Details

Subjects:

Bristol, John Digby, Earl of, 1580-1654.
Geometry -- Early works to 1800.
Geometry.
Mathematics -- Early works to 1800.
Mathematics.
Astronomical instruments -- Early works to 1800.
Real property -- England -- To 1500.
Real property.
Astronomical instruments.
England.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Diagrams.
Drawings (visual works)
Manuscripts, English.
Manuscripts, Medieval.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

English, with a fragment from a document in Latin (f. 76-78).

Summary:

Mathematical manuscript largely comprised of a fair copy, without attribution, of the problems, diagrams, and Euclidean references of John Speidell's Geometricall extraction, first published in 1616. Followed by 8 illustrated propositions on measurement, with reference to Edmund Gunter (professor of astronomy at Gresham College, f. 55v) and possibly based on his Description and use of the sector, the crosse-staffe and other such instruments, first published in 1623. The illustrated title page is heavily based on the title page of Gunter's collected works. At the end of the mathematical material, 4 historical documents are bound in: 3 copies of official documents in English on paper from between 1616 and 1621, and a fragment (3 leaves) of a 15th-century land register in Latin on parchment that includes names of communities in southern England such as Larkehyll (Larkhill) and Suthinhame (Southampton). Folio format; the documents are on guards and are folded to fit within the binding, and the paper documents (f. 61-75) are on a mix of folio singletons and bifolia.

Contents:

1. f.1r-55r: A geometricall extraction for all affected to the mathematickes / [John Speidell]
2. f.55v-59r: The instrumentall part wherein I shall demonstrate severall conclusions wrought by the sector, quadrant, crosse-staffe, theodalett, and also by perspective glasses, by the peractor, circumferenter, and plane-table, with sundry strange wayes both by instrument and without to set forth the trew discription or exacte plotting of a whole region / [John Darker or Edmund Gunter?]
3. f.61r-62v: Orders for the burialle of persons of quallitie and for heralds fee, 1618 / Henry St. George, Richmond Herald
4. f.63r-69v: Articles of impeachment against the Earl of Bristow, 1616
5. f.70r-75v: The King's answer to the petition of the House of Commons presented unto him at Newmarkett, 1621 / [James I]
6. f. 76r-78v: [Fragment of land register, 15th century]

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page (f. 1r).
Foliation: Paper and parchment, i (18th-century paper) + 75 (17th-century paper) + 3 (15th-century parchment) + i (18th-century paper); [1-2], 3-75, [76-78]; later foliation in ink, upper right recto.
Script: Written in cursive script, with the appended documents in 17th-century secretary script and 15th-century Gothic cursive.
Decoration: Color title page with figures using mathematical instruments, architectural details, insects, and the Dacres coat of arms (f. 1r); 7 elaborate ink drawings of individuals using sectors and quadrants in various settings (f. 56r-59v); geometrical diagrams throughout.
Watermarks: Similar to Briquet Fleur de lis 7211, armorial watermark with crowned fleur-de-lis and pendant initials WR but no initials within the shield; urn with initials PDE surmounted by a crescent and urn with initials AV surmounted by a flower (Richmond Herald document); 2 candlesticks with initials SSDB (impeachment articles copy, 1616); unicorn (James I response copy, 1621).
Binding: 18th-century reversed calf, rebacked, with modern morocco labels; stab sewn.
Origin: Written in Levington (Suffolk, England) in 1648 by John Darker, perhaps a member of the Dacres family, whose coat of arms appears on the title page (f. 1r).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Jacob Winsor, 1667 (inscription, title page, f. 1r).
Sold at auction at Sotheby's, 15 July 1999, lot 45.
Sold by Simon Finch Rare Books (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, August 1999.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2013.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2021.

Cited as:

Oversize LJS 321.

Contributor:

Gunter, Edmund, 1581-1626.
St. George, Henry, 1581-1644.
Darker, John, scribe.
Winsor, Jacob, former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

860784950

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page