RESTRICTED. Available with curatorial approval. Requires extended retrieval and delivery time. For information on use of Digital Library materials, please see Library Rights and Permissions: https://www.huntington.org/library-rights-permissions
Description
1. f. 1r-v. Morning prayer. Lighten myne eyes o Lorde, least at any tyme I oversleepe in sinne, and least myne enemy doe say I have prevailed against him ... 2. ff. 1v-2r. Evening prayer. Allmighty and everlasting God, I render thee most heart thanckes, for that thou has vouchsafed of thy great mercy and goodnes, to preserve mee this day from all evill ... 3. ff. 2r-3v. A prayer to stirre up the minde to devotion in prayer. Allmighty and most mercifull Father, unto thee all the heavenly company of the Celestiall cytie, all the blessed orders of saved spirits do wth due reverence sing continuall glorie and everlasting praise ... 4. ff. 3v-10r. A confession of my sinnes & weaknesses wth petitions for the pardoning of the one, & strengthening of ye other. Have mercie vpon mee and spare mee good Lorde, and suffer mee not to perish in my sinne ... 5. ff. 10r-18r. Another confession wth such like petitions. Graunt me most mercifull God, fervently to desire such thinges, as may bee acceptable and pleasing unto thee, wth wisedome to serch after those, not to bee deceived in the knowledge of those, and unfainedly to accomplish the doing of those ... 6. f. 18r. A prayer desiering God to order & direct mee. Lorde God thou knowest what thing is to mee most profitable to doe, this or that, after thy will: ... 7. ff. 18v-19r. A thankesgiving for my beeing. O God thou mightest have kept mee from being at all, and (being) thou maist make mee, as if I never had been, but seeing of they wonderfull goodnes, also doost suffer mee still to bee: ... 8. ff. 19r-20r. Before the receiving of the holy Sacrament. O Benigne Jesu that wouldest suffer so many grevous paynes, yea death itself for love of mankinde, great and marveilous is they charity, give mee grace to receive, thy precious body in forme of bread this day, with purity of heart and cleanes of soule, with love, dread, and stedfast beleef. ... 9. ff. 20v-21r. After receiving the holy Sacrament. Thankes bee unto thee o holy Father God Almyghty, that thou didst vouchsaufe of thy great pity, to send thy only sonne from thy high throne into this vale of woe & miserye, ... 10. ff. 21r-22v. A prayer or thanckesgiving unto ye Holy Trinity. O Blessed Lorde God, Father, Sonne and Holy Ghost, three personnes and one God, my Lorde, my God, my maker, my redeemer, my norisher, my defender, my sweetnes, my mercy, my refuge, my strength, my victory, my joy, and my glory eternall; I laud thee, I glorifie thee, I honor thee. ... 11. ff. 22v-24v. Prayers in Sicknesse. O Sweete Jesu, I desire nor life, nor death, but they most holy will. Thee O Lorde I looke for, bee it unto mee according to thy pleasure. If thou wilt sweete Jesus that I dye, receive my soule ... 12. ff. 24v-25r. A prayer for a sick body ready to die. Have mercy and spare him o Lorde; deliver him from thine anger, from an evill death, from the danger of death; from the paines of hell, from all evill, from the power of the Devill. ... 13. ff. 25r-26r. Christ deliver thee from all torment, who was crucified for thee. Christ deliver thee from death, who hath vouchsafed to dye for thee; Christ the sonne of the living god, place thee in the garden of his paradise, which alwaies is pleasant and flourishing ... Title supplied by cataloger. Parchment; ii + 26 + i leaves (first and final leaves used as pastedowns). Ruled at margins. Written in a small regular italic cursive formata, 21 lines. Occasional corrections in the same hand. Catchwords in the lower right corner of recto and verso of each leaf. Capital letters and occasional scroll flourishes in red. Binding: contemporary black silk velvet over thin wooden boards; velvet largely worn away. Covers have set of solid gold furniture decorated with enamel paints and colored glass inlays; enamel in the champlevé style. Triangular cornerpieces include a narrow band of blue enamels enclosing alternatively a white dog (the crest of the Talbot family) or a green serpent (the crest of the Cavendish family). In the center of each cover is mounted a gold armorial shield surmounted by an earl's coronet bearing the arms of Talbot on a red enamel background, impaled with the arms of Cavendish on a black painted background. Two pairs of gold clasps and catches on fore-edge; catches cast in form of a fleur-de-lis and decorated with enamel flowers. Manuscript containing 13 prayers that begin as works which are Protestant in content and form, but become increasingly Catholic as the text progresses. Prayers principally taken from "A manual of prayers gathered out of many and divers famous authours aswell auncient as of the tyme present" by George Flinton, a work printed by Jesuit presses in Europe and secretly in England. Passages from other works added to the prayers to create seamless new texts. The selected texts were anonymized so that prayers identified in Flinton's Manual as being by St. Jerome or Sir Thomas More are here presented without any author's name; prayers also edited to omit references to the Virgin Mary, the Holy Ghost and the Saints. Work produced for Gilbert and Mary Talbot, the 7th Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury. HM 83695. The Huntington Library, San Marino, CA.
Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions Prayer books Great Britain 16th century. (aat) Manuscripts (documents) Great Britain 16th century. (aat) Velvet bindings (Binding) Great Britain 16th century. (aat) Enamel bindings (Binding) Great Britain 16th century. (aat) Champlevé Great Britain 16th century. (aat)
Source
Manuscripts, Huntington Digital Library
Provenance
Produced for Gilbert and Mary Talbot, the Earl and Countess of Shrewsbury; earl's coronet in binding indicates that it must date to after November 1590 when Gilbert succeeded as the 7th Earl of Shrewbury. Book probably passed to one of their three daughters. 19th century inscription "Dimsdale" written on inside of front cover. Remains of a bookplate on front pastedown of Mortimer Loeb Schiff. Book was in "a deceased estate", Westchester, New York from which it was acquired by John Bale Books, Waterbury, NY. Consigned to Pacific Book Auction Galleries in 2010. Purchased by the Library Collectors' Council from Maggs Bros. Ltd., January 19, 2019.
If you're wondering about permissions and what you can do with this item, a good starting point is the "rights information" on this page. See our terms of use for more tips.
Share your story
Has Calisphere helped you advance your research, complete a project, or find something meaningful? We'd love to hear about it; please send us a message.
