Hugo de S. Caro, In Proverbia, Ecclesiasten, Cantica; Oxford, England, 1465

Title

Hugo de S. Caro, In Proverbia, Ecclesiasten, Cantica; Oxford, England, 1465

Shelfmark

Exeter College MS. 55

Place of origin

Oxford, England

Date

1465

Language

Latin

Contents

Form

codex

Support

parchment HFFH

Physical extent

223 leaves preceded and followed by one 18th-century flyleaf.

Hands

Fols. 1–218ra/9 written by Scribe 2; see Watson, Exeter, pp. 85–87.

Fols. 218ra/9–23r written by Scribe 3 (William Osborne?); see Watson, Exeter, pp. 85–87.

Decoration

Of the same type as in MS 51 and by the same artist, Artist B, for a characterization of whose work see Watson, Exeter, pp. 85–87.

Item 1 fol. 1r has an illuminated border, illuminated initials at the beginning of chapters, red underlining of lemmata, blue and red paraphs, and rubrics. Item 2 has a similar border on fol. 120r, and blue and red paraphs. Item 3 has a border on fol. 181r which contains Keys’s arms, red and blue paraphs, and illuminated initials for chapter beginnings.

Binding

Stamped leather bindings over square-edged wooden boards, (presumably) rebound; stamp used was employed in Oxford between 1535 and 1621, here in the second phase state, probably c. 1605–10. Two straps held by nails. Refurbished in the 19th century (1839?): that volumes were resewn is indicated by the very tight binding, which makes collation difficult, and by the provision of new endbands; edges were stained red; book was reinforced by pasting long strips of canvas round the spine and attached to the boards, and the old spines were replaced. Sewn on seven bands. For other details see Watson, Exeter, p. 87.

Provenance

Arms excised from the border of fol. 1r will have been Keys’s. For his ex dono inscription, once probably in this volume, see MS 53, History.

Exeter library identifications are: on fol. 1r ‘Liber Coll: Exon.’ (s. xvi/xvii?); on the front pastedown bookplate 3, and on it ‘173–F–5’, deleted and replaced by ‘213.E.6’, also ‘Coxe LV (pencil).