• Detail of a zoomorphic initial 'A'(monius) formed of dragons, with display script, at the beginning of the epistle of Eusebius to Carpianus., Gospels

~Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae~, 3 vols (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697#), II, no. 6433.Robert Scott (b. c. 1632, d. 1709/10), London bookseller: included in the catalogue of John Theyer’s manuscripts in his possession, assessed in 1678 by William Beveridge and

• Detail of an inhabited initial 'I'(nicium) with a horse, a dragon, and a lion, at the beginning of the prologue to Mark., Gospels

~Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliae et Hiberniae~, 3 vols (Oxford: Sheldonian, '1697#), II, no. 6433.Robert Scott (b. c. 1632, d. 1709/10), London bookseller: included in the catalogue of John Theyer’s manuscripts in his possession, assessed in 1678 by William Beveridge and

• Evangelist portrait of Mark, holding an open book, with his symbol above., Four Gospels (the 'Golden Gospels', 'Harley Golden Gospels'; 'Codex Aureus'), with canon tables (ff. 6v-12), and capitulary (ff. 199-208v)

Harley for 1100 guilders (see C. E. Wright and Ruth C. Wright, ~The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726~, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1976), I, 38 n. 5).The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl

• Large initial 'F'(orma) with pen-flourishing and penwork decoration including foliate motifs, at the beginning of Alexander Nequam's De naturis rerum; in the upper margin is a late-12th century ownership inscription from St Albans and in the lower margin is a leaf mark ('aj') in crayon., De naturis rerum

see ~English Benedictine Libraries: The Shorter Catalogues~, ed. by R. Sharpe and others, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 4 (London: British Library, 1996), pp. 542-43. List of chapters added by a later 13th- or early 14th-century hand (f. 1v).

• Two initials 'A'(lauda) and 'P'(ica) with some penwork decoration for text divisions in Alexander Nequam's De naturis rerum., De naturis rerum

see ~English Benedictine Libraries: The Shorter Catalogues~, ed. by R. Sharpe and others, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 4 (London: British Library, 1996), pp. 542-43. List of chapters added by a later 13th- or early 14th-century hand (f. 1v).

• Text page from Alexander Nequam's De naturis rerum; in the lower right corner are a leaf mark ('tiiij') and the later medieval foliation ('147') in crayon., De naturis rerum

see ~English Benedictine Libraries: The Shorter Catalogues~, ed. by R. Sharpe and others, Corpus of British Medieval Library Catalogues, 4 (London: British Library, 1996), pp. 542-43. List of chapters added by a later 13th- or early 14th-century hand (f. 1v).

• Coloured initials at the beginning of an encapsulated world history called the 'Six Ages of the World'. The large letter 'B' halfway down the page begins a section on the origins of the British and Irish, together with a geographical description. It begins, 'The island of Britain is so called from one Brutus, a Roman consul.' Brutus was the fabled first king of Britain or Albion and, in later medieval romance literature, he became the basis of Layamon's 'Brut'., Epitome rei militaris (see Notes for a list of contents)

C. E. Wright, ~Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum~ (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 436, 242).f. 39v contains a pasted-on strip of parchment with 19th-century ? painted insects and

• Text page of the end of 'The Cities of Britain' , including Leicester and ending with Wall-by-Lichfield, and the beginning of 'The Wonders of Britain'., Epitome rei militaris (see Notes for a list of contents)

C. E. Wright, ~Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum~ (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 436, 242).f. 39v contains a pasted-on strip of parchment with 19th-century ? painted insects and

• Text page from a section in the Historia Britonum on the life of Patrick, a Christian Briton taken to pagan Ireland as a slave, to work as a swineherd. Patrick returned to Britain and embarked upon an intensive program of Bible study. The first full paragraph tells of Patrick's being sent to convert the Irish., Epitome rei militaris (see Notes for a list of contents)

C. E. Wright, ~Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum~ (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 436, 242).f. 39v contains a pasted-on strip of parchment with 19th-century ? painted insects and

• Text page in three narrow columns, with one line for each year (abbreviated 'an' for 'annum'), most remaining blank. This is the first page of the annals, starting with the year 447. The first entry reads 'Days as dark as night,' followed by the alteration of the date of Easter by Pope Leo, the birth of Brigit and death of Patrick. In the third column, the long entry for 516 tells of Arthur's victory at the Battle of Badon, in which he 'carried the cross of Christ upon his shoulders for three days', meaning his shield bore a cross., Epitome rei militaris (see Notes for a list of contents)

