This week the public have the chance to shape a ‘Magna Carta for the digital age’, by voting for My Digital Rights clauses generated by school students from around the world. Launched with BBC Radio 1 earlier this year as part of the BBC’s Taking Liberties season, the project has been jointly conceived by the British Library, World Wide Web Foundation, Southbank Centre and British Council. The results will be published on Monday 15 June, Magna Carta Day.

In conjunction with the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta and the 25th anniversary of the web, more than 3000 10 to 18 year olds, over half of whom are overseas, have taken part in Magna Carta: My Digital Rights. The project is part of the British Library’s Learning programme, supporting our major exhibition Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, and encourages young people to think about the issues of freedom and control raised by Magna Carta in the context of the digital age.

Young people have taken part in debates and workshops to consider a range of digital topics from cyberbullying to surveillance, and they have written their own ‘clauses’ in response. Since January the Library has received over 500 clauses from schoolchildren relating to freedom, privacy and access. The clauses from students are striking: rather than a call for freedom or openness, half of the submissions reveal a marked concern about safety and security online.

The clauses from students include ideas such as:

• The web we want will be safe and secure and have the ability to block and report malicious activities
• The web we want will allow freedom of speech but discourage bullying 
• The web we want will not let companies pay to control it, and not let governments restrict our right to information
• The web we want will be private and not allow the government to see what we do online
• The web we want will be untraceable to strangers
• The web we want will be protective of all people
• The web we want will be a human right

The British Library also consulted a range of public figures, including human rights activists, technology experts and surveillance specialists, during the course of the project. The contributors, such as Shami Chakrabarti, Professor Sir David Omand, Caroline Criado-Perez and Simon Phipps, wrote articles and featured in films as part of the project. 

The public can now vote for their favourite clauses on the My Digital Rights website until Monday 15 June, Magna Carta Day, when we will unveil the ‘Top 10’ clauses that emerge.

Our major Magna Carta exhibition contains 202 items, which we selected from a long-list of over 2,000 potential candidates. One of the items that didn't make the final cut was a curious book entitled Magna Carta of Space. Our researcher, Alex Lock, takes up the story.

 

Published in 1966 at the height of the Space Race, and only 5 years after the first manned flight into Space, Magna Carta of Space was an early attempt to codify an interplanetary Space law. Drafted by the distinguished aviation lawyer William A. Hyman, the elaborately illustrated book – and the law code it contained – was the culmination of a decade of passionate and voluble campaigning for a legally binding peace in Space. Hyman described it as ‘a humanitarian bill of rights for the world; the first complete statement of the principles of space law in skeletal form to appear anywhere’. That he named it after Magna Carta – the iconic document of 1215 – was testament to how important he believed was the codification of a new Space law.

William A. Hyman (d. 1966) as photographed in his Magna Carta of Space

Although the ideas contained within Magna Carta of Space might appear at first sight a little eccentric, if not downright bizarre, they were a serious attempt to begin an international dialogue on Space law. And it worked. Upon its publication in 1966 the book was well reviewed by Life magazine, and it even went on to influence the United Nations Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space convened in Geneva that same year.

As outer space exploration was unprecedented, it was unclear what issues lawyers might face when legislating for the ‘final frontier’ and what, if any, jurisdiction they had for imposing an intergalactic law code. Furthermore, as so little was known about space, it was largely up to the legislators’ imagination as to what might be legislated for, forcing them to consider unique questions in the history of jurisprudence.

• Do aliens have legal rights?
• Who owns the stars, planets and moons?
• Where does Space begin and a nation’s airspace end?
• What is the role of private industry in Space?
• Who will allocate radio frequencies and set standard time?

To these unusual questions Hyman sought to give answers – and this accounts for why the book looks so odd. Yet, it was a serious text, with serious aims, written by a serious and experienced lawyer.

