About this product

Product Identifiers

PublisherBoydell & Brewer, The Limited

ISBN-101843844419

ISBN-139781843844419

eBay Product ID (ePID)219701079

Product Key Features

Number of Pages324 Pages

LanguageEnglish

Publication NameDescriptive Catalogue of the Medieval Manuscripts in the Library of Peterhouse, Cambridge

Publication Year2016

SubjectBibliographies & Indexes, Archaeology, General, Library & Information Science / General

TypeNot Available

Subject AreaRéférence, Language Arts & Disciplines, Social Science

AuthorRodney M. Thomson

FormatHardcover

Dimensions

Item Height1 in

Item Weight63.2 Oz

Item Length12.8 in

Item Width9.6 in

Additional Product Features

LCCN2015-298730

Dewey Edition23

ReviewsIt is an easy matter to recommend this painstaking, sympathetic, effective contribution to the history of English medieval books. JOURNAL OF ECCLESIASTICAL HISTORY There are many other treasures in this collection.. Only by browsing this catalogue, magnificently supplemented by over a hundred images, can the significance of [it] be properly appreciated. PARERGON We should be very grateful for Thomson's excellent textual identifications and discussions of provenance and library history. THE LIBRARY As well as being a work of outstanding, detailed scholarship - that scholarship worn deceptively lightly - this is also the most handsome, large, quarto volume, appropriately and clearly designed and beautifully printed. All in all, this is not only a fascinating, detailed insight into a mediaeval working library and its contents, but also a handsome volume reflecting well on the author, publisher and subject. REFERENCE REVIEWS Thomson's valuable and beautifully produced catalogue will stand as a foundation document. TIMES LITERARY SUPPLEMENT

TitleLeadingA

IllustratedYes

Dewey Decimal011/.31

Table Of ContentIntroduction The Catalogue Appendix A: Manuscript Fragments in Peterhouse Printed Books Appendix B: Medieval Peterhouse Manuscripts no longer in the Main Collection Index of Manuscripts and Printed Books General Index

