Beinecke MS 75                                                     England, s. XVII^^1
Lawyer's Commonplace Book of Precedents

     1. ff. 1r-336v    The personal handbook of a legal scholar (perhaps
     from Gloucestershire?) arranged according to subject and with internal
     cross references; some theological and literary notes interspersed
     (e.g., ff. 202r-203v, 213v have brief excerpts from Sallust, Juvenal,
     Martial, Tertullian, Bacon, Horace, Cicero, Ovid, Lucan, Persius, and
     the Bible, some with translations into English). Includes sections
     devoted to: Constable and Marshall, Preachers and Preaching, Creeds,
     Barons, Constables and Marshalls, Barons, Seales, Seals of the King,
     Indictments...London, Barons and Earles, Universities of Oxford and
     Cambridge, Corporations, Treason.

     2. ff. 337r-347r    Abbeys: fo: 53:/ Abbey lands: fo: 52:/ Ability: fo:
     195:/...Words: fo: 179:/ Writts originall: fo: 93:/ Writts of Right:
     fo: 93:

          Alphabetical index with many entries under the heading "First
     Book" and a few under "Second ["& third" suprascript]."

          Paper (watermarks: unidentified arms with fleur-de-lis and various
     counter-marks including IHS), ff. ii (original paper) + 348, 351 x 220
     (ca. 330 x 161) mm. Written in ca. 82 lines; single horizontal bounding
     line at top of folio, and a single vertical bounding line on the left
     (and sometimes on the right) to delineate a column for marginal notes.
     Ruled in lead.
          The volume is too tightly bound to be collated.
          Written in a small cramped legal script by several writers.
          Binding: s. xviii. Brown leather, flesh side out or very worn.

          Written in England in the first half of the 17th century, probably
     by several secretaries for the original owner; the addition of a column
     for "Second & third" book in the index suggests that MS 75 was the
     first volume in a series of three. Unidentified round paper tag with
     "151" on spine. Sold in 1830 by Jeffery of Pall Mall to Sir Thomas
     Phillipps (no. 4468; tag on spine); his sale (London, 1935, no. 131) to
     C. A. Stonehill from whom it was purchased by Thomas E. Marston
     (bookplate); his gift to Yale in 1936.

     Bibliography: De Ricci, v. 2, p. 2255, no. 75.

     Barbara A. Shailor