Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

A miscellaneous collection of notes, extracts from diverse books, copys of manuscripts etc.

Authors

• Howell, James, 1594?-1666
• Benserade, Isaac de, 1613-1691
• Ovid, 43 B.C.-17 or 18 A.D
• J. B. fl. 1648-1654
• Sorbière, Samuel, 1615-1670
• Halifax, George Savile, Marquis of, 1633-1695

Other related names

• Wallace, J, former owner

Call number

Ms. Codex 1584
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4861406
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4861406

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

English, with 8 items in French (p. 21-39, 46, 49-54, 56-57, 193-223, 277-287)

Origin

Date

after 1695

Place

England?

Summary

A compilation of religious, literary, and historical works. The table of contents (p. iii-vi) gives dates of copying for many items, ranging from 1679-1695, but the items are not arranged in order of copying, so they all seem to have been copied again after at least 1694 (date of the second item in the manuscript) or even 1695 (latest date, of item 27). Nearly half the manuscript is devoted to material described in the table of contents as "Of death, repentance, divine forgiveness etc. in certain meditations, a collection of some scripture texts, reflections on others on the same subjects, prayers and verses of a penitent soul in affliction" (p. 93-173). Opening with a slightly abridged version of the Reverend Joseph Hall's epistle to Sir Andrew Asteley, this section of the manuscript also includes scriptural passages (usually with marginal chapter and verse references, which show signs of trimming) and unattributed poems and prayers. Other moderately substantial items include two unattributed works on geography(p. 1-39); anecdotal excerpts from the letters of James Howell (p. 71-91); the captions from the engravings in Isaac de Benserade's presentation of Ovid's Metamorphoses in verse (p. 193-223); excerpts from John Bulwer's Chirologia (p. 225-247); excerpts from Samuel Sorbière's Sorberiana (p. 277-287); a copy of George Savile's Character of a trimmer, noted in the table of contents as having been made from a manuscript in 1686, before the work's publication (p. 289-358); and a speech by Sir Edward Seymour (1633-1708) to Parliament in 1692 (p. 361-374). Named authors of smaller excerpts include the cardinal Arnaud d'Ossat, Michel de Montaigne, John Milton, Hugo Grotius, and Sir William Temple. The latest item in the manuscript, dated 1695, is an apologetic text about the refusal of Quakers to swear oaths. The last item listed in the table of contents is not present in the manuscript, suggesting that the end of the manuscript is missing. A clipping of a poem titled The limbo of lost reputations (by Thomas Moore, here unattributed), from the Times, 6 March 1828, is pasted inside the lower cover.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from title page (p. i).
   

Extent

190 leaves : 310 x 198 (268 x 159) mm. bound to 320 x 218 mm

Foliation

Paper, 190 leaves; [i-vi], 1-374; contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners; modern pagination in pencil, lower outer corners. Catchwords on all pages, lower right recto.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary paneled calf (Gedge).

Layout

Written in 30-37 long lines; text block outlined in lead.

Decoration

Diagram for the interpretation of moles, with numbered moles marked in ink on a pencil sketch of a face and neck (p. 253); pencil sketch of mnemonic hand with letters (p. 263); diagram in ink of hand with signs and instructions for palm reading (p. 265).

Script

Written in a cursive script, perhaps by multiple hands.

Provenance

• Inscription of former owner or possibly compiler: J. Wallace Jr., No. 56 (p. ii).
   
• Sold by Samuel Gedge Ltd. (Mundesley, England), cat. 9 (2010), no. 128.
   

Subjects topical

• Anecdotes--Early works to 1800
• Christian life--Meditations--Early works to 1800
• English poetry--17th century
• Geography--Early works to 1800
• Mnemonics--Early works to 1850
• Society of Friends--Apologetic works--Early works to 1800
• Palmistry--Early works to 1850

Genres

• Codices
• Abridgements
• Excerpts
• Poems
• Prayers
• Treatises
• Manuscripts, English--17th century
• Manuscripts, English--18th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2016 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  All referenced images and their content are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Decorations

• 253 — Diagram, p. 253
• 263 — Diagram, p. 263
• 265 — Diagram, p. 265