Manuscript on paper in English verse with a Latin verse prologue of Thomas Norton of Bristol's Ordinall of Alchemy, written in 1477
Description:
In English and Latin., Script: Written by a single English hand writing a very fine and regular italic sloping to the right., No color, no illustration., Watermark: arms of Austria with the golden fleece, similar to Briquet 2291., and Binding: Original English binding of white, limp parchment, the covers blocked in gold with the armorial stamp employed by Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland: the badge of the Percy house, the white or crescent moon, within the representation of the garter, surmounted by an earl's coronet; fore-edges of each cover with overhanging flaps and with remains of two original green linin ties; flat back with four thongs used in the sewing-in exposed at regular intervals on each side of the backstrip, with traces of original lettering at head of backstrip now illegible, later writing in old style below probably the work of a modern repairer, possibly covering an original inscription; plain edges; a strip of parchment, cut from a manuscript in Latin, ca. 1100, is visible surrounding the back of the quires of the manuscript, used in the sewing-in, with writing visible at the front of the volume only.