Harley MS 5966

The volume is 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 the Bagford's collection, nominally Harley MSS 5934, 5938, 5941, 5949, 5959 and 5978, and continuously foliated.

Contents:

f. 36r: A decorated ?initial with interlace, foliate and zoomorphic elements (including a dragon) written perhaps in the 16th/17th century; paper; 160 x 150 mm.

ff. 37r: A piece of paper inscribed with text in a 17th-century hand (as that on f. 38r) titled: 'The Letter Founder', beginning: 'casting all sorts of letters'; paper; 190 x 150 mm.

f. 38r: A piece of paper inscribed with text in a 17th-century hand (as that on f. 37r) titled: 'The Illuminator of Figures', beginning: 'I distinguish all figures by various colours'; paper; 190 x 150 mm.

ff. 39r-40r: A small bifolium including a collection of monograms written in the 2nd half of the 16th century; paper; 150 x 100 mm.

f. 41r: A piece of paper inscribed with the name, in gold: 'James Matmoreney' in a hand of the 16th century, alongside a piece of pasted paper containing ligatures and digramms; the year 1548 added to it; paper; 110 x 110 mm.

f. 42r: A piece of paper inscribed with names of books contained in a library, written in an English hand of the 17th century; paper; 90x 140 mm.

ff. 43r-43v: A fragment from a prayer to the Virgin in Latin written in an early 12th-century hand; parchment; 170 x 110 mm.

ff. 44r-44v: A fragment from a medical text written in an English/French hand of the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 12th century, containing part of Gariopontus of Salerno’s Passionarius, Book 2, the 2nd half of chapter LVIII "De tumore iecoris," through the first 1/3 of the Cura for chapter LIX "De scleria hepatis". The green initial "C" from (probably) ch. LXI "Collectio hepatis" or (the cura) "Cataplasmentur ex lini" is visible through the page; parchment; 180 x 135 mm.

ff. 45r-45v: A fragment from an astrological text, in a German hand of the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 12th century; parchment; 150 x 100 mm.

ff. 46r-46v: A fragment of a leaf with the text of the Psalms, in an English hand of the 1st half of the 13th century; parchment; 135 x 90 mm.

ff. 47r-47v: A fragment of a leaf with Psalm 68, in an English 14th-century hand; 100 x 95 mm.

ff. 48r-48v: A fragment from a canon law text (?), with glosses, in a Southern French 14th-century hand; parchment; 135 x 100 mm.

ff. 49r-49v: A leaf from a Bible, Maccabees, Book 2, in a Parisian hand of the 2nd or 3rd quarter of the 13th century; parchment; 125 x 85 m

ff. 50r-50v: A cutting of an initial of the Presentation to the Temple, probably from a Missal, in a Dutch hand from the 1st half of the 15th century; parchment; 50 x 60

ff. 51r-51v: A fragment from a Book of Hours in a French/Dutch hand from the 2nd half of the 15th centur; parchment; 85 x 85 mm.

ff. 52r-52v: A cutting of an initial from Justinian's Digest or Pandects , 'Infortiatum', Book 37; parchment; 95 x 80 mm.

ff. 53r-53v: A leaf from a Bible (Maccabees) in a French hand from the 2nd half of the 13th century; parchment; 165 x 115 mm.

ff. 54r-54v: A leaf from a Book of Hours (the 'Hours of Louis XII', or 'Hours of Henry VII'), including text from the abbreviated Psalter; parchment; 140 x 90 mm.

Decoration:

ff. 44r-44v: 1 initials in green or red with penwork decoration in red or green. Rubrics in red. The red oxidised.

ff. 45r-45v: 1 large initial in blue (f. 45v). Rubric in red.

ff. 46r-46v: 1 initial 'C'(onfitebor) in gold with penwork decoration in red and blue (f. 46r). Initial in red with penwork decoration in green. Initials and rubrics in red.

ff. 47r-47v: 1 initial in colours and gold with foliate decoration extending into the margin (f. 47r). Small initials in red and blue. Paraphs in red.

ff. 48r-48v: 1 initial in colours and gold with foliate decoration including hybrid creatures (f. 48r). Initials in red or blue with penwork decoration in blue or red. Paraphs in red.

ff. 49r-49v: 1 initial in colours and gold with foliate decoration (f. 49r). Initial, rubric and running title in blue and red.

ff. 50r-50v: 1 historiated initial in red, blue and ink of the Presentation to the Temple, unfinished ? (f. 50r). Musical notation: square notation.

ff. 51r-51v: 1 initial in red and gold and line-filler in red and blue (f. 51r). Rubrics in purple.

ff. 52r-52v: 1 initial 'B(onorum)' historiated with two men, with foliate decoration, in colours and gold (f. 52r). Rubric in red.

ff. 53r-53v: Several initials in blue with penwork decoration in red. Rubrics and running titles in red and blue.

ff. 54r-54v: Several initials in colours and gold decorated with berries or flowers. Line-fillers in colours and gold, two in the form of branches. Painted by Jean Bourdichon.