Manuscript Description Cambridge, St John's College MS E. 2 (105) | |
| MS Appellation: | M. R. James catalogue 105 |
| Title: | Astrolabe |
| Author: | Chaucer |
| Contents: | De septem climatibus exposicio; Astrolabe; Two lots of instructions for divining by numbers |
| Language: | English |
| Date Range: | 1400-1425? |
| Scribal Hands: | Examples of the hand. Click on the link above for full details and images of individual letter forms.                |
| Material: | Parchment |
| No of Folios: | iv + 1-38 + iv |
| Quiring: | iv, 1(10), 2(8) (+ ff. 30, 31 after f14 which should be in quire 4), 3(8), 4(8) (two leaves misbound in quire 2), 5(4) (1 canc.), iv |
| Signatures: | No signatures visible. |
| Catchwords: | Catchwords |
| Page Size: | 155 x 110 |
| Frame: | Dry-point ruling. |
| Writing Space: | 115 x 75 |
| Incipits and Explicits: | In red or green ink in the body of the text. |
| Title by Scribe: | On f1 is 'De septem climatibus exposicio' and on f2 is the title 'De astrolabio'. |
| Flourished Initials: | Initial letters of sections in red ink with minimal flourishing in brown ink. |
| Other Names (not owners): | On the first flyleaf is the following: 'Est liber iste meus possum producere testes Si quis queratur wilielmus graye sic nominatur'. On f27 in the hand of the scribe is 'Reynolde uis vigere nescio'. |
| Miscellaneous Info: | As noted in the St John's Catalogue and also by Seymour, ff5-6, 12-13 and the conjugate leaves 14 and 17 may be palimpsests with musical notation inefficiently scraped. The green colour of the original content shows through on some folios. The green ink used for titles to some sections may be seen on the aspect image of f17v. |
| Further Information: | James, M.R. Descriptive catalogue of the manuscripts in the Library of St John's College, Cambridge. Seymour, M. C. A Catalogue of Chaucer Manuscripts: Works Before 'The Canterbury Tales', vol. 1: 118-119, Aldershot, Hants: Scolar Press, 1995. |