Lost Manuscript

Babel MS 4

Three fragments survive of this manuscript, giving a fair sense of what the layout of the volume. The script is slightly uneven and the measurements are not fully constant, suggesting that this manuscript -- presumably a complete Bible -- was not of the highest grade. The notably wide outer margins suggest it was created with an expectation of a gloss being provided which was never inserted.

One of the strips - Harsnett H.d.53 ii - is cut across an opening. The second section of text on its recto immediately precedes the text provided by Harsnett H.d.52 i.

Textual information

Subject: 
Bible
Title of work: 
2 Macabees
Language: 
Latin

Palaeography

Type of script: 
Gothic
Script detail: 
Textura
Place of production: 
England

Material information

Material: 
Parchment
Layout: 
Bicolumnar
Ruling: 
none visible

Dimensions

Page: 

??321mm (h) x ?214mm (w)

Number of columns: 
2
Height of minims: 
3mm
Space between lines: 
7mm
Height of written space: 
(width x 3/2) = ?183+mm
Width of written space: 
([55] + 12 + 55) = 122mm
Inner margin: 
31mm
Width of text 1: 
?55mm
Reservation 1: 
12mm
Width of text 2: 
55mm
Outer margin: 
61mm

History and further information

Information on dismantling: 

The fragments appear in two identical bindings: the manuscript was presumably dismembered in the binder's shop, perhaps in Cambridge, at some point after in the middle of the sixteenth century.

Number of folios represented: 
2
Date published: 
Monday, July 6, 2015 - 15:40
Date last updated: 
Friday, August 14, 2015 - 09:43

Constituent Fragments

  • Colchester Harsnett H.d.53 back strip
Colchester: University of Essex Library, Harsnett H.d.53 ii
  • Colchester Harsnett H.d.53 front strip
Colchester: University of Essex Library, Harsnett H.d.53 i
  • Colchester Harsnett H.d.52 back strip verso
Colchester: University of Essex Library, Harsnett H.d.52 i