Add MS 40620

Vol. II. Esdras, viz. "Esdre I" = Ezra (f. 1), "Neemie" (f. 6), "Esdre III" = 4 Esdr. ch. i, ii (f. 13 b), "Esdre IIII" = 3 Esdr. (f. 15 b), "Esdre V" 4 Esdr. iii-xiv (f. 23), "Esdre VI" = 4 Esdr. xv, xvi (f. 25). Twelve leaves are lost after f. 22 (3 Esdr. viii.

69-end, and 4 Esdr. iii. 1-xii. 48). f. l. Tobit. A leaf is lost after f. 32 (Tob. xiii. 7-Judith i. 11). f. 27 b. Judith. F. 40 is mutilated (wanting Judith xv. 11-end, xvi. 8- Esther i. 1). f. 33. Esther. f. 40 b. Job. f. 48 b. Psalter, Gallican (with Ps. cli). A leaf is lost at beg. (to PS. vi. 3). F. 71 is mutilated (wanting Pss. xxiii. 9-xxvii. 3) and single leaves are lost after ff. 83, 87, 90, 94 (Pss. lxvii. 22-lxix. 3, lxxix. 9- lxxxiii. 11, xciii. 17-xcviii. 2, cvii. 12-cxi. 7). Evidently there were historiated initials to Pss. 26, 38, 52, 68, 80, 97, 109. f. 66. Proverbs. f. 104. Ecclesiaates. A leaf is lost after f. 122 (Eccle. x. 13-Cant. i. 7). f. 118b. Song of Solomon. Two quires are lost after f. 123 (Cant. iv. 16-end, Sap., and Ecclus. i. 1-xxiv. 31). f. 123. [Wisdom, missing.] Ecclesiasticus. f. 124. Isaiah. Twelve leaves are lost after f. 159 (Is. xliv. 23-Jer. iv. 13). f. 138 b. Jeremiah. f. 160. Lamentations, with Jeremiah's prayer. f. 195. Baruch, with rubric bog. "[C]ist liure qui est entitlez del non Baruch neat mic en la reule del Hebreu" (cf. the Glossa Ordinaria, Migne, Patr. Lat., cxiv. 63). f. 198 b. Ezechiel. Two leaves are lost after f. 212 (Ezech. xlviii. 35- Dan, ii. 49). f. 203 b. Daniel. A leaf is lost after f. 213 (Dan. iii. 33-91) and f. 224 is mutilated (wanting all but a few words of Dan. xiv. 32-Os. ii. 15). f. 213. Hosea. Three leaves are lost after f. 228 (0s. xiv. 5-Am. iii. 3). f. 224. Amos. f. 229. Obadiah. A leaf is lost after f. 231 (Abd. i. 2-Jon. i. 16). f. 231 b. Jonah. f. 232. Micah. f. 232 b. Nahum. f. 235 b. Habakkuk. f. 237. Zephaniah. A leaf is lost after f. 239 (Soph. iii. 19-Agg. ii. 17). f. 238 b. Haggai. F. 240 is mutilated (wanting Agg. ii. 23-Zach. i. I and Zach. i. 5-9 14-19, ii. 4-9). f. 240. Zechariah. A leaf is lost after f. 245 (Zach. xiv. 20-Mal. ii. 13). f. 240. Malachi. f. 246. Maccabees. Two leaves are lost after f. 267 (1 Mach. xvi. 8- 2 Mach. ii. 22), and all after 2 Mach. iii. 22. Breaks off "Kil eauuast celes choses toutes" (catchwords "entierres qui esteient"). f. 246 b.

Vellum ; ff. ii + 201, i + 268. 17 in. (Vol. II, 17 1/2 in.) x 13 in. Middle of 13th cent., written probably in France. Gatherings of 12 leaves (in Vol. I i missing, ii wants I and 3, iii wants 2, 6 and 7, iv wants 10, v wants 3, 8 and 9, vi wants 1 and 10, vii wants 4, 5 and 11, viii wants 5, x wants 1 and 10-12, xi wants 1 and 7, xiii wants 6, xiv *ants 2, xv missing, xvi wants 1-3 and 5-9, xvii wants 6, xviii wants 2-11, xxi wants 4, xxiii6, wants 3 and 4; in Vol. II i wants 6 and 7, iii is missing, iv wants 1 1, vii wants 9, ix wants 4 and 9, x wants 1 and 6, xii wants 11, xiii, xiv, xviii, xxiii, xxiv missing, xxv wants; 6, 7 and 11, xxvii wants 1-3 and 7, xxviii wants 4 and 11, xxx wants 10 and 11). Many other leaves are mutilated by cutting out of illuminated initials and some are almost entirely removed. The MS., as appears from a note (Vol. 11, f. 65 b), was imperfect circ. 1700, but most of the damage is probably of later date. The single historiated initial which survives (1 Chron., A with four circles showing, on gold background, trees of deacent of the patriarchs, Vol. I, f. 163) is not remarkable, but the illuminated chapter-initials (some with grotesques) are of excellent execution, and the text is very well written. Many of the letters following the chapter-initials and some others are ornamented in ink by the scribe with faces or animal forms. Headings are flourished in red and blue. The binding is of oak boards originally covered with stamped leather (damaged on Vol. I, removed from Vol. II), probably English and of the Tudor period. The stamps include crown, fleur-de-lys, rose, portcullis (?), etc., and are disposed to form the border of the centre panel and outer line of the border of the outer frame, the inner line consisting of quatrefoils within lozenges. Remains of a brass clasp. A few English interlinear glosses in Isaiah (Vol. II, ff. 157-158) appear to indicate English ownership in the 15th cent. They include some unusual words: for fondra 91 schal goote,"chaume" edisch "(stubble), escorre vnhudde," sap "birre" (this perhaps a mistake for "firre"). Marginal scribbling of the 17th-18th centt. includes a fragment of the metrical version of Ps. i in Sternhold and Hopkins (Vol. II, f. 48), and four lines on marriage (ib., f. 2) beg. "How unhappy is ye man yle inslaued I To an earthly acurse (sic) and a wife." In 1655 the MS. belonged to one Roger Wood (see VoI. II, f. 268 b, and on f. 129 b the note: "It is a very good French bible for Mr. Roger Wood but I doe thing he doth not vnderstand it. Anno Domini 1656. John Prince"). This is not the Roger Wood who became Canon of Wells in 1638, for he died in 1650 (Cal. for Compounding). On f. 1 of the same volume is "Tho. Wood est ueror (sic) possesor hujus libri." A mutilated inscription (18th cent.) on f. 9 b of Vol. 1, " . . . ylde Esq. . . . Taunton . . . [t]he Boible." Afterwards the MS. belonged to Edward Ayshford Sanford, of Nynehead Court, co. Som. (d. 1871). The name of his grandson E[dward] C[harles] A[yshford] Sanford is on Vol. I, f. i b. Sotheby's sale-cat., 28 Mar. 1922, lot 456.

Bindings ENGLISH: Oak boards, covered (Vol. I) with stamped leather: 16th cent.

Bible French: Old Testament: 13th cent.

Art. Illuminations and Drawings FRENCH: Old Testament: one historiated initial, good illuminated initials: 13th cent.

includes:

• f. 2 Poetry ENGLISH: Lines on marriage: 17th-18th cent.
• f. 129 b John Prince: Scribbling by: 1656.