• Detail of a historiated initial 'H'(ec) of Nicholas of Lyre in a Franciscan habit, sitting at a desk and presenting his book to a king and a queen, at the beginning of the prologue 1., Postilla litteralis in vetus et novum testamentum

initials in colours and gold, usually containing hybrids, with partial borders and 1 full border with drolleries (f. 1), at the beginning of all books and prologues (ff. 1, 2, 43v, 77, 92v, 110v, 129, 140, 151, 153, 169v, 182,

• Decorated initial 'V'(etus), at the beginning of book 4., De universo seu De rerum naturis

to Haymo, bishop of Halberstadt (840-853) (ff. 2-2v), with a table of capitula (ff. 3-5v).Includes the punctus flexus punctuation mark. 1 large foliate initial inhabited with human figures and animals, in colours and gold, at the beginning of the text

• Illuminated initial 'I'(nter) at the beginning of book 1 of the Polycraticus., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• Decorated initial 'A'(dversus), at the beginning of book 1 of the Metalogicon., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• Detail of an inhabited initial 'S'(i) with two lions, at the beginning of the Policraticus., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• Decorated initial 'N'(on) at the beginning of book 5 of the Metalogicon., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• Illuminated initial 'D'(ogmate), at the beginning of the Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• Decorated initial 'N'(otum) at the beginning of book 6 of the Metalogicon., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• Inhabited initial 'S'(i) with two lions, at the beginning of the Policraticus., Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• The first inscription recording that the book was commissioned by Simon, abbot of St. Albans (1167-1183), 'Hunc librum fecit domnus Symon abbas s[an]c[t]o Albano, que[m] qui ei abstule/rit', aut frande[m] commiserit, aut titulu[m] deleverit vel corup[er]it; anathema sit'; with a list of contents reading 'Policraticon / Metalogicon / Enteticus Joh[ann]is Sarisbi[r]ens[is]', and second is note recording that in 1345 the manuscript was bought by Michael, abbot of St. Albans, from the executors of Richard de Bury, bishop of Durham, reading 'Hu[n]c libru[m] venditu[m] d[omi]no Ric[ard]o de Biry ep[iscop]o Dunelm[ensi] emit / Michael abbas s[anct]i Albani ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis.', Policraticus, Metalogicon, and Entheticus de dogmate philosophorum

ab executorib[us] p[re]d[ic]ti ep[iscop]i anno / d[omi]ni Mlill[esim]o CCCmoXLVto circa purificat[i]o[n]em b[eat]e V[ir]ginis' (f. 1); with a list of contents, in the same hand (f. 1); perhaps to be identified with the 'Policraticon Iohannis Sariburiensis cum aliis libri contentis; included

• Coloured initials., Statutes of the Norwegian Church, fragment

Coloured initials. Musical notation: Anglo-Saxon neumes, England (Winchester), mid-11th century (f. 4-4v).The volume is a composite manuscript made up of fragments of different date and origin bound at the beginning of the 16th-century swan-mark collection.The statutes of the Norwegian

• Coloured initials., Statutes of the Norwegian Church, fragment

Coloured initials. Musical notation: Anglo-Saxon neumes, England (Winchester), mid-11th century (f. 4-4v).The volume is a composite manuscript made up of fragments of different date and origin bound at the beginning of the 16th-century swan-mark collection.The statutes of the Norwegian

• null, Legenda aurea (index Legendae sanctorum; Legends of the saints; Golden Legend)

inscription (f. 2, copied on f. 1v in a 18th-century hand). Recipe for ink in Latin with English notes (f. 1), in a 17th-century hand. Stephen Potts: sold to Twysden in 1626: see Ovenden.Sir Roger Twysden (b. 1597, d. 1672),

• null, Legenda aurea (index Legendae sanctorum; Legends of the saints; Golden Legend)

inscription (f. 2, copied on f. 1v in a 18th-century hand). Recipe for ink in Latin with English notes (f. 1), in a 17th-century hand. Stephen Potts: sold to Twysden in 1626: see Ovenden.Sir Roger Twysden (b. 1597, d. 1672),

• Puzzle initial 'B'(eatissimi) with pen-flourishing and a partial border at the beginning of Book 2., Doctrinale fidei ecclesiae, Books 1 and 2

pen-flourishing. Blue, red and black initials. Blue paraphs. Rubric, underlining and highlighting of initials in red. Doctrinale fidei ecclesiae, Books 1 and 2 John Whethamstede (d. 1464), given by him for use of St Albans monks studying at Gloucester College,