Collections for a list of works by British authors from the earliest times, made by John Bale

Title

Collections for a list of works by British authors from the earliest times, made by John Bale

Shelfmark

MS. Selden Supra 64

Summary

Collections for a list of works by British authors from the earliest times, made by John Bale, probably in 1549-57, in alphabetical order of authors' praenomina, with invaluable references to his sources for almost every entry of a book. The list proper ends at fol. 190, and the rest is occupied with a medley of supplementary matter, except that fols. 220-233 are an index of the authors throughout the volume.

It is more copious than Bale's first published Catalogue (1548), and differs from it and the later and ampler edition of 1557-9 by being, not in chronological but in alphabetical order, in giving references to sources, and in being a note-book, rather than a literary work.

The whole list has been carefully edited by dr. R. L. Poole in the Anecdota Oxoniensia (Oxf. 1902, 4°), under the title Index Britanniae Scriptorum. At p. ix he gives a complete list of the supplementary matter, among which are : Lists of works by some foreign authors, e.g. Baptista Mantuanus (fol. 21); Scriptores et libri anonymi (fol. 7v, etc.); Chronica (fol. 22v, etc.), extracts from old monastic and other catalogues of works (fols. 191-199, etc.). Most of these are printed in full by dr. Poole.

The volume was originally intended to hold some medical recipes, one of which, on fol. 25, ends '1545. per me Thomam Gibsona', who occurs in Bale's list.

Date

Written about A.D. 1549-1557 by John Bale

Language

Latin

Physical facet

On paper

Physical extent

277 Leaves

Custodial history

Manuscript 3467 acquired by the Bodleian Library