Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum, MS McClean 4
Diktyon no.: Diktyon 11858
Contents
Language(s): Greek
Defective at the beginning, with lacunas: begins during the lection for Monday of the 5th week of John (Jn 8:43)
Gregory-Aland l 1573
Defective at the beginning and end
Defective at the beginning, with lacunas
Defective at the beginning, with lacunas
f. 103v is blank
Defective at the end, with lacunas
Defective at the beginning, with lacunas
f. 118v is blank
Defective at the end, with lacunas
Defective at the beginning and end
Defective at the beginning, with lacunas
Incomplete, with lacunas
Incomplete, with lacunas
f. 165v is blank
Physical Description
Collation
The manuscript consists of 30 quires, of which one is a single bifolio and the rest were probably quaternia. Due to the loss of many folios, this reconstruction is conjectural in places. As indicated below, a number of folios have been bound out of order. The foliation numbers f. 7 according to its proper placement in the sequence of the text rather than its current location, but other misplaced folios are numbered by their current sequence. A number of original quires have been lost, preceding the present Quires 1, 3, 5, 13, 14, 16 and 21.
- Quire 18-1 ff. 1-6, 8 The seventh folio has become detached and been bound out of position in Quire 2.
- Quire 28-4+1 ff. 9, 7, 10-12 The second and sixth-eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text; the seventh folio of Quire 1 has been bound out of position after the first folio of this quire.
- Quire 38-4 ff. 13-16 This quire is misplaced, and should appear after Quire 4; two of its folios are detached, appearing after Quire 4: f. 21 is the original first folio of this quire and f. 22 the sixth; the seventh and eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 48-4 ff. 17-20 This quire is misplaced, and should appear before Quire 3; the first-fourth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 3a1 f. 21 This is the detached original first folio of Quire 3.
- Quire 3b1 f. 22 This is the detached original sixth folio of Quire 3.
- Quire 58-6 ff. 23-24 The first-sixth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quires 6-78 ff. 25-40
- Quire 88-5 ff. 41-43 The first-third, sixth and eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 98 ff. 44-51
- Quire 108-1 ff. 52-58 The eighth folio has been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 118 ff. 59-66
- Quire 128-5 ff. 67-69 The fourth-eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 138 ff. 70-78
- Quire 148-2 ff. 79-84 The first and third folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 158-3 ff. 85-89 The sixth-eighth folios have been lost or cancelled, with loss of text.
- Quire 168 ff. 90-97
- Quire 178-4 ff. 98-101 The first-second and seventh-eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 188-4 ff. 102-105 The first-fourth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 198-2 ff. 106-111 The first and sixth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 208-7 ff. 112-112 The second-eighth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 218-3 ff. 113-117 The sixth-eighth folios have been lost or cancelled, with loss of text.
- Quire 222 ff. 118-119
- Quire 234-1 ff. 120-122 The first folio has been cancelled, without loss of text.
- Quire 248-2 ff. 123-128 The first and sixth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 258-1 ff. 129-135 The eighth folio has been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 268-2 ff. 136-141 The fourth-fifth folios have been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 278 ff. 142-149
- Quire 288-1 ff. 150-156 The seventh folio has been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 298-1 ff. 157-163 The second folio has been lost, with loss of text.
- Quire 302 ff. 164-165
Condition
Layout
Two columns of 24 lines. 212 × 160 mm. Piercing survives in all three margins. Ruled in hardpoint, system Leroy 1, type Leroy 44C2. Text hangs from the lines.
Hand(s)
The text was copied in mixed minuscule script, upright or slanting slightly to the right, in black ink, with modest variation in letter size. There is occasional modest flourishing of tails into the lower margin.
Syllabic abbreviations and superscript word endings only at the end of lines. Breathings are round and mute iota is absent. There is frequent decorative use of the double dot, and accentuation of all lengths of nomina sacra . The circumflex appears above breathings and is often expanded there. The double grave accent is in use.
Punctuation used includes the middle and upper points, middle comma, question mark and full stop. Middle and upper points are occasionally marked in red ink, and on other occasions are very often accompanied by a cross in red ink.
Lection headings and other rubric were written in Alexandrine majuscule script in red ink and gilded.
Decoration
Pylai in red, blue, green and white paint and gold precede the beginning of the menologion on f. 119r and the beginning of the eothina on f. 157r. A similar headpiece probably originally preceded the beginning of the weeks on f. 104r, but appears to have been deliberately cut out. The opening folios of other major sections of the synaxarion have been lost, but may be supposed to have received similar ornament. Narrow bands of ornament in gold, sometimes with red and blue paint infill, mark the beginning or end of some months of the menologion and miscellaneous texts (e.g. ff. 58v, 142v, 145v, 151v, 153r).
Each lection begins with an ornamented initial, sometimes in gold alone, usually outlined in red ink which has been gilded, with red, blue, green and white paint infill.
Lection headings and rubrics were written in red ink and gilded. Most of the rubrics in the last few folios (ff. 159v-165r) lack gilding, but traces of gold in places suggest that this is due to the loss of the original gilding rather than its original omission.
Additions
As part of the original production of the manuscript, lection notes have been included in the margins.
There are occasional pen-trials or doodles (e.g ff. 71r).
There is a note of ownership by Angelos Staka on f. 1r: ‘Κτῆμα τοῦ Ἀγγελῆ Κ. Στάκα’.
Binding
19th-century binding, hollow back, sewn with cord on recessed supports, with red velvet covering over millboards, parchment pastedowns.
337 × 270 × 51 mm.
Both endbands are partially split, in line with a preferential opening between ff. 72-73.
Accompanying Material
There are separate sewn parchment endleaves, belonging to the present binding. There is a bookplate indicating ownership by Frank McClean on the left pastedown, along with a printed description of the manuscript and a brief note of its content and date in pencil. A loose slip of paper with a brief description, clipped from the Sotheby's sale catalogue, is inserted inside the left board.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Owned by Angelos Staka , as indicated by the note on f. 1r.
Owned by the historian Henry White (1812-1880) .
Owned by the astronomer and collector Frank McClean (1837-1904) : purchased in the auction of the White collection at Sotheby's in April 1902 (lot 849).
Bequeathed to the Fitzwilliam Museum by Frank McClean , together with the rest of his collection, in 1904.
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Visitors to the Fitzwilliam Museum who wish to consult Collection material are required to apply to the Museum in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Fitzwilliam Museum: Study Room.
Bibliography
-
A descriptive catalogue of the McClean
collection of manuscripts in the Fitzwilliam museum, James, M.R. (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1912)
Funding of Cataloguing
The Polonsky Foundation
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