Hyman earnestly foresaw a near future where mail was delivered by rockets and missiles would be a popular mode of transport, connecting human colonies across the galaxy. To ensure the expansion of the human race into Space and to ensure international ‘cooperation and coordination,’ Hyman’s Magna Carta of Space attempted to outline the parameters by which space exploration and colonisation could be safely pursued. Article 6, for instance, declared that ‘Outer Space shall be used solely for peaceful purposes with freedom of exploration and exploitation thereof given to all peoples for the benefit of mankind.’ Hyman was also careful to demarcate Outer Space as a communal domain (Res Communis) separated from sovereign airspace by a buffer zone, named Neutralia, to which all ‘earthmen’ had access. Yet, while Magna Carta of Space encouraged exploration and colonisation, it did not condone imperial expansion and it sought to establish the legal rights of aliens. Article 18 stipulated that ‘The Peoples of the earth do hereby declare that they recognize the rights of sovereignty, ownership and control of any other planet by the inhabitants thereof’.

Though ostensibly concerned with Space, Hyman’s priority was securing peace on earth. The book is a clear product of the Cold War and is a powerful polemic against nuclear weapons. Since the first successful launch of a satellite by the Soviet Union in 1957, both the USSR and the USA had developed the capability to launch nuclear missiles from Space, leaving a perpetual nuclear threat literally hanging over the world. The 19 articles of Hyman’s Magna Carta of Space are more concerned with restricting the proliferation of nuclear weapons in Space rather than legislating for peaceful extra-terrestrial exploration. Hyman’s book explicitly attempted to restrict the misuse of Space by belligerent nations, with articles 7 and 19 making provisions to ban ‘nuclear experiments in Outer Space’ and the prosecution of ‘War, in, by, or through space … forever’. As Hyman stated in his introduction, it was his expressed wish to create a Magna Carta of Space that was so ‘powerful’ it would ‘compel the proper use of space --- for peace’. An aspiration that we would all do well to follow. 

Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy is open 7 days a week at the British Library until 1 September 2015 (late night openings every Tuesday). Admission costs £12 for adults and concessions are available (under 18s enter for free).

Alexander Lock

In the first of an occasional series, we take a look at an important named collection of manuscripts at the British Library. One of the most significant gatherings of classical material in the British Library is to be found in the Burney collection of manuscripts. This collection, comprising 525 volumes, was assembled by Charles Burney (b. 1757, d. 1817), classicist and bibliophile. Son of the famous historian of music Charles Burney and brother of the novelist Fanny Burney, he was also an avid collector of printed books, newspapers, and playbills, all of which were purchased by the British Museum after his death.

 

Contents of the Burney collection of manuscripts

While the Burney manuscripts are best known for the fine classical manuscripts to be contained therein, this is only a small part of the collection. Burney also collected important manuscripts of the Bible and of the Greek and Latin Church Fathers, as well as a wide range of papers and letters belonging to classical scholars.

 

Highlights of the collection

The Townley Homer

The Townley Homer, Burney MS 86, f 119r. Eastern Mediterranean (Constantinople), ?1059

The Townley Homer is one of the most important manuscripts of Homer’s Iliad. Written in Constantinople, probably in 1059, it contains extensive annotations and marginalia (known as scholia) explaining and interpreting Homer’s poem. Burney purchased this manuscript for £620 at an auction in 1814.

 

Greek treatises on warfare

Siege engine, described in Biton’s De constructione bellicarum machinarum, in Burney MS 69, f 12v. Italy, N. E. (Venice), 1545

Hellenistic and Byzantine treatises on warfare saw a resurgence in popularity in the Renaissance, when they were copied, along with detailed diagrams, in Western Europe. This manuscript is one of the finest examples of the genre, with many coloured drawings throughout.

 

Statius, Thebaid and Achilleid

Miniature of Statius presenting his work, in a manuscript containing the Thebaid and the Achilleid, Burney MS 257, f 4v. France, Central (Paris), 1st quarter of the 15th century (possibly c. 1405)

This richly-illuminated manuscript of Statius’ Thebaid and Achilleid is the work of several illuminators active in France at the beginning of the 15th century. It is testimony to the ongoing popularity of an author who has been (until very recently) somewhat neglected by modern critics and readers.

 

A French translation of Curtius Rufus’ History of Alexander the Great

Miniature of Alexander the Great and his army making a sacrifice on the night before the Battle of Issus, Burney MS 169, f 42v. Netherlands, S. (Bruges), between c. 1468 and 1475

 

Tales of Alexander the Great have had enduring appeal since antiquity. The History written by the Latin author Curtius Rufus proved particularly popular in the Renaissance, and was translated into French by Vasco da Lucena as Les faize d'Alexandre. This manuscript is to be attributed to the illuminator known as the Master of the Vienna Chroniques d'Angleterre, and an assistant, perhaps the Master of the Harley Froissart.

