Manuscripts

Poems and problems : manuscript, approximately 1622-1632

1 of 401

Description: A collection of 123 poems by John Donne, plus his Paradoxes, Problems and characters; together with individual poems by others such as Ben Jonson, Edward, Lord Herbert of Cherbury, John Hoskyns, Sir Walter Raleigh, Sir Henry Wotton and Henry Constable. Paper, 194 leaves (leaves 141r-61v and 185v-194v blank). Two blank leaves inserted following leaf 1. Two blank endleaves bound in at end. In a single, neat, predominantly roman hand (entries on ff. 105v-15r in a less neat cursive hand), and with various corrections or emendations throughout possibly in another hand, written circa 1622-32. Binding: contemporary vellum, with initials "F. B.[i.e. Frances Bridgewater]" in gilt on front cover surrounding a smudged watercolour central oval on front cover. Fragments of leaves from an unidentified manuscript used along hinges. In case.
Type: Manuscripts(Opens in new tab)
Date: [approximately 1622-1632]
Call number: mssEL 6893

Poetical manuscript commonplace book

Manuscripts

A verse miscellany, entitled "Poetical Manuscript Commonplace book" on the spine and "English Verses, Time of James and Charles the First" within the volume; it is written in a single neat italic hand, probably written in Oxford, England, approximately 1635, and associated with Christ Church College, Oxford University. The volume contains 108 poems, almost all of which are presented anonymously; there are mentions of race and skin color and more than 60 of the poems concern women, love, or marriage. Some of the poems are attributed to, among others, Thomas Carew, Richard Corbet, Robert Herrick, Ben Jonson, Henry King, Thomas Randolph, and William Strode. The volume has 19th-century foliation and a list of contents in the front. The volume is bound in contemporary calf, sewn on four alum-tawed slips, covers with a single gilt rule border, head of spine has some damage, and the end leaves were replaced in approximately 1830; also, with a catalogue cutting pasted inside front cover and a morocco-backed slipcase.

mssHM 84418

Game at chesse : manuscript, 1624

Manuscripts

Thomas Middleton's game at chess, including the Prologue, partially in his own hand along with two other scribes. Paper, i, 54, ii leaves. Principally in a professional secretary hand, with the title-page (f. 1r), folios 21v-2r, 46r-54v (including the Epilogue), and two or three corrections elsewhere in Middleton's hand, as well as possibly the boxing of speakers' names in pencil or lead point; the Latin oration on f. 45r in another scribal hand. Written in 1624. Pencil foliation begins on initial blank leaf and continues through final blank leaves.

mssEL 34 B 17

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Commonplace book. Poetical and legal: manuscript

Manuscripts

Contains poems by Ben Jonson, John Done, Richard Corbett, and others with (in a different hand) a treatise on Justices of the Peace and criminal law arranged in alphabetical order by topic.

mssHM 46323

Entertainment at Ashby: manuscript, 1607

Manuscripts

A partly autograph presentation manuscript by John Marston of the masque presented for the family of Henry Hastings, fifth Earl of Huntingdon. Staged at the family seat at Ashby, Leicestershire, in 1607, the show is devised as pastime for a visit by the Earl's mother-in-law, Alice Spencer, dowager Countess of Derby. Binding: gold-tooled vellum. Paper, 15 quarto leaves; main text written probably in a single professional hand, in alternating italic and secretary scripts. The dedication (f. 1r) and all of ff. 14r-15r in Marston's hand, as are probably occasional deletions, corrections and additions throughout the text. Written in 1607. Also includes a tipped-in a separate manuscript of verses relating to Lady Derby and Lady Huntingdon (beginning "As this ys endelesse, endelesse be yor ioyes"), in a secretary hand, subscribed 'W: SK:' [i.e. William Skipton], on the first two pages of a pair of conjugate folio leaves.

mssEL 34 B 9

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Manuscript by John Donne on Poems and Problems [commonplace book]

Manuscripts

Official, semi-official, and personal papers of six generations of the Egerton family, particularly those accumulated by Sir Thomas Egerton, 1540?-1617, Baron Ellesmere and Viscount of Brackley, Solicitor-General (1581-1592), Attorney-General (1592-1594), Lord Keeper (1596-1603), and Lord Chancellor (1603-1617); Sir John Egerton, 1st Earl of Bridgewater, 1579-1649, President of the Council of Wales (1631-1649); John Egerton, 2nd Earl of Bridgewater, 1622-1686, Lord Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire (1660-1686); John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater, 1646-1701, President of the Board of Trade (1696-1699), First Lord of Admiralty (1699-1701), Speaker of the House of Lords (1697 and 1700); John Scrope Egerton, 1st Duke of Bridgewater, 1681-1745, a Whig courtier under Anne and George I, and Francis, 3rd Duke of Bridgewater, 1736-1803. Approximately 13,000 pieces.

EL 6893 (34/B/35)

Mirrour of the blessed lyf of Jesu Christi : [manuscript]

Manuscripts

ff. 1-107v: [Nicholas Love, Mirrour of the Blessed Lyf of Jesu Christ]. Rubric: A deuoute meditacioun of þe grete consell in heuene for þe Restorynge of man & his sauacioun. Capitulum primum et prima pars libri. Incipit: Afftir þe tyme þat man was exiled oute of þe hiȝ cite of heuene ... Explicit: with þe to liff euerlastynge Ihesu lorde bi vertue & grace of þi lif blissed withoute endynge. Amen. Amen. Amen. Ihesu lorde þi blissed lif, helpe & conforte oure wrecch[ed lif]. Amen. Explicit speculum v[...leaf damaged] Drede Shame and Thynkon. [Some text lost from f. 97 to the end, due to damaged leaves; ff. 105v-107v blank]

mssHM 1339

Poems and problems : manuscript, approximately 1622-1632

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