MS. Lyell 69
Contents
This is the dedicatory preface to the Expositio and not the Sigillum
This is not the usual beginning of Bk. I, which is found on fol. 12, but the beginning of the Commentary itself. The next rubric, Osculetur me, given by Stegmüller, is omitted, the text continuing (Sacra scriptura) without a break. Bk. II beg. fol. 57; Bk. III, fol. 121; Bk. IV, fol. 144.
There follows an Epilogue:
The rest of fol. 172v was later filled with theological (?) notes, now erased.
Physical Description
Collation
Condition
Layout
2 cols., 22-4 lines, ruled with a hard point up to fol. 145 and the rest ruled in pencil. Written space 135-40 × 100 mm.
Hand(s)
Firm rounded minuscule, writing above top line
Decoration
Pächt and Alexander ii. 66, pl. VI
Decorated initials.
Pen drawings: fol. 1r, King Solomon; fol. 13v, Christ preaching (?); fol. 121v, head of Christ, and a monster; fol. 144r, a bishop, in the border are a monster and a bird. On fols. 56v-57r similar drawings have been coloured, chiefly in deep blue, with pale blue, orange, green, and violet: fol. 56v, miniature of King Solomon on his throne.
fol. 57r, initial with a bishop.
Border of curling foliage.
Smaller initials in red.
Binding
Modern darkbrown morocco binding by Sangorski and Sutcliffe.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
At the top of fol. 172 is an erased 13th cent. ex-libris: 'Ista cantica est monasterii S[?. . .] F[? . . . . .] de P(ar)m [? . . .]' and above this a later (14th-cent.?) hand has written 'S. Sita' (?).
A later erased note on fol. 1 (17th-18th cent.) apparently described the contents of the MS.
James P. R. Lyell, 1871–1948: bought n February 1942 from E. P. Goldschmidt and Co.: see his Cat. 44, no. II.
Chosen as one of the hundred manuscripts bequeathed to the Bodleian by Lyell in 1948.
Record Sources
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2025-09: Add all information from printed catalogue.