Shelfmark
MS 179
Main entry--uniform title
Bible
Title
Pocket Bible [manuscript]
Varying form of title
Title in M. R. James catalogue: Biblia sacra
Publication, distribution, etc.
England, 1225-1275.
Physical description
1 v. : ill. ; 165 x 108 mm.
Language
Written in Latin.
Note
Secundo folio: s[an]c[tu]s uir.
Note
Material: membrane.
Note
Format: codex.
Note
Written space: 115 x 75 mm (Bible); 137 x 94 mm (Dictionary).
Note
Number of leaves: v + 531 + ix.
Note
Accompanying material: printed fragment as lower pastedown: the text contains Psalm 119.119-123 in English, probably from a Book of Common Prayer.
Note
Collation: 1-3¹⁶ 4¹² 5-12¹⁶ 13¹⁴ 14-15¹⁶ 16¹⁴ 17⁸ 18¹⁶ 19¹² 20¹⁰ 21-33¹⁶ 34¹² 35⁸ 36¹⁰ (wants 10), blank.
Note
Quire and leaf signatures and catchwords: none.
Note
Page preparation: ruled in ink, partly faded; pricking visible on the short margin.
Note
Mise-en-page: double columns (Bible, 44 lines) or triple columns (Dictionary, 53 lines) written in a set script below the top line. Rubrics. Running headers. Chapter numbers. Paragraph sgins (Dictionary only). Some maniculae. Medieval foliation in plummet 1-540.
Note
Decoration: historiated initials (7-44 lines) at ff.4r, 231r, 257r, 424v, 455v: the first introduces Genesis and includes six cells portraying Christ holding scrolls in the first five, and standing near a man woman and beasts in the sixth. The second introduces the Psalms and includes a depiction of David playing the harp. The third introduces Proverbs and portrays Solomon holding a scroll and sitting on a throne; it includes a zoomorphic detail. The fourth introduces the Gospel of Matthew, depicting a dragon on a purple-gray background. The fifth introduces Romans and portrays Paul sitting at a desk, writing. Decorated initials (2-28 lines) in blue and red with pen flourishes; those at the beginning of Books are particoloured. Running headers and chapter numbers written in capitals alternating red and blue ink. In-text capitals decorated with red ink on vertical strokes.
Note
Handwriting: northern littera textualis; one hand.
Note
Abbreviation and punctuation: Tironian nota (with and without a crossbar).
Note
Correction: missing text and mistakes sometimes corrected by the Anglicana annotator (see below). In one instance a missing section has been added by a different scribe in textualis at f.452v.
Note
Marginalia, later additions: one annotator writing in a 13th-century Anglicana hand added nota signs, corrections, and maniculae; probably the same hand leaving notes at f.532r-v. A 15th-century secretary hand also added brief notes (e.g. f.73v) and other early modern hands did the same.
Formatted contents note
Contents: ff.1r-506v: Genesis-2 Chronicles (followed by "Oratio ezechie 'sedechie'. Domine omnipotens deus patrum ..."), Ezra, Nehemiah, 3-6 Ezra, Esther, Tobit, Judith, Job, Psalms (numbers 109-132 are abbreviated), and then continues in the usual order, except that Epistles precedes Acts ; f.256r-v: collect, secret, and postcommunion of nine votive masses (incipits in Ker, p. 775); ff.507r-531v: dictionary of Hebrew names.
Citation/references note
N. R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, v. 2 (1977), pp. 774-775
Citation/references note
M. R. James, A descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the library of Eton College (1895), pp. 112-114
Cite as
Eton College Library, MS 179
Provenance
Origin: England.
Provenance
Provenance: faint 15th-century inscription on f. 533r, the words in square brackets read by M. R. James using a reagent: "Ista biblia constat [magistro ricardo] pede doctore quem emebat apud hereford pro iii li vi s viii d"; Richard Pede was dean of Hereford during 1463-1480 (see Emden, Biographical Register of the University of Oxford to AD 1500, pp.1449-1450). Faint inscription on f. 531v, the words in square brackets read by M. R. James using a reagent: "Iste liber est fratris R[icardi Lynke] ex dono magistri Ricardi [Pede]" (A friar minor of this name was vicar of Woolavington, Somerset, 1498-1503. See Victoria Country Histories, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol8/pp210-223, accessed April 2021). Inscription on f.v verso: "Jo. Walter 1625" and an illegible erasure. Inscription on f.iv recto: "Liber collegii B.M. de Etona d.d. Edw. Betham Socius 1776", i.e. donation by Eton Fellow Edward Betham (1709-1783). Samuel Meyrick L.L.D. (1783-1848) wrote his estimate of the date "Time of Henry 3rd" and his name on the inner front cover.
Binding
16th-century English binding, brown leather on pasteboards. Covers decorated with double gilt fillets to form a border, with gilt tools at the corner and centrepiece; gilt fillet on board edges; metal clasps. Spine with five raised bands, decorated with gilt fillets. Textblock gilted. Endpapers of medieval membrane and modern paper; f.533 is an original pastedown.
Subject
Bible. Manuscripts.
Added entry--name
Betham, Edward, 1709 - 1783 former owner.
Added entry--name
Meyrick, Samuel Rush, 1783 - 1848 annotator.
Added entry--place
England.
Language code
lat
Identifier
B50139