Beinecke MS 125                                                   England, s. XIV/XV
Wycliffite New Testament

          ff. 1r-97v    //locustis and hony of the wode thanne ierusalem
     wente out to him and al Iude and al the cuntre aboute iordan...the
     grace of oure lord ouer aboundid with feith and loue that is in crist
     ihesu a trewe word//

          Begins imperfectly in Matthew 3.4 and breaks off at 1 Timothy
     1.15; also missing Romans 9.22 to 1 Corinthians 1.23 (2 bifolios lost
     after f. 73). Contains the Gospels without prologues, and the Epistles
     with prologues. The text has been altered in places by a nearly
     contemporary hand that has written over erasures. Since the alterations
     correspond to those adopted in the later edition of John Purvey, MS 125
     may reflect an intermediate stage between the Wycliffite Bible and
     Purvey's version. See J. Forshall and F. Madden, eds., The Holy
     Bible...by John Wycliffe and His Followers (Oxford, 1850) v. 1: MS W,
     no. 168, p. lxiv (the editors comment that "the scribe not infrequently
     makes gross errors") and v. 3: text; C. Lindberg, "The Manuscripts and
     Versions of the Wycliffite Bible," Studia neophilologica 42 (1970) p.
     336.

          Parchment (thick, furry), ff. i (paper) + 97 + i (paper), 284 x
     180 (222 x 132) mm. Written in 2 columns of 49 lines; double outer and
     single inner vertical bounding lines; usually double or single upper
     and lower horizontal bounding lines, full across; additional pair of
     lines in upper (for running titles) and lower margins. All rulings in
     ink; some have smeared.
          I^^8 (-1), II-IX^^8, X^^8 (-3 through 6), XI^^8, XII^^6, XIII-XIV^^4.
     Structure of final 14 leaves is uncertain due to binding repairs.
     Catchwords between horizontal lines in lower margin, under inner
     column. Remains of original leaf signatures on ff. 40r and 41r: the
     letter f with i and ij below.
          Written in a neat gothic bookhand by a single scribe who carefully 
	corrected his errors; changes by at least one nearly contemporary and one
	later writer.
          Blue initials, 10- to 4-line, with extensive penwork designs in
     red, introduce each chapter. Headings, running titles, and underlining
     in red; paragraph marks in red or blue.
          Bookblock chewed by rodent in upper right corner; margins of many
     leaves trimmed resulting in some loss of text, marginalia, and
     catchwords.
          Binding: s. xviii. Red spattered edges. Brown leather, flesh side
     out, blind-tooled. A black calf spine, gold-tooled, added.

          Written in England ca. 1400, the codex bears evidence of much use.
     Signature of William Massey (Quaker scholar born in 1691?) on f. 94v
     and 7r (effaced). Notes of the typographical historian William Herbert
     (1718-95) on front pastedown: "W. Herbert 17th March 1766" and "Besides
     the above Testimony, I have examined it by W. Lewis's compleat History
     of the several Translations of the Holy Bible and New Testament into
     English, and find it agree [later addition: nearly] with his Quotations
     against which I have put a [drawing of a hand] in the Margin." Belonged
     to the antiquary Richard Gough (1735-1809) at whose sale (April 1810)
     the codex was purchased by the Rev. H. H. Baber (1775-1869). Acquired
     from Thorpe in 1836 by Sir Thomas Phillipps (nos. 7220 and 9302; tags
     on spine, inscription on f. 1r and inside front cover); sold (London,
     28 June 1938, no. 455) to Robinson's. Purchased by Henry Fletcher; his
     gift to Yale in 1944.

     Bibliography: Faye and Bond, p. 32, no. 125. 
        Exhibition Catalogue, pp. 216-17, no. 42.
          R. J. Menner, "A Manuscript of the First Wycliffite Translation of
     the Bible," Gazette 19 (1945) pp. 37-44, with pl. of f. 69r.

     Barbara A. Shailor