Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, of Chaucer's Treatise on the astrolabe
Description:
In Middle English., Layout: single columns, mostly of 28 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: initials in blue with red penwork., Presentation inscription on verso of front flyleaf: Augustus W. Franks, the gift of Sir David Dundas., Ownership inscription on verso of front flyleaf: C. H. Read., Tipped in: autograph letter signed from D. D. to A. W. Franks, 1877 February 11., and Binding: nineteenth-century full calf; in case.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400.
Subject (Topic):
Astrolabes, English literature, English prose literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of John Rolfe (1585-1622), A true relation of the state of Virginia, autograph manuscript
Description:
The author, best known for his part in the colonization of Virginia under the governorship of Sir Thomas Dale (d. 1619) and his marriage to the Indian princess Pocahontas (d. 1617), wrote this account after his return to England in 1616 to show the suitability of Virginia for colonization., In English., Script: Written in Gothica Cursiva (Secretary)., The acidity of the ink has damaged the paper., and Binding: Original paper wrappers.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Virginia
Subject (Name):
Rolfe, John, 1585-1622.
Subject (Topic):
English literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, Description and travel, and History
Manuscript on paper tablet of Account book, being a record of Stiffkey mill belonging to Nathaniel Bacon (1546?-1622) for the time period 8 December 1576-1579/80. Contains weekly statements of George Brigges, John Wilson, Thomas Shorten, William Fether, Robert Merkyn, and Henry Corye
Description:
In English., Watermarks: unidentified pot., Script: Written by several individuals in informal cursive scripts., Most folios are wrinkled, torn; some have been mended., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Half green goatskin with green cloth sides, gold- and blind-tooled. Leaves of a didactic theological text (Germany, ca. 1250) bound at beginning and end; probably a bifolium. Parchment; 291 x 196 (220 x 155) mm. Written above top line in a small gothic bookhand. Initials in red or green with penwork designs of the other color. Stained, but with little loss of text.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Great Britain
Subject (Name):
Bacon, Nathaniel, 1547-1622.
Subject (Topic):
Didactic literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval, and Economic conditions
Manuscript on parchment (poor quality) of 1) Herman de Valenciennes, Bible. 2) Herman de Valenciennes, L'Assomption de Notre Dame. Often found, as here, following the poem on the Bible by the same author. 3) Petrus Alphonsus, Disciplina clericalis, followed by three moral precepts. 4) Poem in Anglo-Norman on Genesis. 5) Robert de Ho, Les Enseignements de Robert de Ho. 6) Extract from the romance Partenopeus de Blois. 7) Vie de saint Eustache. 8) Letter of Prester John to Emperor Manuel Comnenus, tr. into Anglo-Norman verse by Raoul d'Arundel; this is the earliest translation of the letter (ante A.D. 1200), and the only one known in French verse. 9) Guillaume le Clerc, Bestiaire. 10) Notes on the influence of the moon. 11) Le voyage du Chevalier Owen au purgatoire de saint Patrice. 12) Wace, Roman de Brut. Some 15th-century glosses, in Middle English and Latin, occur in the text
Description:
In Anglo-Norman and Latin., Script: Written by 6 scribes in large gothic bookhand. Scribe 1: ff. 1r-75r, 111r-130v, 153r-183v (characterized by decorative descenders in final line of text); Scribe 2: ff. 75r-97v (z with small horizontal crossbar); Scribe 3: ff. 98r-110r, 131r-152v, 189r-201v, 212v-216v (exaggerated ascenders in top line of text); Scribe 4: ff. 184r-188v; Scribe 5: second column of f. 201v (crude script); Scribe 6: ff. 202r-212r, 216v-224v (poorly formed)., 4-line initials, divided blue and red (ff. 111r, 153r, 189r), with penwork in red and blue or red only. 3- and 2-line initials, red with blue penwork or vice versa (quire VI lacks flourishes on initials). Paragraph marks in red or blue; some rubrics at beginning of articles. 1-line initials stroked with yellow or red. Ink drawings in margins include King Arthur (f. 189r)., Early repairs with parchment throughout; no loss of text. Waterstains, ff. 221v-224r. Rubbing on f. 224v has caused some loss of text in col. a., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Diced red/brown calf, gold-tooled.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Anglo-Norman poetry, Bestiaries, Christian poetry, French, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Romances, Anglo-Norman
