Harley MS 3066

Origin:

Southern England (possibly Worcester).

Provenance:

The Benedictine Cathedral Priory of St Mary, Worcester (?) (see Thomson, 'Minor Manuscript Decoration' (2002), p. 28).

Added text and green initial, 12th century (ff. 1r-1v).

Inscribed, ?12th century (inscription now cut and pasted on f. 1r).

Inscribed, ?13th century 'In hoc libro continentur (...) xij folia' (f. 122r).

Added list of contents, ?14th century (f. [1a]).

Inscribed with Cautiones (pledges) including the dates 1472, 1468, 1464 and 1466 (ff. 122r-122v).

Added penwork decoration, ?16th century (to initial on f. 47v).

Nicholas Waryng, Salter of London, 16th century: given by him to Richard Pytt of Bath; inscribed, 16th century, 'liber Ricardi pytt bathm Ex dono Magistri Nicolai Waryng Salier londoniensis' (f. 2r).

Richard Pytt of Bath: see inscription above.

? Charles Spencer (b. 1674, d. 1722), 3rd earl of Sunderland, politician and bibliophile, developed the library at Althorp, one of Edward Harley's keenest rivals in the acquisition of early printed books and manuscripts: probably acquired from him for the Harley Collection, inscribed by the librarian Humfrey Wanley 'SUND' (f. [1a]) (see Diary, ed. Wright and Wright (1966), I, xliii, and Wright, Fontes (1972). p. 310).

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.