Harley MS 2485

Origin:

Ferrara, Italy.

John Gunthorpe (d. 1498), dean of Wells and administrator: Latin colophon stating he completed the book on 30 August 1460 in Ferrara whilst studying poetry and Seneca's tragedies and attending Guarino de Verona's rhetoric lectures; his marginal notations (f. 197r).

Provenance:

Suicardus ab Holdingen: inscribed, late 16th century-early 17th century 'Ex libris Suicardus ab Holdingen 8617' (f.1r). (The Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg has a number of manuscripts and incunabula inscribed by Suicardus ab Holdingen.)

The Benedictine Abbey of Saint Peter, Austria: inscribed, 17th century 'Ex libris Monasterii St. Petri Salisburgi' (f. 1r).

Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681, d. c. 1753), bookseller: employed by Edward Harley for buying books and manuscripts chiefly on the Continent (including this one) (see Wright 1972).

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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘18 die January, A.D. 1723/4’ (f. iv).

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.