Manuscript on paper (unidentified armorial watermarks) of Basilici tyranni umbra, a Latin tragedy with a list of characters drawn partly from Byzantine history, including Umbra Basilici tyranni (d. 497), Zeno Imperator, Longinus eius frater, Gazeus Rhetor, Euphemianus, Castor tribunus militum, and various pupilli and ephebi. With a collection of poems in Horatian meters on early Jesuits, e. g., St. Francis Xavier (1506-52), Brother Rudolph Acquaviva (1550-83), St. Ignatius of Loyola (1491-1556), St. Aloysius Gonzaga (1568-91), and Edmund Campion (d. 1581). Includes other miscellaneous texts
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by several cursive hands, some clearly later additions. A few headings in square capitals., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Vellum case, blind-tooled. Bookblock almost detached. Front pastedown may be part of art. 2 of text, but is too badly mutilated to be certain.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Byzantine Empire
Subject (Name):
Jesuits
Subject (Topic):
History, Jesuit poetry, Latin (Medieval and modern), Latin drama (Tragedy), and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript, on parchment, of the Bible, including prologues. The Old Testament omits 1 and 2 Chronicles and Psalms; Esther and Judith follow Nehemiah. New Testament is incomplete: Acts folllows the Pauline and Catholic epistles but ends in chapter 13; Revelations not present. Chapter divisions throughout often deviate from Langton arrangement. Numerous brief marginal annoations in several hands
Description:
In Latin., Numerous brief marginal annotations, in Latin, in several thirteenth and fourteenth century hands, apparently English. Ecclesiastes annotated in at least four different hands., Layout: double columns of 55 lines., Script: gothica textualis., Decoration: each prologue and book opens with a large initial in red and blue with red and blue penwork, often with bar extensions in red and blue., and Binding: seventeenth-century full dark blue English polished calf. with extensive gold tooling in cottage style. Six-compartmented spine; all compartments gold-tooled except for the second, which contains a handwritten paper label: "Latin Bible. Manuscript." Marbled endpapers.
In Latin., Script: Written in tiny gothic textura by a single scribe., Good initials for the beginning of each book and prologue, 10- to 4-line, blue or pink, with various shades combined in a single letter, with white highlights, often with prominent floral serifs in blue, pink, red, orange, and yellow, against pink and blue grounds; grounds for body of letter and serifs in opposite colors. Elaborate descenders, ascenders, as serifs, but often with biting dragons. Letters filled with curling floral motifs, often with dragon-head terminals, and biting dragons. The initials on f. 214r (Esther) and f. 220r (Job) are more elaborate than the others. 2-line initials for each chapter, blue or red, with red or blue flourishes. Running headings and chapter numbers in red and blue, with flourishes. Rubrics throughout., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Printed vellum fragment, in large gothic letters, with portion of John 4.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
In Latin., Script: Text written in similar styles of gothic bookhand mostly by two scribes who may also have ruled the segments each copied. Scribe 1) ff. 7r-13v, 171v-296r, 307r-409r; running titles. Scribe 2) ff. 15r-171v, 297r-306v. A later hand of the 15th century wrote before and after Scriptural text in a less formal style of gothic; at least four other persons of the 14th-15th centuries have annotated the text in various styles of cursive., Decoration by two distinct hands whose division of work does not correspond precisely to that noted for the scribes. 1) ff. 7r-220v, 325r-340r. Large flourished initials, body divided red and blue, with interior designs primarily in red, and small blue circles added; first line of text in blue capitals decorated with simple red pen strokes. Many rubrics missing. 2) ff. 221r-324v, 341r-409r. Flourished initials similar in design to those by 1, but somewhat smaller in size and mostly without small blue circles; first line of text in blue and red capitals alternating; chapter divisions decorated with long herringbone pendants in red and blue. Running titles and marginal chapter divisions in alternating red and blue letters throughout codex. Notes to rubricator, some perpendicular in gutter., and Binding: 15th-16th centuries. Original sewing on five double, tawed supports laced straight and in V's into back-cornered wooden boards and pegged. The spine is square, the sewing supports prominent. Braided tawed skin (?) endbands. The first covering is brown calf with corner tongues. Next is a chemise of pink, tawed skin with an outer cover sewn to it with diagonal stitches of blue thread. Outer and inner covers are adhered to each other and to the boards with extending edges cut off. Two strap-and-pin fastenings with foliate pin bases on the lower board and stubs of kermes pink straps. Green discoloration on pastedowns. Trace of lettering in ink on the spine.