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A version by Donald Attwater of The vision of William concerning Piers the Plowman
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Rare Books
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Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
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Rare Books
478986:146
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Manuscripts
ff. 1-89v. [William Langland] Piers Plowman. Incipit: In a somere seyson whan softe was þe sonne/ y shop into shrobbis as y shepherde were. Explicit: And sende me hap and hele til ich haue peers ploughman/ And suthe he gradde after grace til ich gan awake. Hic explicit passus secundus de dobest. Explicit peeres plouheman scriptum per Thomam Dankastre. Rubric: Hic incipit Visio Willelmi de petro ploughman. English. IMEV 1459; C text, p group; see R. W. Chambers, "The Manuscripts of Piers Plowman in the Huntington Library and their Value for Fixing the Text of the Poem," HLB 8 (1935) 1-25; J. A. W. Bennett, "A New Collation of a Piers Plowman Manuscript (HM 137)," Medium Aevum 17 (1948) 21-31; T. D. Whitaker, ed., Visio Willi de Petro Plouhman (London 1813) from this manuscript; W. W. Skeat, ed., The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman by William Langland. EETS os 54 (London 1873) with this manuscript as the base text, described on pp. xix-xxiv; D. Pearsall, ed., Piers Plowman by William Langland: An Edition of the C-Text (London 1978) using HM 143 as the base manuscript.
mssHM 137
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Manuscripts
ff. 1-106v; ff. 107-108v blank. [William Langland] Piers Plowman. Incipit: In a somer sesoun whan softe was þe sonne/ y shope me into shroudes as y a shep were. Explicit: And seende me hap and hele til y haue Peres plouhman/ And sethe he gradde aftur grace tyl y gan awake. English. IMEV 1459; C text, i group; ff. 60 and 61 reversed in binding. R. W. Chambers, "The Manuscripts of Piers Plowman in the Huntington Library and their Value for Fixing the Text of the Poem," HLB 8 (1935) 1-25; Piers Plowman: The Huntington Library MX (HM 143) reproduced in Photostat with Introduction by R. W. Chambers and Technical Examination by R. B. Haselden and H. C. Schulz (Huntington Library 1936); D. Pearsall, ed., Piers Plowman by William Langland: An Edition of the C-text (London 1978) from this manuscript with variant readings from others. ff. ii-iii verso. [Geoffrey Chaucer] Troilus and Criseyde. Incipit: //So whan thys Calkas knewe by kalkulynge/ And eke by onswere of this Appollo. Explicit: Of other sekenesse lest men of hym wende/ That the hoote fir of loue hym brende//. English. Two non-continuous leaves representing leaves 2 and 7 of a gathering of 8 leaves of a lost manuscript, and containing 20 stanzas: f. ii recto-verso: //So whan thys Calkas knewe by kalkulynge/ And eke by onswere of this Appollo . . . And under efte gan hem whielen bothe/ After hire cours ay whil that they were wrothe//; f. iii recto-verso: // And to the god of loue thus sayde he/ With pitous vois o lord now youres is . . . Of other sekenesse lest men of hym wende/ That the hoote fir of loue hym brende//. IMEV 3327; R. K. Root, ed., The Book of Troilus and Criseyde by Geoffrey Chaucer (Princeton 1926) 1:71-140 and 1:421-490; M. B. Parkes and R. Beadle, Geoffrey Chaucer, Poetical Works: a facsimile of Cambridge University Library MS Gg.4.27 (Cambridge 1980-81) 3:65 note 94 referring to this manuscript. Assigned Date: s. XVin.
