for the years 1578 until 1641, with a Tudor rose at its centre (f. 46r). A drawing for navigating the Southern coast of England, including Blacknor Point on the Isle of Portland (f. 184r), and one for navigating the coast of Iceland, including mountains named 'Dee's Pinnacles', in colours (f. 187v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002045995", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 167: An English miscellany containing texts relating to naval matters" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002045995 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 167 : An English miscellany containing texts relating to naval matters - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[0166]/040-002045995
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://access.bl.uk/item/viewer/ark:/81055/vdc_100155070646.0x000001 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
French
Spanish - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1575
- End Date:
- 1624
- Date Range:
- 4th quarter of the 16th century-1st quarter of the 17th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 310 x 210 mm.
Foliation: ff. 38* + 69* + 101* + 106* + 107* + 118* + 142* + 143* + 151* + 156* + 162* + 202 ( + 4 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); ff. 123 and 124 are small paper strips; ff. 151 and f. 151* have paper foldouts at their outer margins; 1 unfoliated paper pastedown on f. [ii]recto (bibliographical notes); and 1 on f. [204]recto (notes of repair); each leaf or bifolium has been mounted onto a paper guard.
Script: 16th- and 17th-century script.
Binding: British Museum in-house.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609), mathematician, astrologer, and antiquary: his hand is on items 20, 28, 31, 32, 34, 36, and 38 [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 55-56] (Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 321; but not listed under his entry in Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), pp. 126-128).
Ralph Starkey (d. 1628) of Darley Hall in Oulton, owned and partially written by him: his hand is on items 6-8 (in John Dee’s hand), 18-20, 22, 24-28, 30-31, 33, and 35-38 [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 55-56] (Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 321); acquired from him in 1628 by Sir Simonds D’Ewes (Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 314).
Sir Simonds D’Ewes (b. 1602, d. 1650), 1st baronet, diarist, antiquary, and friend of Sir Robert Cotton (see Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 131): item 12 on f. 105r, item 9 on f. 101*verso, and item 17 on f. 118v are in D’Ewes’s hand [the items are as listed in the Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts (1808), I, pp. 55-56]; recorded in his catalogues as X.32 (Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1966), p. 321).
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.
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 Cavendish, née 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:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), I (1808), pp. 55-56.
Andrew G. Watson, The Library of Sir Simonds D'Ewes (London: British Museum, 1966), p. 321 [X.32].
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 374.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)