Manchester, John Rylands Library, French 1 (vol. 2)

Part of set: Olim Amsterdam-Douce-Manchester

Also known as the 'Rochefoucauld Grail'. This set consists of the former Amsterdam, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, MS 1 (3 vols.; Estoire-Merlin-Lancelot to the end of the Suite de la Charette), auctioned by Sotheby's in London on 7 December 2010 to a private owner, 45 folios in Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Douce 215 and the two volumes of Manchester, John Rylands Library, MS French 1 (Agravain, Queste, Mort Artu).

General

Library:	John Rylands Library
Sheflmark:	French 1 (vol. 2)
Information source:	Physical description: InformationSource object (1) Segmentation: None
Described by:	dschoenaers

Bindings

Description:	Red morocco binding on pasteboard. Decorative frame with arabesques tooled on the front and back of the manuscript. Decoration gold-tooled on the spine. 6 chords. Pasted on the pastedown is a bookplate of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana with the mark F/1. The front plate is detached.
Date :	1700 to 1750
Title on binding:	Histoire / du Roi / Artus / MSS / Tom. II
Cover material:	Material object (6)
Board material:	Material object (9)
Fastening:	na
Chaining:	na
Edges:	gilt
Front end papers (2):	Two paper guardleaves at the front of the manuscript. Written on the verso of the first flyleaf 'French MSS no 2' 'K.K. 248' ' French MDD. 1 vol. 2' '105 L 14'.
End papers (2):	Two paper guardleaves at the back of the manuscript.

MS Parts

Title	Date	Place	Dedicatee
[Part 1]	c. 1310 to 1320	Northern France	possibly Guy VII de la Rochefoucauld

MS Part Library: John Rylands Library

General

Shelfmark:	French 1 (vol. 2)
MS Part Title:	[Part 1]
Ms Part Folios:	128 folios
Page layout:

Material

MS Part Material:	Material object (4)
Watermark:	na
Condition:	Good quality vellum with few holes and stitches. Some stains e.g. f. 249. In general, this volume looks more worn than volume 1.

Date Information

Date(s):	c. 1310 to 1320
Notes:	Based on the date of London, BL, Additional 10292-4 (c. 1317) to which this manuscript is intimately related. This copy may be slightly earlier than the Additional manuscript.

Hand

Level of Execution:	None
Folio(s):	From to
Date(s):	None
Scribe description:	According to Stones 2010, scribe D of the Olim Amsterdam volume. Large, legible hand. Northern textualis with double compartment 'a', the upper compartment of which is closed (double-bow 'a'. few examples of box-like 'a'), ascenders clubbed or forked, exclusively round 'd', 'e' tongued in final position, bow of 'h' extends below the baseline and curves to the left, use of 'i' longa in numerals,diacritic on 'i' in minim group, straight and round 's' in final position with distinct preference for round 's', use of 'v' in initial position. Biting of 'o' and round 'r', 'd' and 'e', 'd' and 'o', 'p' and 'o'. Abbreviations include nasal bar, apostrophe, superscript vowels, 'com'-abbreviation, -'us' abbreviation, 'p' with crossed descender and crossed tironian note.
Level of Execution:	None
Folio(s):	From to
Date(s):	None
Scribe description:	According to Stones 2010, this is the same scribe who also copied the second part of volume one, possibly scribe A of the Olim Amsterdam volume. This scribe is characterised by double-compartment 'a' with closed upper compartment, more box-like. More pronounced form of tongued 'e'. Lobe of 'g' not closed. Angular 'h'. Hairline on round 'r'. Straight and round 's' in final position. Abbreviations include superscript vowels (particularly characteristic form of superscript 'a' with elongated upper stroke), nasal bar, 'p' with crossed descender, crossed tironian note, apostrophe, 'us'-abbreviation Biting of round 'd' and 'e', 'p' and round 'r', 'o' and round 'r'. The characteristics of the scribe in this part of the second volume differ considerably from the above, notably The lobe of 'g' is closed and the execution of superscript 'a' is different, which may suggest that for the olim Amsterdam-Douce-Manchester set of manuscripts the distribution of scribes is more complicated than the situation of three scribes as presented in Stones 2010. Word-separation marked.

Folio sequence

Folios: f. 130ra - f. 181vb
Folios: f. 182ra - f. 204vb
Folios: f. 205ra - f. 257v

Manchester, John Rylands Library, French 1 (vol. 2)

General

Bindings

MS Parts

MS Part Library: John Rylands Library

General

Material

Date Information

Hand

Folio sequence

Folios: f. 130ra - f. 181vb

Folios: f. 182ra - f. 204vb

Folios: f. 205ra - f. 257v