mssHM 143
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Manuscripts
Part 1. ff. 1-16v, 25-32v, 17-24v, 33-94; f. 94v, blank. Pricke of Conscience. Incipit: The ferste part of þis book is soþnesse/ ys ymad of manny wrecchidnesse ffor whan god al þyng had mad of nought/ than of þe foulest matere man was wrought. Explicit: To þe which he vs brynge/ that for our loue maked all þynge. Amen. Here endet þ prikke of conscience. Rubric: Here bigynneþ þe ferste part of þis book þat telleþ of mannys wrecchidnesse. English. Text preceded by a prologue ("Here bugynneþ þe prologe on the Prikke of consciencie þat ferst telleþ of goddes power, The myght of the fadur of heuene/ the wyt of the sone wyth hys ȝyftes seuene"). IMEV 3429; Southern Recension; R. Morris, ed., The Pricke of Conscience. The Philological Society (Berlin 1863), from London, Brit. Lib., Cotton Galba E. ix; see also Stacy Waters,"The Pricke of Conscience: The Southern Recension, Book V," unpublished Ph.D. thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1976; Allen, Writings, 373, n. and 539-40; R. E. Lewis and A. McIntosh, A Descriptive Guide to the Manuscripts of the 'Prick of Conscience.' Medium Aevum monographs n.s. 12 (Oxford 1982) 146-47. Two quires bound out of order. Part 1. ff. 96r-v, 95; f. 95v blank. [William Langland] Piers Plowman. Incipit: //than drede went wyȝtly and warnede fals/ and badde hym fle for fere and his felawes alle. Explicit: Or togreden after goddes men. Whan ȝe delen doles/ In aduenture ȝe hauen ȝoure hire here. And ȝoure heuene als/ Nesciat sinistra manus quid faciat dextra. English. Fragment of Piers Plowman, B-text, ii, 208-iii, 72. IMEV 1459. Leaves rejected by scribe and order reversed; see R. B. Haselden,"The Fragment of Piers Plowman in Ashburnham No. CXXX," Modern Philology 29 (1932) 391-94, and pl. of ff. 96, 121. Part 1. ff. 97-112v. Incipit: Istam sequenciam cantat ecclesia dominica prima adventus domini quia in ea memoria agitur de adventu. Salus fidei generis est integritas corporis. Et dicitur de hoc sal. Explicit: Sed certe debet vocari ita et non eta, ut ipsi greci testantur. Et scribitur hoc nomen IHC cum tribus literis propter misterium ternarii numeri. Rubric: Dominica prima adventus domini sequencia, Salus eterna. Latin. An exposition of sequences which presents some similarities to the printed text, Expositio sequentiarum secundum usum Sarum [Cologne: H. Quentell, 1495]; Copinger 2386. Part 1. ff. 113-205. [William Langland] Piers Plowman. Incipit: In a someres seysoun whan set was the sunne/ y schoop me into shrowdes as y a sheep were. Explicit: and sende me hap and hele tyl y haue peris þe ploghman/ and siþ he gradde after grace tyl y gan awake. Explicit visio petri ploughman. English. Corrections in the hand of the scribe over erasures; text on ff. 156-161v disordered. IMEV 1459; W. W. Skeat, ed., The Vision of William Concerning Piers the Plowman, by William Langland. EETS os 38 (London 1869) particularly xxi-xxiii for description of HM 128; G. Kane and E. T. Donaldson, eds., Piers Plowman: The B Version (London 1975), from Cambridge, Trinity College B.15.17, with variants also from this manuscript; see pp. 9-10 for description of HM 128. See also R. W. Chambers,"The Manuscripts of Piers Plowman in the Huntington Library and their Value for Fixing the Text of the Poem," Huntington Library Bulletin 8 (1935) 1-25. Part 1. ff. 205-216. [Siege of Jerusalem]. Incipit: Here begynneth þe seege of ierusaleem & how it was destroyed, In tyberyes tyme the trewe emperowr/ Sere cesar hym seluen seysyd in rome. Explicit: Wente synggyng awey & lefte woo there/ And hool reedyn to rome yblessyd be god almyȝty. Amen. English. IMEV 1583; E. Kölbing and M. Day, eds., The Siege of Jerusalem. EETS os 188 (London 1932), from Oxford, Bod. Lib., Laud misc. 656, with variants also from this manuscript; see pp. viii-ix for description of HM 128. G. Guddat-Figge, Catalogue of Manuscripts containing Middle English Romances (Munich 1976) 303-04. Part 1. ff. 216v-219. How the Good Wife Taught her Daughter. Incipit: The goode wif taught hir doughter fele tyme & ofte gode woman for to be, Doughter ȝif þou wilt ben a wif & wiseliche werch/ Loke þat þou loue well god & holy cherch. Explicit: Her blessyng mote þou haue & wele mote þou thryue. Wele is þe childe þat thryue may my der childe. Explicit expliciat ludere scriptor eat. English. IMEV 671; T. F. Mustanoja, ed., The Good Wife Taught her Daughter; The Good Wyfe wold a Pylgremage; The Thewis of Gud Women (Helsinki 1948), with Cambridge, Emmanuel College, MS I.4.31 as the basis; HM 126 also edited in full. Also printed from this manuscript by F. Madden, ed., How the Goode Wif thaught hir Doughter (London 1838); by W. C. Hazlitt, Remains of the Early Popular Poetry of England (London 1864) 1:180-92; by C. Hindley, The Old Book Collector's Miscellany (London 1872; reprint of Madden) 2:1. Part 2. ff. 1-2v. [John of Salisbury]. [Letters]. Incipit: //penitencia et satisfactione substiterit in finibus istis. Explicit: Cum ergo hiis angustiis//. Latin. The incipit and explicit of the pastedown in the back of the book are: //pius ihesus quam ipsum pro pace vel gratia hominis. . .responderes id quod etsi imperitis rerum videatur//. John of Salisbury, Letters, ed. W. J. Millor and C. N. L. Brooke (Oxford 1979) v. 2, p. 104 line 18 to p. 110 line 4 and p. 200 line 9 to p. 206 line 4. Layout: 2 columns of 42+ lines, each column 81 mm. wide, ruled in lead. This part formed of the two pastedowns. Assigned Date: s. XIVex.
mssHM 128