|
|
|
|
| not foliated |
|
| Title |
Laws of King Alfred |
| |
| |
|
| Title |
Fragments of a Missal(?) used as binder's waste |
| |
| Origin |
England |
| Date |
c. 1550 |
| Language |
Old Enlish and English |
| Script |
Anglo-saxon minuscule (versos) and Humanistic cursive (facing rectos) |
| Scribe |
Laurence Nowell |
| Decoration |
Large and small initials in plain red or blue. |
| Dimensions in mm |
215 x 150 (155 x 95) |
| Official foliation |
not foliated |
| Form |
Parchment codex |
| Binding |
Pre-1600. Gold-tooled limp vellum. |
| Provenance |
Written by Laurence Nowell, dean of Lichfield (b. c. 1516, d. 1576), according to G. F. Warner whose note is kept with the manuscript and whose opinion is recorded on the first flyleaf.
Thomas Lambard, pupil of Nowell, by 1634: inscribed 'K: Aelfreds Laws in Saxon and Englishe: [signed] Thomas Lambard 1634' (1st flyleaf verso).
Amy Charlotte Hare: her sale, 21 April 1943, lot 263.
Henry Davis (b. 1897, d. 1977), businessman and book collector: with his number plate 'HD M30' (1st flyleaf).
The Henry Davis Gift of book-bindings was donated to the British Museum in 1968. |
| Notes |
This manuscript is kept with the rest of the Henry Davis collection in the Rare Books and Music Department of the British Library. Applications to examine it may be made at the Reference Enquiries desk in the Rare Books and Music Reading Room. |
| Select bibliography |
Mirjam M. Foot, The Henry Davis Gift: A Collection of Bookbindings, 2 vols (London: British Library 1978-1983), II, no. 44 [with additional bibliography].
'Davis59' in British Library database of Bookbindings, http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/bookbindings [last accessed 28 February 2006]. |
| Last revised: 01 March 2006 |