 

Catalogues and access to the Burney manuscripts

A printed catalogue (in Latin) of the Burney manuscripts was published in 1840:

• Catalogue of Manuscripts in the British Museum, New Series, vol. I, part 2. The Burney Manuscripts (London, 1840). Bound and indexed jointly with the Arundel MSS.

The Greek manuscripts were catalogued more recently in

• The British Library Summary Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts, vol. I (London, 1999).

The majority of Burney’s Greek manuscripts have been digitised in full, and can be viewed on Digitised Manuscripts. Selected images for many of the Greek and Latin manuscripts can be viewed on the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts. An ongoing project is updating the catalogue entries for the remaining items in the main British Library Archives and Manuscripts catalogue.

 

Further information about Burney and his manuscripts

A more detailed guide to Burney, his life, and his manuscripts, can be found in a virtual exhibition on the Catalogue of Illuminated Manuscripts website.

- Cillian O'Hogan

What does Magna Carta have to do with the English Reformation? Answer: lots. Magna Carta’s first clause claiming that ‘the English Church is to be free and have its rights in whole and its liberties unimpaired’ became a fundamental clause for those who looked for historical precedents in their opposition to the English Reformation and Henry VIII’s religious settlement. ‘The liberties of the Church …guaranteed by Magna Charta’ were referenced by William Warham, Archbishop of Canterbury, in 1532 in a speech to be delivered to the House of Lords in 1532, that also noted — in a veiled threat to Henry — that those ‘kings who violated them … came to an ill end.’ Warham, however, died before he was able to deliver this speech to Parliament. Had he survived to deliver it, it is likely that he would have come to an ‘ill end’ well before Henry VIII! Later, members of the popular uprising known as the Pilgrimage of Grace in 1536 similarly looked to Magna Carta to justify their opposition to Henry’s reforms, demanding in their rough minutes from the conference at Pontefract, ‘That the Church of England may enjoy the liberties granted them by Magna Carta’. It is interesting to note that such invocations of Magna Carta appeared around the same time as the first publication of the Latin and English versions of Magna Carta in 1508 and 1534 respectively. Indeed, given these ever increasing appeals to Magna Carta by opponents of the Reformation, it is little wonder that Thomas Cromwell — Henry VIII’s chief minister — made it a priority to ‘Remembre the Auncyent Cronycle of Magna Carta and how libera sit cam[e] into the statute’. 

The first printed edition of Magna Carta, 1508

Of all those who invoked Magna Carta against Henry VIII, perhaps the most famous of all was its use by Sir Thomas More at his trial for high treason in 1535. Unable to accept Henry’s religious settlement and unwilling to swear to the Act of Succession, More was imprisoned on 12 April 1534 and tried the following year in July 1535. Though the outcome was a forgone conclusion, More delivered a forceful statement outlining his spiritual position, and invoking the first clause of Magna Carta. Quoting it in Latin, Thomas More told the court that Henry VIII’s reforms were ‘co[n]trary both to the ancient Lawes, & Statutes of our owne Realme not the[n] repealled, as they might well see in Magna Carta; Quod Ecclesia libera sit, & habeat omnia iura integra, & libertates suas illæsas’. Although based as it was on Magna Carta, this defence did not save him and More was beheaded on 6 July 1535.

   
The Mirrour of Vertue in Worldly Greatnes, 1626

That we know so much about More’s trial, and his use of Magna Carta in it, is due to the publication in 1626 of a book entitled The Mirrour of Vertue in Worldly Greatnes, or the Life of Syr Thomas More More Knight. Written by More’s son-in-law, William Roper, during the reign of Queen Mary (1553–58), this is reputedly the earliest personal biography in the English language. Marked for its candour, detail and strong loyalty to More, it has influenced all subsequent writing on the former Lord Chancellor. Although it was written by Roper in the 1550s, the accession of Queen Elizabeth I (1558–1603) precluded the publication of this religiously sensitive biography. It was only published in 1626 by exiled English Jesuits at Saint-Omer who sought to mislead government agents by giving it the imprint ‘Paris’.

