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ff. 4-183v. [John Gower] Vox clamantis. Incipit: Scripture veteris capiunt exempla futuri. Explicit: Que meruit fata sunt sibi fine data. Explicit libellus qui intitulatur Vox clamantis. Rubric: Incipit Cronica que Vox clamantis dicitur, In huius opusculi principio intendit compositor describere. English. G. C. Macaulay, ed., The Complete Works of John Gower (Oxford 1902)"Latin Works" 4:3-313; this manuscript described on pp. lxv-lxvi where it is said to be related to London, Brit. Lib., Cotton Tiberius A.iv in text and spelling; see also J. H. Fisher, John Gower, Moral Philosopher and Friend of Chaucer (New York 1964) 101-02, where HM 150 is placed in the C Version, and dated on the basis of textual evidence between ca. 1392 and 1399. The first leaves, ff. 1-3v, blank except for modern title and verses, s. XV, on f. 1:" Si decies quinque cum quinque velis numerare/ ysak adde caput caput et ter nominum [?] illud" (a political prophecy? See Ward, Cat. of Romances, 1:311). On ff. 4-13v are the chapter list, the quatrain ("Ad mundum mitto mea iacula dumque sagitto. . ."), and the picture of Gower shooting at the world; the text itself begins on f. 14. The bifolium, ff. 119-120, is bound in reverse order. ff. 184-188v. [John Gower] Carmen super multiplici Viciorum Pestilencia. Incipit: Quod patet ad limen instanti tempore crimen. Explicit: Pax manet absque dolo longaque vita datur. Explicit. Rubric: Contra demonis astuciam in causa lollardie. Latin. Macaulay, here skipping some verses with respect to the printed text: 346-48; 348-50; 352-54; 350-52. ff. 188v-190v. [John Gower] De lucis scrutinio. Incipit: Heu quia per crebras humus est viciata tenebras. Explicit: Lucis solamen det sibi christus Amen. Explicit tractatus de lucis scrutineo. Rubric: Incipit tractatus de lucis scrutinio quam a diu viciorum tenebre prothdolor suffocarunt. Latin. Macaulay, 355-57. ff. 190v-192v; ff. 193-194v blank. [John Gower] O deus immense. Incipit: Cultor in ecclesia qui deficiente sophia. Explicit: Aufert hoc nemo quod dabis ipse deo. Explicit. Rubric: Incipit carmen quod Iohannes Gower tempore regis Ricardi secundi dum vixit ultimo composuit, O Deus inmense sub quo dominantur in ense. Latin. Macaulay, here skipping some verses with respect to the printed text: 362-64; 368; 367; 368. Title supplied by cataloger. Support: Parchment. Script: Textura. Layout: 1⁴ 2-25⁸(first leaf of quire 1 and last leaf of quire 25 are stubs and appear to have been used as pastedowns); inner bifolium of quire 16 has been reversed, transposing ff. 119-120. Catchwords in center lower margin, enclosed in brown ink frames on quires 2-5, and in a blue and red ink frame on quire 22 (f. 171v). Quire 2, the first text quire, signed with a plus sign and roman numerals; other quires with a letter and roman numerals. 32 lines of verse, ruled in ink with top and bottom 2 lines full across; slash prick marks in upper, lower and outer margin; double pricking in the outer margin at the penultimate line. Decoration: On f. 13v, a 3/4 page miniature, 135 x 105 mm., depicting Gower as an archer in aristocratic dress, shooting an arrow at the world, which is divided into sections representing water, earth and sky, and surmounted by a cross and banner; iconographically related to Glasgow, University Library, Hunterian T.2.17 (59), f. 6v; London, Brit. Lib., Cotton Tiberius A. iv, f. 9v; and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Laud misc. 719, f. 21, all 3 being copies of the Vox Clamantis. Other Decoration: 5- and 4-line parted red and blue initials, infilled with leaf designs, with red, blue and pale olive flourishing on cascade borders; 3- and 2-line blue initials with red pen flourishing. Acknowledgments: We thank Kathleen L. Scott for the iconographic information linking this manuscript with those in Glasgow, London and Oxford. Assigned Date: s. XV1. Input into Digital Scriptorium by: C. W. Dutschke, 7/16/2012. Cataloged from existing description: C. W. Dutschke with the assistance of R. H. Rouse et al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library (San Marino, 1989). Bound, s. XVIII, in tan calf by Thomas Elliott, blind tooled in a panel pattern with a carnation at each corner of the panel. See H. Nixon,"Harleian Bindings," Studies in the Book Trade in Honour of Graham Pollard. Oxford Bibliographical Society Publications n.s. 18 (1975), 153-94, and especially plate 15, no. 8; for variant forms of the carnation tool, see J. B. Oldham, Shrewsbury School Library Bindings (Oxford 1943) 115 n. 2; rebacked; original spine laid down. The same binding is on HM 00143 and Lawrence, University of Kansas, Spencer Library, MS B61, a mid-fourteenth century register of writs [NB: date of Kansas manuscript corrected in 2012 from date cited in the 1987 printed HEH catalogue]. HM 150. Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Earl of Ailesbury sale, London, 21 November 1687, p. 85 n. 91 to James Sotheby, who signed his name on f. 4; also on f. 4"I 4 2200[?]." Armorial bookplate of C. W. H. Sotheby on the front pastedown, with the note"Bought at Lord Burgleys sale 1702 for L. 1-2." Col. H. G. Sotheby sale, Sotheby's, 24 July 1924, lot 96 with plate of f. 13v to A. S. W. Rosenbach for Henry E. Huntington.
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