Cambridge, University Library, MS Gg.1.21
Acts of the Apostles, glossed
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Rubric added by a 15th-century hand. Text missing between Acts 5:4-5:11 (ff. 20v-21r) and 10:21-10:32 (ff. 42v-43r), owing to the loss of one leaf in each place (see Collation).
Physical Description
20th-century foliation
[i-iii] + 1-87 + [iv-vi]
Written in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the recto side of each leaf, by an unidentified hand of the first half of the 20th century. Another hand has numbered the pastedowns 'A' (front) and '90' (rear), omitted the adjacent endleaves that were added during rebinding (see Binding), and numbered the early modern endleaves and stubs 'B, B1, c' (front) and '88, 89, 89a' (rear). This unsatisfactory and confusing sequence is disregarded for this catalogue record, with references to the endleaves being given in Roman numerals in square brackets, as above - except: the stub 'B' has been digitised, and is shown as such (its counterpart '89a' has not been photographed).
Collation
This collation disagrees with the formula provided by M.R. James in an unpublished description (see Source), which was replicated by H.L. Pink in the manuscript (see Additions), as well as another provided later by Pink in his own unpublished description (see Source). James mistook Quires 4 and 5 for gatherings of six and ten leaves respectively (they both contain eight leaves), and assumed that the last leaf of Quire 11 was missing (whereas an interruption to the hair-flesh sequence shows that the 8th leaf was excised). In his unpublished description, Pink mistook Quires 3 and 4 for regular gatherings of six leaves, counted Quire 5 as ten leaves, and Quire 6 as six leaves.
- Quires 1-28 (ff. 1-16)
- Quire 36-1 (ff. 17-21: 5th leaf missing)
- Quires 4-58 (ff. 22-37)
- Quire 68-1 (ff. 38-44: 6th leaf missing)
- Quires 7-98 (ff. 45-68)
- Quire 1010 (ff. 69-78)
- Quire 1110-1 (ff. 79-87: 8th leaf excised, probably blank)
1-28 36-1 (5th missing) 4-58 68-1 (6th missing) 7-98 1010 1110-1 (8th excised)
Quire signatures (at the ends of Quires 7 and 9; rest gone).
Layout
170 × 110 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame and line. Two or three columns of varying widths and shapes, accommodating text and gloss. 38 lines to the page, written above top line (see also Script).
Hand(s)
Written in a late protogothic script: in large module on alternating lines for the text, and in a smaller module on every line for the gloss.
Decoration
19-line initial in green, blue and red, with arabesque infill and flourishing (f. 1v).
Six two-line initials in red, blue or green, with simple infill or flourishing (f. 1r).
One- or two-line plain initials in ink at the beginning of some chapters, written rather roughly, probably by the scribe or a later, inexpert hand (see, for example, ff. 14v, 23r, 46v).
Human, animal and hybrid grotesques, drawn in light brown ink, adjacent to some chapter numbers (see, for example, 70r, 74r, 75v).
Additions
Chapter numbers in Roman numerals added to the margins by a medieval hand, before the addition of grotesques (see Decoration).
Pen trials by hands of the 13th and 14th centuries (ff. 85v, 86v).
Sketch of an animal/grotesque, perhaps by a later or early modern hand (f. 85v).
Quire signatures ('1-11') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by hands of the 20th century. Signatures for Quires 4, 5 and 6 have been written in the wrong locations, but were then cancelled and re-written in their proper places (see Collation).
Collation formula by the hand of H.L. Pink (f. [vi] recto) (no longer indicative: see Collation).
Binding
Quarter goatskin with marbled paper sides and vellum tips, with title and classmark tooled in gold on the spine, by Douglas Cockerell and Son , Grantchester, May 1970 (note on f. [i] recto by H.L. Pink ).
Former 17th-century binding of speckled calf, with blind-tooled panel with fleurons at its corners, probably over pasteboards; title 'Acta Apost' tooled in gold on red leather spine label. This, together with a portion of the cover, and printed classmark labels, have been retained and pasted onto the front pastedown. The pastedowns from this binding have also been retained and readhered in their places, both pages from a printed Psalter of the 17th century (not yet identified).
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Ely Cathedral
Priory
: distinctive Ely pressmark (resembling
a Roman majuscule numeral II, surmounted by a cross) on f. 1r and ownership
inscription on f. 84v, 'Iste liber pertinet ecclesie Eliensis'.
One of the manuscripts of Richard Holdsworth (1590-1649) , Master of Emmanuel College.
Acquired by the University Library in July 1664: no. 115 in the inventory of Holdsworth's manuscripts compiled by William Crowe (MS Ff.4.27 / Dd.8.45).
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.
Custodial History
Bibliography
-
A catalogue of the manuscripts preserved in the library of the University of Cambridge, (Cambridge, 3: Gg-Kk, Cambridge University Press, 1858)
Medieval Libraries of Great Britain: A List of Surviving Books Royal Historical Society
Guides and Handbooks, Ker, N.R. (London, Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1964)
Western Illuminated Manuscripts: A Catalogue of the Collection in Cambridge University
Library, Binski, PaulZutshi, PatrickPanayotova, Stella (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,
2011, https://doi-org.ezp.lib.cam.ac.uk/10.1017/CBO9780511780479)
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