Intended AudienceScholarly & Professional

SynopsisFounded in 1284, Peterhouse is the University of Cambridge's oldest college. Its stated objective was to forward the study of theology,and before the Reformation it was a small community comprising a master and fourteen scholars.And yet by the late Middle Ages it had built up a substantial reference library. Today the college collection contains 277 manuscripts, almost all of which were at the College before the reformation, geared to the European university curriculum of the late middle ages. Founded in 1284 by Hugh of Balsham, bishop of Ely, Peterhouse is the University of Cambridge's oldest college. The earliest surviving version of its statutes, from 1344, declares that its primary function was to forward the studyof theology. Before the Reformation it was a small community, the statutes prescribing a master and fourteen scholars. And yet by the late Middle Ages it had built up a substantial reference library, out of all proportion to this small fellowship. Today the college collection contains 277 complete manuscripts; in addition, there are more than three hundred fragments in or taken from the bindings of early printed books. Almost all of the surviving books were at the College before the Reformation, so that the present collection represents the remains of its medieval library, not the accumulation of modern donations. This gives the collection a very particular character and interest. Not many of the books contain extensive or important illumination, and this absence has been exacerbated by massive vandalism apparently mainly perpetrated in the late sixteenth century. Neither does the collection containa high proportion of rare or unique texts, but rather many geared to the European university curriculum of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This means that it is dominated by works of Aristotle in Latin and commentarieson them, by the philosophical theology of Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great and John Duns Scotus, by Justinian's Corpus Iuris Ciuilis and the Corpus Iuris Canonici and their commentators, and by medical texts. The founder is said to have bequeathed to the College 'many books of theology and some representing the other branches of knowledge'. None of these can be identified today, but in fact the history of the library is fairly opaque before c. 1400. The earliest surviving account roll is from 1374/5 and the earliest library-catalogue from 1418. Nearly all of the books were acquired by donation, and it is mainly by connecting the books to their donors that onecan track the growth of the collection prior to the early fifteenth century. Fortunately, Peterhouse books are rich in information about their previous owners, particularly those who brought or gave them to the College, thanks insome measure to the habit of recording the gifts by a pious inscription in them. About sixty names of owners and donors appear in the surviving books and donors appear in the surviving books and documents., Founded in 1284, Peterhouse is the University of Cambridge's oldest college. Its stated objective was to forward the study of theology,and before the Reformation it was a small community comprising a master and fourteen scholars.And yet by the late Middle Ages it had built up a substantial reference library. Today the college collection contains 277 manuscripts, almost all of which were at the College before the reformation, geared to the European university curriculum of the late middle ages., Founded in 1284 by Hugh of Balsham, bishop of Ely, Peterhouse is the University of Cambridge's oldest college. The earliest surviving version of its statutes, from 1344, declares that its primary function was to forward the study of theology. Before the Reformation it was a small community, the statutes prescribing a master and fourteen scholars. And yet by the late Middle Ages it had built up a substantial reference library, out of all proportion to this small fellowship. Today the college collection contains 277 complete manuscripts; in addition, there are more than three hundred fragments in or taken from the bindings of early printed books. Almost all of the surviving books were at the College before the Reformation, so that the present collection represents the remains of its medieval library, not the accumulation of modern donations. This gives the collection a very particular character and interest. Not many of the books contain extensive or important illumination, and this absence has been exacerbated by massive vandalism apparently mainly perpetrated in the late sixteenth century. Neither does the collection contain a high proportion of rare or unique texts, but rather many geared to the European university curriculum of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This means that it is dominated by works of Aristotle in Latin and commentaries on them, by the philosophical theology of Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great and John Duns Scotus, by Justinian's Corpus Iuris Ciuilis and the Corpus Iuris Canonici and their commentators, and by medical texts. The founder is said to have bequeathed to the College 'many books of theology and some representing the other branches of knowledge'. None of these can be identified today, but in fact the history of the library is fairly opaque before c. 1400. The earliest surviving account roll is from 1374/5 and the earliest library-catalogue from 1418. Nearly all of the books were acquired by donation, and it is mainly by connecting the books to their donors that one can track the growth of the collection prior to the early fifteenth century. Fortunately, Peterhouse books are rich in information about their previous owners, particularly those who brought or gave them to the College, thanks in some measure to the habit of recording the gifts by a pious inscription in them. About sixty names of owners and donors appear in the surviving books and donors appear in the surviving books and documents., Founded in 1284, Peterhouse is the University of Cambridge's oldest college. Its stated objective was to forward the study of theology, and before the Reformation it was a small community comprising a master and fourteen scholars.And yet by the late Middle Ages it had built up a substantial reference library. Today the college collection contains 277 manuscripts, almost all of which were at the College before the reformation, geared to the European university curriculum of the late middle ages. Founded in 1284 by Hugh of Balsham, bishop of Ely, Peterhouse is the University of Cambridge's oldest college. The earliest surviving version of its statutes, from 1344, declares that its primary function was to forward the studyof theology. Before the Reformation it was a small community, the statutes prescribing a master and fourteen scholars. And yet by the late Middle Ages it had built up a substantial reference library, out of all proportion to this small fellowship. Today the college collection contains 277 complete manuscripts; in addition, there are more than three hundred fragments in or taken from the bindings of early printed books. Almost all of the surviving books were at the College before the Reformation, so that the present collection represents the remains of its medieval library, not the accumulation of modern donations. This gives the collection a very particular character and interest. Not many of the books contain extensive or important illumination, and this absence has been exacerbated by massive vandalism apparently mainly perpetrated in the late sixteenth century. Neither does the collection containa high proportion of rare or unique texts, but rather many geared to the European university curriculum of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. This means that it is dominated by works of Aristotle in Latin and commentarieson them, by the philosophical theology of Peter Lombard, Thomas Aquinas, Albert the Great and John Duns Scotus, by Justinian's Corpus Iuris Ciuilis and the Corpus Iuris Canonici and their commentators, and by medical texts. The founder is said to have bequeathed to the College 'many books of theology and some representing the other branches of knowledge'. None of these can be identified today, but in fact the history of the library is fairly opaque before c. 1400. The earliest surviving account roll is from 1374/5 and the earliest library-catalogue from 1418. Nearly all of the books were acquired by donation, and it is mainly by connecting the books to their donors that onecan track the growth of the collection prior to the early fifteenth century. Fortunately, Peterhouse books are rich in information about their previous owners, particularly those who brought or gave them to the College, thanks insome measure to the habit of recording the gifts by a pious inscription in them. About sixty names of owners and donors appear in the surviving books and donors appear in the surviving books and documents.

LC Classification NumberZ6621