Thomas Cromwell's response to Thomas More's use of Magna Carta at his trial in 1535: ‘Item to Remembre the Auncyent Cronycle of Magna Carta and how libera sit cam[e] into the statute’

You can view the items described here in our major exhibition, Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy, on display at the British Library in London until 1 September 2015. You can also read more about them on our dedicated Magna Carta website and in the book that accompanies the exhibition.

Alexander Lock

To find out more about the London Rothschild Hours, take a look at our post A Calendar Page for January 2015. 

Calendar page for June, with decorative border comprising a Zodiac sign, roundels, and bas-de-page scene, from the London Rothschild Hours, Southern Netherlands (?Ghent), c. 1500, Add MS 35313, f. 4r 

In June, we are taken back to the labours of the peasantry with a scene of sheep-shearing. Two men sit and remove two sheep’s wool with hand-clippers, while a third bundles another unwilling sheep out of a nearby barn. A freshly shorn sheep grazes to the right, before a gaggle of geese. Five religious festivals have been depicted in roundels this month: the feast days of St Boniface, St Barnabus, St Eligius, and Sts Peter and Paul, and (in the middle) the Nativity of St John the Baptist. The Zodiac sign for this month is Cancer. 

Detail of a bas-de-page scene of peasants shearing sheep, Add MS 35313, f. 4r 

Detail of a roundel portraying the Nativity of St John the Baptist, Add MS 35313, f. 4r 

- James Freeman

You may be aware that some of the most famous documents in the world are currently on display at the British Library. One of those is Magna Carta (for good measure, we have no fewer than 6 of the medieval copies in our exhibition); others are the Petition of Right and English Bill of Rights (both kindly loaned to us by the Parliamentary Archives) and the US Bill of Rights (on loan from the US National Archives). The last-named is visiting the United Kingdom for the very first time, and is a particular favourite of ours. It bears the signature of John Adams, Vice President (and later 2nd President) of the USA (d. 1826), and it was sealed by Delaware in January 1790 before being returned to the federal government. It's a truly impressive item, supplying the first 12 proposed amendments to the US constitution.

The signature of John Adams and seal of the General Assembly of Delaware, at the foot of the Delaware copy of the US Bill of Rights (courtesy of the US National Archives, Washington, DC)

And if all that is not enough, the British Library also has on show, again for the first time in the United Kingdom, a manuscript of the United States Declaration of Independence, loaned by New York Public Library! Like the other documents we've mentioned, we're absolutely thrilled to have the Declaration of Independence in our Magna Carta exhibition. But there's a curious story behind this particular document, and we thought we'd share it with you.

The manuscript in question was written by Thomas Jefferson himself, who drafted the Declaration of Independence and later went on to become 3rd President of the USA (1801–1809; d. 1826). Jefferson had been profoundly influenced by Magna Carta in his legal thinking, and while he did not mention the Great Charter by name in the Declaration, many of its concepts derived ultimately from Magna Carta. Among the charges levelled against King George III were, 'For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world; For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent; For depriving us of the benefits of Trial by Jury.'

What is particularly important about the manuscript on display at the British Library this summer is that it preserves Jefferson's original text of the Declaration of Independence, before it had been amended and ratified by his fellow delegates of the Second Continental Congress at Philadelphia in July 1776. Jefferson made his copy in the days immediately following the ratification of that document, and he underlined those words and phrases which had been removed.

One of the pages of Thomas Jefferson's manuscript copy of the United States Declaration of Independence (courtesy of New York Public Library)

Certain of the passages in the draft Declaration of Independence deleted by the Second Continental Congress are worthy of special attention. At the bottom of the third page, Jefferson had originally written, '[George III] is unfit to be the ruler of a people who mean to be free. Future ages will scarce believe that the hardiness of one man adventured within the short compass of twelve years only, to build a foundation, so broad and undisguised, for tyranny over a people fostered and fixed in principles of freedom.' Students of American history will search in vain in the published text of the Declaration for the words underlined above. They were struck out in Philadelphia before that document was ratified, with the sentence in question instead ending, 'is unfit to be the ruler of a free people'.