C. E. Wright, ~Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum~ (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 436, 242).f. 39v contains a pasted-on strip of parchment with 19th-century ? painted insects and

• An adaptation of Macrobius’s map of the five zones, with North is at the top, and the cardinal points marked with crosses. The names 'hispania, alpes, gades, balearia, sardinia, Sicilia, egiptus and asia' were not typically included in earlier Macrobius maps., Somnium Scipionis (ff. 3-7), with an 'Alfabetum Grecorum' (f. 1v), a diagram of consanguinity (f. 2)

Woolley Hall, near Maidenhead in 1899: his book-plate (f. iii) and pencil acuistion note (f. i); his sale, at Sotheby's, London, 27 November 1917, lot 3413, bought by the British Museum, using the Farnborough Fund (£3,000 bequeathed in 1838 by

• Text page., Epitome rei militaris (see Notes for a list of contents)

C. E. Wright, ~Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum~ (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 436, 242).f. 39v contains a pasted-on strip of parchment with 19th-century ? painted insects and

• Text page of the battles of King Arthur., Epitome rei militaris (see Notes for a list of contents)

C. E. Wright, ~Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum~ (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 436, 242).f. 39v contains a pasted-on strip of parchment with 19th-century ? painted insects and

• Decorated initial 'H'., Life of Bede

see Gameson.? Richard Bancroft, archbishop of Canterbury in 1604, former treasurer of St Paul's, canon of Westminster, and bishop of London: inscribed 'for Dr Bancroft' (f. 57v) (see discussion Barlow 1992 p. lxxix). [part 3].Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b.1602, d. 1650),

• Decorated initials 'D'(um) and 'B'(ritannia) with penwork decoration and reserved lines, at the beginning of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia regum Britanniae; one line filler; in the upper margin the number '39' inscribed by Sir Simonds d'Ewes., Historia regum Britanniae (index Gesta Britonum)

names (f. 80). Added, 15th century: 'Robert Clopton' and three other names with the years when each was mayor of London (on a piece of parchment fragment that is now pasted on f. 1) (see Watson 1966).Sir Simonds d'Ewes (b.1602,

• Foliate initial 'O'(mnium) with clasps and interlace., Boethius's Opuscula sacra 1-3 and 5, with the commentary of Gilbert of Poitiers, imperfect

a library in Düsseldorf: bought the entire Graevius library in 1703 (Wright 1972). Giovanni Giacomo Zamboni (d. 1753), resident in London for the Landgrave of Hesse-Darmstadt (c. 1723-1753), friend of Michael Mattaire, the classical scholar and historian of printing: bought

• Historiated initial 'D'(ominus) with king David pointing at his eyes at the beginning of Psalm 26., Psalter, imperfect, beginning in Psalm 16

and in Latin (ff. 276v-277).Added prayer, post-medieval (f. 284).?Christopher Bateman (fl. 1698, d. c. 1730), bookseller and book auctioneer in London (see Wright 1972).The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer,

• Headpiece with geometric and foliate decoration and inscribed with title in display capitals, and illuminated initial 'T'., Gospel lectionary with Menologion and Gospels for special services (Covel Gospel)

248v previously believed to be represented in the portrait of Humfrey Wanley by Thomas Hill in the Society of Antiquaries, London (see Heyworth 1989, frontispiece).Additional leaves on paper added by Covel probably in the late 17th century (ff. 1, 2,

• Flourished initials and coloured drawing of a scorpion with a short verse on the scorpion written around the edge: 'Scorpio efficitur pongens a posteriori Si quis blanditur nec mens consentiat ori', in Peter Lombard's Sentences., Sententiae (index Sentences)

according to the handwritten annotations in the BL Manuscript Department's copy of ~Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix~ (London: Hodgson, 1853).Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire

• Historiated initial 'Q'(ue) with Peter Lombard writing, in Peter Lombard's Sentences., Sententiae (index Sentences)

according to the handwritten annotations in the BL Manuscript Department's copy of ~Catalogue of the Manuscripts at Ashburnham Place: Appendix~ (London: Hodgson, 1853).Bertram Ashburnham, 5th earl of Ashburnham: his sale, May 1897, bought by Yates Thompson together with the entire