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Harley MS 7640
- Record Id:
- 040-002053498
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002053498
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000984.0x000285
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 7640
- Title:
- Psalter (fragment)
- Scope & Content:
-
Contents:
ff. 1r-23v: Fragment of a Psalter; the surviving text consists of Psalms 80-150, with gaps, and the Canticles.
The manuscript contains several additions:
f. i recto: A note by Sir Frederick Madden (b. 1801, d. 1873), Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, that the volume was made Harley MS 7640 on 5 February 1852.
f. i recto: A memorandum by Henry Ellis (b. 1777, d. 1869), Principal Librarian at the British Museum, which dated to 1823, in which he notes that the manuscript was found ‘at the back of a shelf among refuse articles’, it was accessioned as Additional MS 6404, and he recognised the Harleian provenance from Wanley’s inscription on f. 1r.
f. i recto: A note by Sir Frederic Madden: ‘It was one of the MSS purchased by Wanley of Mr. Batteley of Westminster and which had belonged to his uncle Archdeacon Batteley. See Wanley's Diary, MS Lansd. 772, p. 35, F. M. 1850'.
ff. 2r, 3v, 14r, 21r: Short Latin annotations; added in the 15th-17th century.
Decoration:
25 partial or three-sided bar borders in colours and gold with decorated or historiated initials, and figures, animals, birds, or hybrid creatures in the margins (ff. 1v, 2v, 3v, 4v, 5v, 6r, 7r, 9r, 9v, 10r, 12r, 17v, 18r, 18v, 19r, 19v, 20r, 20v, 21r, 21v, 23r, 24v, 27v, 28r, 33v, 35r). The initial at the beginning of Psalm 101 (f. 10r) shows King David praying before Christ. Some of the marginal illuminations illustrate old sports and games (ff. 6r, 7r, 10r, 19r); Aristotle ridden by Phyllis in the lower margin of f. 4v. Line fillers in colours and gold, many shaped like animals or terminating in animal heads. Small initials in gold on coloured grounds.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
- Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002053498", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 7640: Psalter (fragment)" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002053498 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 7640 : Psalter (fragment) - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[7654]/040-002053498
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 item
- Digitised Content:
- Languages:
- English
Latin - Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1295
- End Date:
- 1305
- Date Range:
- c 1300
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment.
Dimensions: 240 x 165 mm (text space: 170 x 120 mm).
Foliation: ff. i + 35 (+ 3 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning + 3 at the end); f. i is a paper leaf; modern foliation throughout; but 16th-century foliation of the complete manuscript survives as follows: old folios 81-88, 98-100, 102-104, (?)113, 117, 120, 130-137, 139, 144, 146-153.
Collation: Gatherings of 8 (?), as suggested by ff. 1-8, 18-25, and 28-35, which are apparently complete gatherings; indicated by a catchword ('si iustitias', Psalm 88.32) on f. 8v; each quire has been mounted separately onto a paper guard.
Script: Formal Gothic book script.
Binding: British Museum in-house; red half leather binding with the Harleian armorial bookplate gold-stamped on the outside covers; rebound on 26 May 1965.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
England or Southern Netherlands.
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, Master of the Court of Augmentations, on 5 November 1723 (see Diary, ed. by Wright and Wright (1966), II, 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, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley, 5 die Novembris, A.D. 1723' (f. 1r).
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.
Acquired by the British Museum with the Harley manuscripts in 1753 but apparently not placed with the collection: the manuscript does not appear in the Harleian catalogue of 1808, but in an annotated copy of the third volume that is kept at the British Library.
- Former Internal References:
- Add MS 6404
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), p. [541] (no. 7401) [annotated copy kept at the British Library].
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, 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), p. 67.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)
- Names:
- Batteley, John, Archdeacon of Canterbury; antiquary, 1646-1708
Batteley, John, Master of the Court of Augmentations; nephew of antiquary John Batteley, fl 1723
Ellis, Henry, Knight, Principal Librarian, British Museum, 1777-1869
Harley, Edward, second earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, 2 Jun 1689-16 Jun 1741,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000108078249,
see also http://viaf.org/viaf/160524259
Madden, Frederic, Knight, Keeper of Manuscripts, British Museum, 1801-1873
Wanley, Humfrey, Old English scholar and librarian, 1672-1726,
see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000083872680 - Places:
- England