An underlined passage in the Declaration of Independence, representing words that did not make it into the final, published version (courtesy of New York Public Library)

There are many other such words and phrases in Jefferson's manuscript of the Declaration, and you really have to see it in person at the British Library this summer in order to get a true impression of how much it had been revised. But a second passage in this, one of the most famous documents in the world, has inspired the title of this blog-post. The phrase in question is found on the same page as the previous passage cited, and one of the words is written in block capitals for further emphasis:

Thomas Jefferson's denunciation of the slave trade, later removed from the final version of the United States Declaration of Independence (courtesy of New York Public Library)

'He has waged cruel war against <...> itself, violating it's most sacr<ed ...> of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people, who never offended him, captivating and carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither. This piratical warfare, the opprobrium of infidel powers, is the warfare of the Christian king of Great Britain, determined to keep open a market where MEN should be bought and sold, he has prostituted his negative for suppressing every legislative attempt to prohibit or to restrain this execrable commerce.'

Now, we're not going to enter here into the debate about Thomas Jefferson's attitude to slavery. He expressed opposition to the slave trade throughout his career and in 1807 he signed a bill that prohibited slave importation into the United States; that said, Jefferson was also the owner of hundreds of slaves. However, it does strike us that this passage, with its forthright language ('this piratical warfare', 'this execrable commerce'), could easily have changed the course of history if adopted in America as early as 1776. You'll have to come to the British Library to see this awe-inspiring document with your own eyes ...

Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy is on display at the British Library until 1 September 2015. Entrance costs £12 for adults, under 18s go free, and other concessions are available.

 

 

By King John’s death in October 1216, England was in the midst of civil war, the eastern half of the kingdom controlled by those opposing the king. Following the papal annulment of Magna Carta, the rebel barons had invited Louis, the king of France’s eldest son (the future Louis VIII, r. 1223–1226), to invade England, offering him the English throne. Louis’s supporters pointed out that John had illegally surrendered his kingdom to the Pope without the consent of his barons. Louis also had something of a claim to the English throne through his marriage to Blanche of Castile, one of John’s nieces.

An initial contingent of knights were sent to protect London in November 1215, before Louis landed along the Kentish coast in May 1216 and first made his way towards London. There he was welcomed by the rebel barons and citizens of London with a great procession at St Paul’s Cathedral. Sermons preached in the churchyard at St Paul’s Cross urged Londoners to support the French prince.

St Paul’s Cathedral at the centre of London from the itinerary from London to Apulia preceding Matthew Paris’ History of the English, Royal MS 14 C VII, f. 2r

According to calculations, by October 1216 a large majority of the barons were in revolt: only the holders of one quarter of the baronies and just under one third of the greatest barons remained loyal to the king. Ultimately, however, Louis’ campaigns in England proved unsuccessful. John’s death and the coronation of his young son Henry III (r. 1216–1272) on 28 October 1216 meant that the target of many of the barons’ personal complaints was no longer in the picture, paving the way towards an eventual conclusion to the barons’ revolt.

While King John had quickly sought Magna Carta’s annulment, Henry III’s regency government revised the charter and on 12 November 1216 issued the first of what would be several new versions throughout the 13th century. It was issued in the 9-year-old king’s name but sealed by the papal legate, Guala, and the regent, William Marshal, Earl of Pembroke (d. 1219).

A single-sheet copy of Magna Carta, 12 November 1216, Archives nationales, Paris, MS J655 Angleterre sans date no.11

This new version omitted the security clause and other controversial features of the 1215 charter, making it a much shorter text, 2106 medieval Latin words compared with 3541. Thanks to a loan from the Archives nationales in Paris we’re able to include this contemporary copy of the charter in our major exhibition Magna Carta: Law, Liberty, Legacy. This copy most likely ended up in Paris after coming into Louis’ possession before his final departure from England in 1217.

By reissuing Magna Carta, Henry III’s supporters hoped to tempt away Louis’s supporters or at least tempt them into negotiations. Unfortunately, though, there were limited immediate effects and conflict continued into the following year, until a decisive confrontation on 20 May 1217 at Lincoln Castle finally broke a long siege of the city by Louis’ forces. The final blow to Louis and his supporters came two months later when Hubert de Burgh, castellan of Dover, destroyed a fleet bringing reinforcements from France in a sea battle off the coast at Sandwich.

The chronicler of St Albans, Matthew Paris (d. 1259), illustrated both events on two facing pages of his Chronica maiora, where he also included detailed accounts of the reigns of John and Henry III. This fantastic manuscript has been loaned to the British Library from Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.

