MS. Add. C. 108
Summary Catalogue no.: 28940
Testamenta duodecim patriarcharum; Joseph and Asenath; Richard de Bury, Philobiblon; Jean Gerson, De laude scriptorum; etc. Germany, 15th century, second half
Contents
Language(s): Latin
translated by Robert Grosseteste
In his notes on the flyleaves Bliss refers to correspondence with Robert Curzon, who discussed the Book of Asenath (a different, longer, text) in his Armenia: A year at Erzeroom … (London, 1854), p. 204.
This manuscript and its text are discussed by Andrew Fleming West, The Philobiblon of Richard de Bury, iii (New York, 1889), pp. 84–86.
The first words are Absintheum, Abrogare, Acuratissime, and Agapeta; the last are Ydea, Yle, Yperdulia, and Zelus.
West, op. cit. , p. 85–8, states that 244 words are defined, of which about 200 are from the Philobiblon; he cites this unique ‘Oxford Glossary’ at pp. 103, 110, 116.
Physical Description
Collation
Layout
Frame-ruled in pale ink for two columns of about 41–43 lines, c. 217 × 153 mm.
Hand(s)
Gothic hybrida.
Decoration
2- and 3-line initials in plain red
Binding
Bound in brown cloth, matching MS. Add. C. 109 and MS. Add. C. 110, probably for Bliss by David Nutt, of Winchester (see MS. Add. C. 110); the spine stamped in gilt with the shelfmark and ‘MSS | I–II’. The edges of the leaves speckled red.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Edward Lumley (1806–1874), bookseller of Chancery Lane and High Holborn, London.
William Henry Bliss (1835–1911), scholar, priest, convert to Catholicism, Keeper of Periodicals at the Bodleian, and representative of the Public Record Office in the Vatican Archives; with his armorial bookplate (with his shield, crest, name, and motto ‘Quod severis metes’) inscribed in pencil ‘1854.’; his name in pencil (fols. 18r, 20r); an ink stamp with his family crest, a sheaf of wheat, and motto ‘They that sow in tears shall reap in joy’ (fol. i recto); inscribed ‘These MSS, and three others bound up in two volumes similar to this one were purchased of Mr Lumley bookseller, of Holborn; being part of a volume in the original oak & stamped leather binding & which contained a copy of Walter Burley’s Lives of the Philosophers – [printed by] Coburger of Nuremberg 1477’ (fol. i recto; the latter is now Auct 2 Q inf. 2.73); with further notes on the MSS texts on fol. ii r–v and within the volume.
Purchased from Bliss by the Bodleian, 26 June 1868, for £1 10s 0d.; inscribed ‘purchased in 1868’ (front pastedown). Former Bodleian shelfmarks: ‘MSS. Addit. Bodl. Π. E. 19’ (‘Π. E. 19’ cancelled by encircling and superseded by ‘C. 108’, also encircled).
Record Sources
Digital Images
Digital Bodleian (full digital facsimile)
Bibliography
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
Last Substantive Revision
2021-06-11: Andrew Dunning Encoded Peter Kidd description.