Harley MS 7026/2

This manuscript is the second of two volumes that originally formed Harley MS 7026. The first volume is now Harley MS 7026/1, and contains the 'Lovell Lectionary'. The manuscript's original Harleian binding is now Harley MS 7026/3.

Harley MS 7026/2 contains facsimiles of leaves and fragments from medieval manuscripts, copied by a certain Philip Sproson (fl. early 18th century) from originals in the calligraphical collection of Samuel Pepys (b. 1633, d. 1703), now Cambridge, Magdalene College, Pepys Library 2981. Sproson was also responsible for the facsimiles that appear in Stowe MS 1061 (see Keynes, 'Reconstruction' (1996), pp. 134-35). Each facsimile features an accompanying commentary by Humfrey Wanley (b. 1672, d. 1726), the first keeper of the Harleian Library.

The volume also contains a selection of examples of penmanship by the German artist and calligrapher Matthew Buchinger (b. 1674, d. 1740), and a facsimile of two leaves from the Codex Claromontanus, a Greek-Latin digot manuscript of the New Testament, made c. 550 (now Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France, MS gr, 107).

Contents:

f. 23r: a list of six manuscripts noted by Humfrey Wanley;

ff. 24r-31r: ten facsimiles of leaves and fragments from medieval manuscripts, copied by Philip Sproson from originals in the collection of Samuel Pepys, with descriptions by Humfrey Wanley, including:

f. 24r: a fragment from an 8th-century manuscript containing Isidore of Seville's Etymologiae (Etymologies), Bk. III;

ff. 25r-26r: a leaf from an 8th-century Gospel-book, containing the Gospel of St Luke 10:39;

f. 26r: a fragment from a late 8th-century Psalter, containing Psalm 38;

f. 27r: a fragment from a 9th-century manuscript containing the Book of Daniel 8: 3-7;

f. 28r: a leaf from a 9th-century manuscript containing a commentary on Martianus Capella's De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii (On the Marriage of Philology and Mercury) and De grammatica (On grammar);

f. 28r: a leaf from a 10th-century manuscript containing a commentary on Sedulius' Carmen I, 310-316;

f. 29r: a leaf from an 11-century manuscript containing Priscian's Institutiones Grammaticae (Institutes of Grammar);

ff. 29r-30r: a leaf from a late 12th-century service-book, with musical notation;

f. 30r: a fragment from a 12th-century manuscript, containing a commentary on the Epistle to the Colossians 1:16;

f. 31r: a deed of Edward III (r. 1327-1377), dated 1334;

ff. 32r-38r: six examples of penmanship by Matthew Buchinger, including:

f. 32r: a hand-bill detailing Buchinger's services, featuring a decorated border and coat of arms, London, 1716/7;

f. 33r: an embellished cover note written by Buchinger, London, 2 February 1732;

f. 34r: an English translation of the so-called 'Letter of Lentulus', apparently copied by Buchinger from an original by Peter Browne (b. c. 1665, d. 1735), provost of Trinity College Dublin, and illustrated with a pen-and-ink drawing of Christ, 3rd June 1674;

ff. 35r-36v: a letter from Buchinger to Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, 14 April 1733;

ff, 37r, 38r: two leaves inscribed, 'To The Right Honourable the Earl of Oxford', the first bearing a red seal;

ff. 39v-40r: a facsimile of two leaves from the Codex Claromontanus (Titus 1: 13-16);

Two additional items were removed from the copy of the Harley Catalogue held in the Keeper's Room on 22 March 1960, and were subsequently bound with the rest of Harley MS 7026/2:

f. [41] recto: a letter addressed to John Alexander Herbert (b. 1862, d. 1948), Deputy Keeper of Manuscripts at the British Museum, from George M. Harrison, concerning the 'Lovell Lectionary', 5 October 1913;

f. [43] recto: a note concerning Humfrey Wanley's Diary (now Lansdowne MSS 771 and 772).