Manuscript, on vellum, incomplete, in a single hand, of John Lydgate's and Benedict Burgh's Middle English verse translation of the twelfth-century Latin treatise Secretum Secretorum, itself a translation of the Kitab sirr al-asrar. In addition to this text, the volume also contains several prose pieces in Middle English and Latin, including one with illustrated diagrams and a Latin tract on the interpretation of dreams
Description:
In Middle English and Latin., Several medical recipes added on blank leaves and portions of leaves in a sixteenth-century? cursive hand., Signature of John Bowen? in a seventeenth-century hand. Signature of Thomas Bowen in a seventeenth-century hand., Layout: various single-column., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: 15 illuminated borders; other decorated initials, some gilt., and Binding: disbound, but with some original sewing intact; modern case.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Astronomy, Astronomy, Medieval, Education of princes, English prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, Medicine, and Medicine, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of collected Greek moral sayings translated into Latin by the diplomat George Hermonymus of Sparta. The manuscript also contains a dedicatory preface to the Abbot of St. Albans. The final two leaves contain 16th and 17th-century verses in multiple hands. The humanist style of the book's script, contents, and illuminations suggest that it is a sister copy of British Library, Harley MS 3346, which was presented to George Neville, Archbishop of York
Description:
In Latin and English., The manuscript contains a dedicatory preface from George Hermonymus to "Gulielmum," the Abbot of St. Albans, either William Albon (1465-1475) or William of Wallingford (1476-1492); this manuscript was probably presented while Hermonymus was on a diplomatic mission to England between 1475 and 1476. The coat of arms of the Totewhill family of Cornwall have been overpainted in the heraldic miniature., Script: main text in a humanist hand, possibly that of George Hermonymus. Later English and Latin verses in three early modern hands., Decoration: heraldic illumination on f. 1v of two angels holding a coat of arms, overpainted to that of the Totewhill family (sable, three covered cups argent); the mitre associated with the abbacy of St. Albans floats above. Borderwork around the miniature consists of gold leaf and alternating red and blue flowers. 1 four-line gilt initial "M" on 2r with accompanying blue and red design and gold borderwork with blue and red background. Between 1 and 3 two to three-line gilt initials per page with blue and red background. Rubrics in red., Layout: single column of 14 lines., and Binding: original, worn velvet over wooden boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Albon, William, -1476., Wallingford, William, -1488?, Hermōnymos, Geōrgios, active 15th century., and St. Albans Abbey.
Manuscript on paper (with parchment of poor quality for inner and outer bifolios of each gathering) of a collection of sermons and materials for the construction of sermons
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: unidentified crown in gutter., Script: Written by two scribes in Secretary script: Scribe 1 (pp. 1-141) uses a looped d; Scribe 2 (pp. 142-502) uses an unlooped d., Flourished initials, 3- to 2-line, red with blue designs and vice versa throughout manuscript. Brackets, initial strokes and underlining, in red, throughout. Opening words or line of each sermon in a careful text hand., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Half bound in brown calf, blind-tooled, with a gold-tooled title ("Sermones") on spine; dark blue cloth sides. Impression of oval label in upper register of spine.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Conrad, of Saxony.
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, Sermons, and Sermons, Latin
Manuscript on parchment of John Lydgate (1375?-1449?), Siege of Thebes
Description:
In Middle English., Script: Copied by one hand in Gothica Cursiva Antiquior Libraria/Formata (Anglicana). The scribe has been identified as being Stephen Doddesham, a Carthusian monk, first in Witham Priory, afterwards in the Charterhouse at Sheen, near London, d. 1481/1482., Red headings and running titles. The latter are preceded by alternately blue paragraph-marks with red penwork and golden paragraph-marks with blue penwork. 6-line foliate initials in pale blue and pink with left-margin floral borders extending into the upper and lower margins, at the beginning of Parts II and III (ff. 13v and 33v); the same type of initial with similar but four-margins border at the opening of the Prologue (f. 1r). There were only two 3-line dentelle initials with short marginal extensions, namely on f. 20v (now cut out, v. 1569, speech of Adrastus) and 25r (v. 1901, speech of Tideus)., and Binding: Nineteenth century. White parchment over pasteboard by Edward Parry. On the gold-tooled spine two bordeaux leather labels with gold-tooled inscriptions: "DESTRUCTION / OF / THEBES / BY/ LYDGATE" and "MANUSCRIPT".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451? and Carthusians.