The siege of Lincoln and the Battle of Sandwich in Matthew Paris’ Chronica maiora, St Albans Abbey, 13th century, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, MS 16, ff. 55v–56r

On the left page, Lincoln Castle has already been taken by the king’s forces – the royal standard flies from the castle turret while a hand emerges from the base killing Thomas, count of Perche and commander of the French troops. The facing page is in the midst of the Battle of Sandwich where an English soldier boards a French vessel while Frenchmen jump overboard to escape capture. Immediately to the left one of the bishops, via a scroll-shaped speech bubble, absolves ‘those who died for the liberation of England’.

A peace treaty drawn up between the two sides on 11 September 1217 saw Louis relinquish his claim to the English throne, his English lands, and agree to return to France. A further condition of the peace treaty was the confirmation of Magna Carta. Like in 1216, the 1217 charter was also authenticated with the seals of Guala and William Marshal since Henry III still had no Great Seal of his own. You can see an engrossment of the 1217 charter in our exhibition, alongside the other reissues of Magna Carta, thanks to the Bodleian Library loaning to us the charter preserved at Oseney Abbey, just outside Oxford.

Magna Carta with the seal of Cardinal Guala, November 1217, Bodleian Library, Oxford, Ch. Oxon. Oseney 142c and Ch. Oxon. Oseney 142c*

This reissue included an important new clause on the running of county and hundred courts and the stipulation that all unauthorised castles built during the war were to be destroyed. Also, for the first time there was a separate charter for the royal forests, which included relevant clauses once in Magna Carta. It was to differentiate the two charters that Magna Carta was first referred to as ‘Magna Carta’ (the Great Charter).

We are very grateful to the Archives Nationales in Paris, the Bodleian Library in Oxford and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge for loaning these fascinating documents for our Magna Carta exhibition, open now until 1 September. 

Katherine Har

Additional MS 36684 is a Book of Hours, about the size of a small paperback, made in Northern France in the area of Saint-Omer, near where our large set of Arthurian volumes (recently immortalised in cake) were made and decorated, also in the 2nd decade of the 14th century. Though this is a completely different type of book, it was probably aimed at a similar audience. Delightfully idiosyncratic and amusing images once again decorate the text, in seeming contrast to its serious purpose as a devotional aid. The medieval imagination is allowed to run riot, with every aspect of human and animal physiognomy, and everything in between, on display.

The twelve opening pages contain the calendar with activities for the months of the year. Here is the page for January. Rather than attempting it ourselves, we would like to ask you our readers to write a caption for the image in the lower margin. This will be the first in a series of ‘Invent a caption’ competitions on our blog, so over to you, dear readers!

Calendar page, northern France (Saint-Omer or Therouanne), c. 1320, Add MS 36684, f. 1v

Go on, provide us with a caption to f. 1v, the wittier the better. You can enter via Twitter @BLMedieval or in the comments section below this post.

 

Some of the pages of this manuscript are almost unbeatable for sheer weirdness:

Page from the Hours of the Virgin with border and margins containing hybrid creatures,  Add MS 36684, f.17r

Others are jewel-like, a perfect ensemble of colour and design to delight the eyes of the reader (is that the legs of a pair of bell-bottomed trousers emerging from a cauldron?):

Page from the Hours of the Virgin with border and margins including butterfly, Add MS 36684, f.50v

Birds and fish are favourite subjects, but not always as we know them:

Page from the Hours of the Virgin with border and margins decorated with birds,  Add MS 36684, f.31v

Large historiated initials have scenes from the life of Christ, including the Nativity: here the angel appears to the shepherds, one of whom is playing a bagpipe-like instrument.

Historiated initial with the angel appearing to the shepherds and decorated border,  Add MS 36684, f.43v

This Book of Hours was owned by none other than John Ruskin in the 19th century. It was in his library at Brantwood and contains his bookplate. Unfortunately there is no record of what he must have made of some of the marginalia!

The images here are just a small selection, evey page is filled with delights. Feast your eyes on our Digitised Manuscripts site, Add MS 36684. You may also like to know that the second half of this amazing book is now New York, Pierpont Morgan Library, MS M.754 (you can see images of it here).

Chantry Westwell