MS. Hatton 51
Summary Catalogue no.: 4099
Contents
In eight books, preceded by a table of contents (fol. i) and prologue (fol. 2v)
The text begins on fol. 9v and is imperfect through the loss of fols 60, 82, 121, 131 and of five or six leaves at the end, finishing with 'There ben full many yeres stole' (viii. 2408)
There are some 17th-century notes about Virginia, pigmees etc., on the margins of fols 5v, 6
An unidentified fragment of verse is repeated on a number of folios throughout, including on fols. 168v, 169r, and 177r.
Copied from Caxton's printed edition of 1483 as is made clear by the scribe reproducing the compositorial misprint 'otherwkse' (on the penultimate line of fol. 181r) from Caxton's printed text and also attempting to mirror the two-column layout and pagination of the printed volume (see Aditi Nafde, 'Gower From Print to Manuscript: Copying Caxton in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Hatton 51', in John Gower in Manuscripts and Early Printed Books [2020], p. 189, and N. F. Blake, William Caxton and English Literary Culture [1991], p. 291)
Physical Description
Layout
208–222 × 75–78 mm.
Hand(s)
Two hands (littera hybrida and littera cursiva) in ink of variable colour, with additions by later hands.
Decoration
Coloured capitals.
Sketches on fols. 2r (face), 3v (fish), and 5v (two faces).
Marginal manicula on fols. 3v and 22v.
Binding
Stamped brown leather on boards, with two clasps, in poor condition, contemporary English work
History
Provenance and Acquisition
'Thys ys Harry Fawkener boke, T. Andria Fawkner', early 16th century (fol. 189v)
The name of 'Wylliam Blacker' occurs twice in a 16th-century hand on fol. 167
Christopher, first Baron Hatton (d. 1670)
Bought in 1671 by the Bodleian through the London bookseller Robert Scot (b. in or before 1632, d. 1709/1710); see Summary Catalogue, vol. 2, part 2, p. 801
Record Sources
2025-05-16: Additional data collected by Lauren Bates and Arthur Bellamy as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 29th May 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 4th June 2025.
Bibliography
Online resources:
Printed descriptions:
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2025-05-16: Additional data collected by Lauren Bates and Arthur Bellamy as part of the 'Big Data' and Medieval Manuscripts workshop held at the Bodleian Libraries, Oxford on 29th May 2025. Data encoded in TEI-XML by Sebastian Dows-Miller on 4th June 2025.