Harley MS 5959

A collection of fragments from manuscripts of different date and origin. The volume was part of a collection of fragments from manuscripts and printed books, including maps and drawings, assembled in 64 volumes by the bookseller and antiquary John Bagford (b. 1650/51, d. 1716). During the 19th century, the drawings and printed book fragments from the volume were transferred to the Print Room and the Department of Printed Books in the British Museum.

The volume is bound together with other volumes from Bagford's collection, namely Harley MSS 5934, 5938, 5941, 5949, 5966 and 5978, and continuously foliated.

Contents:

f. 32r: The Apostles Creed in English, written in a rectangular frame of red ink, and Lord's Prayer in English, twice written in circular frames of red ink, with the date 1684; above, written in red ink, is the name of 'John Bagford'.

f. 33r: An untitled work, with the introduction: 'Nota quod quelibet figura litterarum invenitur aliquem numerum representans quamvis infrequenti usu non sit quod in istis versibus distinguitur'; and beginning: ''Possidet .A. numerum quingentis ordine recto - A. 500'; written in the 15th century.

ff. 33r-33v: Uguccione da Pisa, Derivationes, excerpts, beginning: 'Hoc yris vel iridis idest arcus celestis'; 'Luna minor est qualibet alia stella et vicinior terris'; and: 'Notandum quod maiores orbem in partes'; written in the

f. 34r: The Lord's Prayer in English, once written in red ink, and once written in brown ink, with the heading 'Philosophica Tertia'; written in the 17th century.

ff. 35r-35v: Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on the eight books of Aristotle's Physics, Books 5-6; beginning mid-sentence in Lectio 12: 'tempus componatur ex nunc, aut magnitudo ex punctis; quod est impossibile', followed by Lectio 13 (complete); the leaf has been bound in reverse; written in the 4th quarter of the 13th century or 1st half of the 14th century.

The fragments contain a modern addition:

A modern blue paper with blind stamped with a British Museum stamp, and the following inscription: 'Bagford Collections -Harl. 5959 - From MS. Fragments taken out of Harl. 5959 for the Department of MSS. No. 8, 10, 11, 17'.