Details

Subject(s)

• English literature—Middle English, 1100-1500—Early works to 1800 [Browse]
• Romances—Early works to 1800 [Browse]
• Manuscripts, English (Middle)—New Jersey—Princeton [Browse]

Former owner

• Stapleton, Miles, Sir, 1408-1466 [Browse]
• Stapleton, Katherine, 1416-1488 [Browse]
• Lloyd-Anstruther, Robert Hamilton, 1841-1914 [Browse]

Donor

• Garrett, Robert, 1875-1961 [Browse]

Related name

• Princeton University. Library. Manuscript. Garrett MS. 141 [Browse]

Bookseller

• Bernard Quaritch (Firm) [Browse]

Rare books genre

• Embroidered bindings [Browse]

Getty AAT genre

• Manuscripts—England—15th century [Browse]

Summary note

Contains the poem Amoryus and Cleopes and several medieval scientific/philosophical treatises, all written by the Norfolk-based writer John Metham.

Notes

• Ms. composite codex.
• Title from printed catalog.
• Script: Anglicana formata of varying quality, verging at times on Secretary.
• Origin: Produced in East Anglia, starting in 1448 and possibly until 1470.

Binding note

Bound in England in the 15th and 18th century: the cushioned wooden boards are probably original, along with the parchment pastedowns which are now covered by an embroidered armorial brown velvet cover with red maroon silk flaps, dating no earlier than the 17th century. The textblock is sewn on 5 split thongs, the cover was made for (or by) a Lloyd family member in the 18th century, as suggested by the embroidered arms (lozenge sable, three horse heads erased argent). The back cover has an embroidered crest (horse head erased on a wreath, argent and gules). A maroon silk bookmarker is attached to the cover's simulated endbands.

Language note

In Middle English.

Contents

• Treatise on palmistry
• Amoryus and Cleopes
• Physiognomy
• Christmas day
• Days of the moon
• Christmas day.

Show 3 more Contents items

Provenance

The first owners of the manuscript were Sir Miles Stapleton (1408-1466), of Ingham, Norfolk, and his first wife, Katherine de la Pole (1416-1488), the patrons for whom the author John Metham composed Amoryus and Cleopes. Pen trials dating from the 16th century include the names Wentworth, James Euerarde (fol. i recto), Ezekiel Ampleforde (fol. 86v), Henry Anslone (or Anslowe), Ashenden, Henry Northumberlande, and Johannes Indogines(?), John hylle (fol. 87v); and a late 15th- or early 16th-century pen trial on fol. 73v, “Most good and most excelent good lord therlle [i.e., the earl] of Southampton.” According to current research by Robert Williams, the manuscript probably came into the possession of the Lloyd family of Worcestershire in approximately 1730-1750, when the embroidered cover was added with the Lloyd arms (see Binding). The British collector Lieutenant Colonel Robert Hamilton Lloyd Anstruther (1841-1914), of Hintlesham Hall, Ipswich, Norfolk, sold the manuscript to the London antiquarian bookseller Bernard Quaritch. Robert Garrett (1875-1961), of Baltimore, Maryland, Class of 1897, purchased the manuscript from Quaritch on 24 September 1903 and donated it to Princeton University Library in 1942.

Source acquisition

Gift; of Robert Garrett, Princeton Class of 1897, 1942.

References

• Medieval & Renaissance manuscripts in the Princeton University Library, pages 324-328
• Ricci, S. de. Census of medieval and Renaissance manuscripts in the United States and Canada, volume 1, page 893

Cite as

Garrett MS. 141, Manuscripts Division, Department of Rare Books and Special Collections, Princeton University Library.

Other format(s)

Also available in an electronic version.

In

Robert Garrett Collection

OCLC

1044822094

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