MS. Douce 36

Summary Catalogue no.: 21610

Language(s): Middle English with Latin

Fols. 1–10 are paper flyleaves (see Provenance).

1. (fols. 11r–26r)

Tobit in the Later Version of the Wycliffite Bible

Rubric: Here bigynneþ þe bok of tobie

Running titles preceded by red (on the recto) or blue (on the verso) paraphs. Chapter numbers as red Roman numerals, sometimes preceded by ‘þe’. Alternating red and blue paraphs at the beginning of sections within the text. No marginal glosses. Added material within the text underlined in red. Corrections in the original hand.

Final rubric: Here endiþ þe blessid book of tobie

Added pointing hand at 13:6 (‘…knowleche ȝe to hym bifore alle men lyuynge…’); added ‘nota’ at 13:8 (‘preier is good with fastyng & almes, more þan to hide tresouris of gold’) and 13:10 (‘for þei þat don synne and wickidnesse ben enemyes of hire soule’).

2. (fol. 26r)

Added opening verse of psalm 8: ‘Domine dominus noster quam admirabile est nomen tuum in uniuersa terra quoniam eleuata est magnificenti…’. Textura, 15th century, first half.

Fol. 26v is ruled for two columns, but blank.

Fols. 27–38 are paper flyleaves, containing engravings inserted by Douce illustrating Tobit (see Provenance).

Physical Description

Form: codex

Support: parchment, paper flyleaves

Extent: 38 leaves, c.

Dimensions (leaf): 128 × 90 mm.

Foliation: modern in pencil, 1–38

Collation

(fols. 1–10) paper flyleaves | (fols. 11–26) I–II (8) | (fols. 27–38) paper flyleaves. Catchword on fol. 18v.

Secundo Folio: ‘and clooþis’ (fol. 2r)

Layout

ruled in ink for two columns with single vertical and double horizontal bounding lines extending the full height and width of page; 27 lines per page; written space: c. 92 × 60 mm.

Hand(s)

textura, black ink

Decoration

5-line gold initial on blue and pink background at the beginning of the book.

2-line blue initials with red penwork at the beginnings of chapters.

Binding

Red leather over pasteboard, 18th century. Double gilt fillet lines round the outer edge of both covers. Gilt rectangular decoration with floral cornerpieces on both covers; the one on the front cover contains stamped lettering ‘IOSEPH AMES’. Four raised bands on spine; gilt floral decoration on the panels between the bands. Fragments of a label at the bottom of the spine. Gilt edges of text block. Marbled paper pastedowns.

History

Origin: England ; 15th century, first half

Presumably not intended to contain any texts apart from Tobit: the right-hand column on fol. 26r is left blank and fol. 26v has original ruling, but is blank.

Dialect survey:

ony(4)/eny(5), ech(8), ȝouun(3)/ȝouen(1)/ȝoue(1), lijf(10), lijk(4), myche(6), siȝ(4) (sg.), sien(1) (pl.), silf(8)/self(2), suche(1), þouȝ(1)
-iþ(9)/-eþ(1) (pres.ind.3sg.), -en(10) (pres.ind.pl.), -ynge(8)/-inge(2) (pres. part.), sche(10) (3sg.fem.pronoun, nom.), þei(10) (3pl.pronoun, nom.), hem(10) (3pl.pronoun, oblique), her(10) (3pl.pronoun, possessive)

Provenance and Acquisition

‘Hen: Jeffreyes’ (fol. 10v), early 18th century.

Joseph Ames (bap. 1687, d. 1759), bibliographer and antiquary; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘July 26th 1728 Examined this MS. by Wickliffs in Queen’s College Oxford, and find it ye same | Jo: Ames’ (fol. 10r). Armorial book-plate of Ames of Norfolk (fol. 10v); lot 825 at his sale 5 May 1760 (Rogers (1975)).

Mark Cephas Tutet: contained armorial book-plate according to Madan, F., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 4 (collections received during the first half of the 19th century) nos. 16670–24330 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897), currently missing; lot 500 at his sale 15 February 1786 (Rogers (1975)).

Gustavus Brander (1719/20–87), merchant and antiquary; see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘Gustavus Barnder | 1786 | 27’, followed by a note in Douce’s hand: ‘Who paid £1..2..0 for this MS. at Mr Tutets sale’ (fol. 1v). Lot 1085 at his sale in 1790, paid for 16/- by Douce (Rogers (1975)).

Francis Douce (1757–1834); see Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: ‘This agrees with No 2249 Harl. MS. but differs from the book of Tobit in my MS. Wicliffis bible | F. Douce’ (fol. 10r); armorial book-plate (fol. 1r); added engravings (fols. 27v–34v).

Bodleian Library: received in 1834 with bequest of Douce.

Record Sources

Elizabeth Solopova, Manuscripts of the Wycliffite Bible in the Bodleian and Oxford College Libraries, Exeter Medieval Texts and Studies (Liverpool: Liverpool University Press, 2016), no. 12. Previously described:

Summary Catalogue, vol. 4, p. 500

Bibliography

Forshall, J. and Madden, F. (eds), The Holy Bible … in the earliest English versions made from the Latin Vulgate by John Wycliffe and his followers, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1850), vol. 1, pp. xxxvi, l; siglum h.

Madan, F., Summary catalogue of western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford, vol. 4 (collections received during the first half of the 19th century) nos. 16670–24330 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1897), no. 21610.

Rogers, D., ‘Francis Douce’s manuscripts: some hitherto unrecognised provenances’, in Studies in the Book Trade in honour of Graham Pollard, Oxford Bibliographical Society Publications, n.s. 18 (Oxford, 1975), pp. 315–40 at p. 319.

Dove, M., The first English Bible: the text and context of the Wycliffite versions (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), pp. 52 n. 78, 97–8, 299.

Abbreviations

View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.

Last Substantive Revision

2023-03-24: Add Solopova description.

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