John Lydgate, ‘Calendar’ bound with printed book b.2.24

Title

John Lydgate, ‘Calendar’ bound with printed book b.2.24

Shelfmark

St John's College MS 340

Place of origin

England

Date

s. xv2

Language

Middle English (1100-1500)

Contents

Form

codex

Support

Paper. Given the position of the watermarks on fols. 3 and 4, the remains of a quire folded in folio. The mark is not identifiable.

Physical extent

Fols. 5. (width measured to the end of the longest line)

Hands

Written in anglicana. Unpunctuated.

Decoration

Offset dominical (and other) letters, those for Sundays ‘A’ in red.

The names of the saints also in red.

Binding

Plain brown leather over millboards, s. xvii. Sewn on five thongs. In the spine compartments, four red leather tags with indications of contents (directing attention to the prints only), gold stamped. Pastedowns modern paper, a College bookplate on the front pastedown. Pages red-speckled on all edges. Bound, as fols. 66–70 of the whole, among four books printed by William Caxton: ‘paruus Chato’ ( STC 4852, 1483), ‘Lydgate's ‘court of sapience’ ( STC 17015, 1480), followed by a blank flyleaf with Latin proverbs and distichs recto and verso and by the manuscript portion and a further, soiled flyleaf ‘the pylgremage of the sowle’ ( STC 6473, 1483; the final leaf extremely soiled as if long unbound); and Eneydos (STC 24796 , 1490?).

Acquisition

‘Liber Collegii Sancti Joannis Baptistae Oxon Ex Legato N CrynesA.M. Ejusdem olim Socii 1745’ (‘Parvus Cato’, sig. a ij).

Provenance

‘Edward Bullyn’ eleven times, in whole or part; ‘ Roberd Cranewelle’; and the pen-trial ‘A lytle w thoneste ys good’ (‘Parvus cato’, sig. d [iv]v, the blank final leaf; all s. xv/xvi).

‘Castellowith this book’, the opening of an incomplete ownership verse; ‘Castell liber’ ( Eneydos, sig. [L vii]v, above Caxton’s device; s. xvi 1); much written over and with further notes, some of s. xviii.

In the upper margin, ‘Anno 1553’ and in a different hand ‘ Iemes Leonard owith this boke’ (also s. xvi); at the page foot, s. xvii or xviii, ‘ Thom. Tanner’ and some pen-trials, early s. xvi ( Eneydos, sig. B i ).

The monogram ‘WS’, surmounted by a Greek cross and the signature ‘ Wylliam sinvnsun/sinonsun ’ twice; at the page foot a cancelled signature of ‘ —— Danner’ (fol. 71, the flyleaf between the MS and ‘pylgremage’, s. xviii).

A smudged signature (Eneydos, sig. [C v] , upper margin).

‘Sarah Pickring’ (fol. 1 , the outer margin; s. xviii); another partial signature cut off at foot of fol. 2; ‘Memorandum xxiij die Septembris’ ( fol. 4v, partly repeated; s. xvi in.).

The old shelfmarks [psi].100, cancelled with ‘Arch. A.50’ added (the front pastedown).