Subject (Topic):
English poetry |y Middle English, 1100-1500, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Narrative poetry, English (Middle)
Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, of a Middle English copy of the "Defective Version" of the Book of Sir John Mandeville
Alternative Title:
Itinerarium. English
Description:
In Middle English., Four leaves preceding the Mandeville text contain numerous pen trials, a Latin prayer, medical advice organized by month, and a list of the archbishops of York. Two leaves following the text contain pen trials and Latin notes on the life of St. Wilfrid?., Layout: single columns of 20-23 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: decorated border on opening leaf of text incorporating coat of arms of the Norton family of Yorkshire; a few initials in blue ink with red penwork., and Binding: contemporary light brown doeskin over wooden boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Mandeville, John, Sir.
Subject (Topic):
English prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Voyages and travels
Manuscript, on vellum, in two scribes' hands, of this collection of verse saints' lives
Description:
In Middle English., Text is substantially complete, lacking two leaves at the beginning, one in the middle, and probably several at the end., Layout: single columns of 42 and 39 lines, respectively., Script: English cursive bookhand (two scribes)., Decoration: numerous initials in blue with red penwork., and Binding: eighteenth-century full calf.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
English literature, English poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript leaf, on parchment, containing portions of the life of Saint Mary of Egypt and the opening of the life of Saint Alphage
Description:
In Middle English., Leaf has been trimmed for use in a binding., Layout: single-column. Now 28 lines., Script: early Anglicana., and Decoration: rubricated.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
English literature, English poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript, on vellum, in a single hand, of a version of this fourteenth-century pastoral manual. The text is in eight sections, or Tabulae, in Latin, with extensive passages in Middle English prose and interpolated Middle English verse
Description:
In Latin and Middle English., Layout: single columns of 32 lines., Script: written in an English bookhand., Decoration: red and blue initials with contrasting penwork., and Binding: nineteenth-century morocco.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Clergy, Christian life, English poetry, English prose literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (thick, furry) of Speculum humane salvationis. With Pseudo-Bonaventura, Meditationes de passione Christi
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by two scribes in similar gothic textura bookhands. Scribe 1 (ff. 1r-90v) in brown ink. Scribe 2 (ff. 91r-104v) in a darker ink and more compressed script. A few marginal comments and corrections of 15th-16th centuries., The manuscript originally contained 192 miniatures, of which 29 have been entirely and 1 (f. 53r) partially removed. Those remaining are drawn in light brown ink and tinted in brown and yellow washes with touches of red. The miniatures on ff. 7r-38v have been redrawn in black ink by a second hand. A dirty tan ground has been added to miniatures on ff. 67v and 68r., 2-line calligraphic initials, blue, at the beginning of each chapter and "figura" or type (I-initials, 6-10 lines; at the bottom of the page, e.g., f. 29v, the I breaks and runs beneath the lowest line of text), with elaborate, angular penwork and flourishes, in red (some, e. g., ff. 17r and 21r, with faces). On ff. 91r-104v 2-line blue initials, plain; spaces for some initials, including a 6-line initial on f. 91r, left blank. 1-line red or blue initials, some of the blue with red penwork. Capital A's in each Amen alternate red and blue. Guide-letters for initials throughout. Paragraph marks, blue. Tituli, inscriptions in miniatures, chapter numbers, and pagination in red throughout. Guide-numbers for pagination still visible, especially on ff. 58v-60r., The parchment is worn and dirty, with many torn and slashed folios. Apart from the folios which are missing entirely, the upper portions (with miniatures) on ff. 47, 53 and 57 have been removed., and Binding: Fifteenth century. Dutch or German? Sewn on six double, tawed cords laced into beech boards and pegged in three holes. Endband cores laid in grooves and pegged. There is an inner cover of pink, tawed skin. Over this is a chemise of thin, white tawed skin stitched to a heavy outer, tawed pigskin cover which extends about 25 mm. at the head, 70 mm. at the fore-edge, and was whip-stitched at the edges. The tail edge has been cut down. Two straps are attached to the upper cover and tacked to the extending skin at the fore-edge with a narrow, tawed thong. There are two square marks where pins were attached to the lower cover. The original sewing cords have broken and have been replaced, a part of the book resewn, and part of the chemise pocket cut away. The ends of the fastening straps and the endbands are wanting.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, containing the text of William of Nassington's poem. The Speculum vitae is followed by several other devotional texts in prose and verse, including Walter Hilton's prose commentary on Qui habitat and Bonum est; and poems on Purgatory, the evils of covetousness, a prayer to Jesus, and two dialogues, one between Christ and Man, and the second between Christ and a sinner
Description:
In Middle English, with rubrics in Latin., Ownership inscription for the Francisan convent at Lichfield?, dated 1486., Layout: double columns of 50-58 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: initials in red and blue penwork., and Binding: original wooden boards, rebacked.
Subject (Geographic):
England., Connecticut, and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
William, of Nassington, -1354. and Franciscans
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, English (Middle), English literature, English poetry, English prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Purgatory
