Merton College MS. 279
Former shelfmark: O. 1. 11
JOHN DUMBLETON; S. XIV ex.
Contents
Language(s): Latin
f. i blank. On f. ii are pen-trials and a title, s. xvii; the verso is blank.
Arranged in 2 cols, written in an anglicana hand of s. xiv ex.
f. vrv is blank but for a pen-trial of s. xv on the verso, ‘quod [?Arenauetus]’.
Unpr.; extracts ed. E. D. Sylla, The Oxford Calculators and the Mathematics of Motion, 1320–1350 (New York, NY, 1991), pp. 565–625; M. Clagett, The Science of Mechanics in the Middle Ages (Madison, WI, 1959), pp. 317–25; Lohr, pp. 188–9; Stegmüller, Sent. 420, 1; eTK 1055K, ; P. V. Spade, The Medieval Liar; A Catalogue of the Insolubilia-Literature (Toronto, 1975), pp. 63–5; Sharpe, Handlist, p. 239. Here without the prologue.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Frame-ruled with pencil in 2 cols; written in c. 40 lines.
Hand(s)
A single anglicana hand, the ink sometimes very pale.
Decoration
Blue initials flourished in red; red or blue paraphs; running heads in red and blue capitals.
Binding
Standard Merton s. xvii; sewn on five bands; formerly chained from the usual position. f. i, little more than a stub, was formerly a pastedown in an earlier binding sewn on four bands. At the head of f. ii is the mark of an iron chain-staple. Fols. 178–9 are paper binding leaves, from a copy of the same printed book as in MS 272.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Given to the College by William Reed in 1374: UO49. 24, citing the secundo folio numquam luminosum, which occurs in the table on f. iv. On the mutilated f. iv are the remains of Reed’s usual descriptions and tables of contents: ‘… Oretis igitur pro utroque’; ‘… naturalibus et continent .9. partes’; ‘… de libraria’; ‘… eiusdem et ad usum | …o uenerabilis patris domini | … ⟨exec⟩utoribus eiusdem ac | …’. The last is the remains of William Reed’s ex dono, in the hand of his clerk Walter Roberti. For Reed, fellow from 1344 until at least 1357, d. 1385, see MS 8.
Inside the front board is a sheet of paper with a title, s. xvii, ‘Q. 1. 11. Art:’, s. xvii, canc. and replaced with ‘O. 1. 11 (CCLXXIX)’, in red; the College bookplate. On fols. ii and 1 is the James no. ‘97’, s. xvii in.
Record Sources
Availability
For enquiries relating to this manuscript please contact Merton College Library.
Bibliography

Funding of Cataloguing
Conversion of the printed catalogue to TEI funded by the Warden and Fellows of Merton College .
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2019-10-14: First online publication