About four years ago I purchased, at the sale of the museum of Mr. George
Bell of Whitehaven, a folio vellum MS. in Latin, written apparently in the
fourteenth century: containing a Catena, or a series of notes on the
Epistles to the Romans and Corinthians, selected from the Fathers of the
Church, viz. Origines, Ambrosius, Gregorius, Jeronimus, Augustinus,
Cassianus, Beda, Lambertus, Lanfrancus, Anselmus, and Ivo Carnotensis. As
many of those authors were English, I infer that the volume was compiled in
England for some English monastery.
The beginning of each chapter is noted on the margin, but there is no
division into verses. The sentences, or short paragraphs of the text, are
written in vermillion, and the comments upon them in black: those comments
are generally taken from one, but often from two or three authors; the
names of each being stated. There are large handsome capitals at the
beginning of each book, and the initials to the paragraphs are
distinguished by a spot of red, but there are no illuminations. Two leaves
have been cut out at the beginning of the volume; a few at two or three
places throughout the volume, and at the end, by some former possessor. As
the style of binding is very uncommon, I will describe it. It was bound in
oak boards of half an inch thick; the sheets were sewed on thongs of white
leather, similar to what cart harness is stitched with. Instead of the
thongs being brought _over_ the back edges of the boards (as in modern
binding), they are inserted into mortices in the edges of the boards, and
then laced through holes, and secured with glue and wedges. The boards were
covered first with allumed leather, and over that seal-skin _with the hair
on_. The board at the beginning of the book had four feet, placed near the
corners, of nearly an inch in height, half an inch in diameter at the base,
and about a quarter of an inch at the point. Each was cast in one piece,
with a circular base of about an inch and a quarter in diameter, and rising
towards the centre; and they were each fastened on by three pins or nails.
The board at the end of the book was ornamented with four circular brass
plates about the size of a halfpenny, placed near the corners; having in
the centre of each a stud, the head of which represented a prominent close
flower of four petals. And in the centre of the board, there had been a
stud or button, on which to fasten the strap from the other board to keep
the book shut. Only one stud and one foot remained; but the places where
the others had been were easily seen. I presume that the volume was meant
to lie on a lectern or reading-desk, resting on its feet; and when opened
out, the other board rested on its studs, as both were worn smooth with
use.
The binding being loose, and the cover torn to shreds (part of which was
held on by the stud), I got the book rebound as nearly as possible in the
same manner as the first, only substituting Russia leather for the
unsightly seal-skin; and the remaining stud and foot afforded patterns,
from which others were cast to supply the places of those deficient.
Nothing is known of the history of this volume, except that it was
purchased by Mr. Bell from Alexander Campbell, a bookseller in Carlisle. I
am inclined to think, that it had belonged to some monastery in Cumberland;
and the _seal-skin_ cover would seem to indicate Calder Abbey (which is
near _the coast_, where seals might be caught) as its original owner.
Can any of your correspondents inform me, from the marks which I have
given, whether this is a {34} copy of _some known work_ or an original
compilation? And if the former, state where the original MS. is preserved;
and if _printed_, the particulars of the edition?
If my MS. can be ascertained to have formerly belonged to any library or
individual, I shall be glad to learn any particulars of its history.