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![]() Lansdowne.
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Shaftesbury Psalter. England (West Country), c.1130-40. Lansdowne 383, ff. 12v-13 |
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This collection of more than 500 legal manuscripts was purchased in 1813 from Francis Hargrave, KC (d.1821).
Catalogue
*Available on the Manuscripts On-Line Catalogue.
A catalogue of manuscripts formerly in the possession of Francis Hargrave (London, 1818) (London, 1819).
Charles Burney, D.D. (d.1817), classicist, teacher and bibliophile, amassed a collection of more than 500 manuscripts which was purchased from his executors in 1818. The collection emphasises classical, biblical and medieval authors, and has particular strengths in humanistic and Greek material.
Catalogue
*Index available on the Manuscripts On-Line Catalogue
The Burney Manuscripts [Catalogue of manuscripts in the British Museum, New Series, vol. I], (London, 1840).
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Gospels. E. Mediterranean (Constantinople?), 1285.
Burney 20, f.90v
In 1823, King George IV presented the library of his father, George III, to the nation. This library, distinguished in post-medieval manuscripts, geographical and topographical material, also contained some medieval manuscripts.
Catalogue
*Index available on the Manuscripts On-Line Catalogue except the Index.
George Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, 4 vols (London, 1921).
Further Reading
Elaine M. Paintin, The King’s Library (London, 1989).
George Warner and Julius P. Gilson, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts in the Old Royal and King’s Collections, Volume 3 (London 1921), pp.vii-ix.
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Biblia pauperum. N. Netherlands (The Hague), c. 1395-1400.
Kings 5, f.5
Thomas Howard, 2nd Earl of Arundel (d.1646), amassed what stands as the first major British art collection, which included painting, sculpture, and manuscripts. In 1666 his grandson, Henry Howard, divided the library between the Royal Society and the College of Arms. In 1831 the British Museum purchased the Royal Society’s share of more than 500 manuscripts.
Catalogue
*Available on the Manuscripts On-Line Catalogue.
The Arundel Manuscripts [Catalogue of manuscripts in the British Museum, New Series, vol. I], (London, 1834).
Further Reading
David Howarth, Lord Arundel and His Circle (New Haven, 1985).
Francis C. Springell, Connoisseur and Diplomat: The Earl of Arundel’s Embassy to Germany in 1636 as recounted in William Crowne’s Diary, the Earl’s letters, and other contemporary sources...(London, 1963).
Mary F. S. Hervey, The Life, Correspondence and Collections of Thomas Howard, Earl of Arundel (Cambridge, 1921).
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Eadui Psalter. England (Christ Church, Canterbury), c. 1012-1023
Arundel 155 f.133
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Psalter of Robert De Lisle. England (London?), c. 1310-1340.
Arundel 83 (II), f.124v
Named after Stowe House where the library was assembled by Richard Temple-Nugent-Brydges-Chandos-Grenville, 1st Duke of Buckingham and Chandos (d.1839), the collection was purchased in 1849 by the 4th Earl of Ashburnham. In 1883, the British Museum purchased the collection from the 5th Earl of Ashburnham. Manuscripts of Irish interest were deposited at the Library of the Royal Irish Academy in Dublin, and the rest at the British Museum.
Catalogue
*Available on the Manuscripts On-Line Catalogue.
Catalogue of the Stowe Manuscripts in the British Museum, 2 vols. (London, 1895-1896).
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Liber Vitae of Newminster and Hyde. England (Winchester), c. 1031.
Stowe 944, f. 6v-7
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Hours. S. Netherlands (Liège; Meuse region), 1310-20.
Stowe 17, f.98v (detail)
Henry Yates Thompson (d.1928) assembled a relatively small collection of high-quality illuminated manuscripts. His goal was to possess one hundred of the finest manuscripts that he could acquire; once this ‘Hundred’ was established, he refined the collection by discarding lesser books to make way for new acquisitions. Much of the collection was dispersed by sale and gift before Thompson’s death in 1928, and the residue was bequeathed to the British Museum by his widow, who died in 1941. The British Library has fifty-two Yates Thompson manuscripts.
A virtual tour of the Yates Thompson collection is available on this website.
Catalogue
*Not available on the Manuscripts On-Line Catalogue.
A Descriptive Catalogue of Fifty Manuscripts from the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge, 1898).
A Descriptive Catalogue of the Second Series of Fifty Manuscripts (Nos. 51 to 100) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge, 1902).
A Descriptive Catalogue of Twenty Illuminated Manuscripts, Nos. LXXV to XVIV (Replacing Twenty Discarded from the Original Hundred) in the Collection of Henry Yates Thompson (3rd series, Cambridge, 1907).
A Descriptive Catalogue of Fourteen Illuminated Manuscripts (Nos.XCV to CVII and 79A) Completing the Hundred in the Library of Henry Yates Thompson (Cambridge, 1912).
Further Reading
See the bibliography on the Henry Yates Thompson Tour
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Introduction | Foundation collections | Open-ended collections |
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