|
|
|
|
|
|
Detailed record for Harley 2833
|
|
|
|
| Title |
Bible, from Genesis to Job, vol. 1 |
| Origin |
France, W. (possibly Angers) |
| Date |
3rd quarter of the 12th century |
| Language |
Latin |
| Script |
Protogothic |
| Decoration |
Large historiated initials in colours and gold with foliate decoration and interlace (Creation scenes (f. 2), Pharaoh addressing Moses and Aaron (f. 30), Moses in prayer before God (f. 68), God speaking to Joshua (f. 107v), Ruth (f. 131v), David and Goliath (f. 134v), Isaiah writing (f. 195v), a sickbed or deathbed scene (f. 285v), Job on the dungheap (f. 306)). Large initials in colours and gold with foliate decoration, interlace, and occasionally hybrid figures and naked human figures, birds (ff. 1, 52v, 89v, 119v, 150v, 164v, 180v, 219, 249, 274). Large initials in gold with a combination of blue, red, green and ochre penwork (ff. 107, 133, 195v, 219, 273v, 285, 289, 290 (x2), 293 (x3), 293v, 294, 296 (x2), 297 (x2), 298 (x2), 299, 299v, 300, 304 (x2), 305v). Large initial in silver with blue and red penwork decoration (ff. 248v, 288v, 294), or in gold and silver with red penwork (f. 300). Coloured initials in blue, red, or brown (only f. 19v). Rubrics in red or blue. |
| Dimensions in mm |
500 x 360 (355 x 230), in 2 columns |
| Official foliation |
ff. 319 (+ 2 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and at the end) |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Post-1600. 'Harleian' binding of gold-tooled brown leather. |
| Provenance |
Cathedral of Angers, France: inscribed, ?13th century, 'Hec sunt ornam[en]ta ist[ius] ecclesie. Sex caliceis. Uno encensiers arge[n]ti. Quatuor bibles duo veit et duo nov[...]. Viginti quinque ?toalleis. Tria gradualia. Duo antifonaria. [erased] psalteria. Duo tropiers. Un[o] eva[n]gelier. Unu[s] epistolier' followed by an erased inscription (f. 319v), early 18th-century spine inscribed 'Textus SS. Bibliorum Andegavensis Ecclesiae Cathedralis'.
Added medieval foliation in Roman numerals.
Some faces added along the text in brown ink (e.g., ff. 5v, 6).
John Chamberlayne (b. 1666, d. 1723), son of Edward Chamberlayne (b. 1616, d. 1703): sale of his library conducted by Daniel Browne, bookseller at the Black Swan and Bible Without-Temple-Bar, 11 March 1723/4 (see Wright 1972).
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley ‘11 die Martij, A.D. 1723/4’ (f. 1).
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. |
| Notes |
Vol. 2 is Harley 2834.
Each section is preceded by a capitula list. |
| Select bibliography |
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), no. 2833.
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 281, n. 6.
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 50, 85, 101. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
f. 2
Creation scenes |
f. 30
Pharaoh, Moses and Aaron |
f. 69
Moses |
| |
f. 107v
Joshua |
f. 119v
Inhabited initial |
f. 131v
Ruth |
| |
f. 133
Decorated initial |
f. 134v
David and Goliath |
f. 195v
Isaiah |
| |
f. 285v
Hosea |
f. 306
Job |
|
|
|
|
