Bartholomew the Englishman, De proprietatibus rerum, preceded by medical receipts

Contents

1. ff 1v-2r Memoranda of accounts due to William Adam alias Paynter and others for work done in 1496-1498. These seem to be a builder's (or stone-mason's) accounts, which came to xiii l. ix s. 6 1/2 d. It appears to have been paid 'in festo sancti michaelis archangeli ... his testibus Johannes Mandsele, Johannes lambell, Johannes Baker et Ricardus penton alias pris [?]'.

2. ff. 2v-3v Medical receipts in English (c. 1500) by the same hand.

3. ff. 4r-194v Bartholomew the Englishman, De proprietatibus rerum

f. 4r Hic incipit tabula Bartholomaei de proprietatibus rerum. 1. De imploratione auxilii ... f. 10v Explicit tabula huius libri de proprietatibus rerum deo gracias. Constat J. Taylor vicario de Ilemystria. f. 11r Cum proprietates rerum sequantur substancias secundum distinctionem et ordinem substanciarum ... f. 194v ... principium et finis omnium qui est deus sublimis gloriosus viuens et regnans in secula seculorum amen. Auctores de quorum scriptis sunt hec traducta sunt isti augustinus. adamantius. ambrosius ... ricardius de sancto victore symon cornelius.

Mid-14th Century

1 volume 194 ll. folio. 29 1/2 x 20 cm. On vellum, old deerskin binding over wooden boards, greatly worn: both clasps wanting. The last leaf of the text is missing, first 6 leaves of text stained, lower margin of leaf 134 cut away. Written in a neat gothic hand in double column, probably in England, 56-61 lines to a column. On f. 11 and f. 125 are large ornamental initials in blue and red with marginal decorations; other capitals in alternate red and blue, and blue and red, with marginal decorations; paragraph marks in alternate red and blue. In the outer margin of leaf 70 are two pen-drawn sketches, the first a half length figure of a man in cap and gown sitting at a table, the second a similar figure of an elderly lady with wimples standing. The original foliation runs from the beginning of the text (11th leaf) to 95 (105th leaf). In this catalogue record, a new foliation beginning at the first leaf of the volume is used.

Purchased at Sotheby's 4 February 1914 (Dunn Sale), Lot 1136.

John Taylor was appointed Vicar of Ilminster (Somerset) in 1469, and died in 1515.

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Catalogue description modified in 2014. For original description, see S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

On leaf 106v is the signature of 'Wyllyam Portman' in a late 15th century hand. On the first leaf is the signature of Henry Seymour (1729-1805), politician and lover of Madame Dubarry. The same signature is also on an inserted slip, probably written earlier, containing a note about this manuscript. Ex-libris of Robert Reynolds Steele (1860-1944) of Wandsworth Common, and of George Dunn ( -1912) of Wooley Hall near Maidenhead, whose initials and the date 1902 in pencil are found on the first leaf.