A catalogue of Western manuscripts at the Bodleian Libraries and selected Oxford colleges

MS. Bodl. 592

Summary Catalogue no.: 2365

Contents

(fol. iv)
Walter Hilton, Scale of Perfection
Rubric: The book that is clepid Scala perfeccionis
Incipit: Goostli suster in Ihesu Crist, I praie thee that in the callynge

In two parts (see fol. 80), with a table of the chapters of each part prefixed

In 92 + 46 chapters

Apparently copied from London, Lambeth Palace Library, MS. 472, partway through that manuscript's process of correction (Michael G. Sargent, 'Some codicological observations on manuscripts of Walter Hilton’s Scale of Perfection', in Scribal Cultures in Late Medieval England: Essays in Honour of Linne R. Mooney, edited by Margaret Connolly, Holly James-Maddocks, and Derek Pearsall (2022), pp. 183-199 at 189-190.

Language(s): Middle English

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: parchment
Extent: v + 188 leaves
Dimensions (binding): 8.5 × 6.25 in.

Decoration

Illuminated capitals.

Additions: There is scribbling on fols iii, v and 186

History

Origin: 15th century, first half ; England

Provenance and Acquisition

Apparently in Dorset in the 16th century: on fol. iv is a copy of an agreement by Isabella Edrygge of Lyme Regis, 1515, 'per me fratrem Thomam Sutton Glastonie cellerium forinsicum'; fol. v, an acknowledgement of a debt by Thomas Bragg of Thornecombe in Devonshire, in Latin (16th century); fol. vi, a copy of a letter from Nicholas Webber of Lyme Regis (16th century)

'John Deare', 1583 (fol. iii)

'John Peache', fol. 186v (early 17th cent)

Presented by Joseph Maynard, late fellow of Exeter college, Oxford, on 8 May 1662, having been bought by him at Dorchester on 22 November 1660

Record Sources

Description adapted (December 2024) by Stewart J. Brookes from the Summary Catalogue (1922) with additional reference to published literature as cited.

Last Substantive Revision

2024-12-26: Description revised to incorporate all the information in the Summary Catalogue (1922)