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Harley MS 4958
- Record Id:
- 040-002050802
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002050802
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000859.0x0001dd
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 4958
- Title:
-
Breviary
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-145v: A Breviary, imperfect at the beginning and end.
The manuscript contains later additions:
Marginal notations throughout, some in English inscriptions from the late 15th or early 16th century, e.g.: 'Jesus of nazareth' (f. 102r).
Decoration:
1 large (4 line) puzzle initial in blue and red (f. 134r) with penwork decoration in red inside the letter. Numerous large (2- and 3-line) initials in blue and red with pen-flourishing in blue and red extending into the margins. Capitals highlighted in red. Rubrics in red. Musical notation, consisting of 4-line staves in red ink with neumes in black ink.
Faded marginal drawings in brown ink, added throughout the manuscript, e.g. a human figure with an aureole (f. 66r); a deer under a tree (f. 82v); a bearded man (f. 90r).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002050802", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 4958: Breviary" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002050802 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 4958 : Breviary - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[4958]/040-002050802
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1300
- End Date:
- 1399
- Date Range:
- 14th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 350 x 230 mm (text space: 255 x 160 mm).
Foliation: ff. 145 ( + 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 4 at the end); the order of folios after f. 115 should be: ff. 119-122, 116-118, 123 et sq.; 1 unfoliated parchment stub after f. 3; 2 unfoliated parchment stubs after f. 16; 1 parchment tab on ff. 28, 93, 95, 99.
Collation: Each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.
Script: Gothic, below top line.
Binding: British Museum in-house; brown half leather binding with the Harleian arms gold stamped on the outside covers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England.
Provenance:
John Batteley (b. 1647, d. 1708), Church of England clergyman and antiquary: sold to Edward Harley with the rest of his collection through his nephew John Batteley on 5 November 1723 (see Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), I, p. 263 n. 1; Wright, Fontes Harleiani (1972), p. 67).
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 forms 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), III (1808), p. 233.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), I: 1715-1723, p. 263 n. 1.
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. 66-67.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Places:
- England