YALE UNIVERSITY BEINECKE RARE BOOK AND
MANUSCRIPT LIBRARY GENERAL COLLECTION OF RARE BOOKS AND
MANUSCRIPTS MEDIEVAL AND RENAISSANCE MANUSCRIPTS
Osborn a55
England, [ca. 1440]
Mandeville, John, Sir, [Sir John Mandeville's travels].
Itinerarium. English
In Middle English.
64 leaves : parchment ; 220 x 145 mm.
This material is open for research.
Sir John Mandeville is the suppositious author of the "travel" book known as the Book
of Sir John Mandeville, or Mandeville's Travels. Written in the 14th century in Anglo-Norman
French, it was widely popular and thought to be an accurate account of a knight's
journey through Europe, the Middle East and Asia.
Manuscript on parchment of a Middle English text of the Book of Sir John Mandeville,
probably related to the "Defective Version." Biblical quotations in Middle English
on f63v-f64v.
From the collection of John Theyer; from the collection of John Barwick of Charing;
ex libris Walter Sneyd; ex libris Sir Thomas Brooke; from the collection of Sir John
Arthur Brooke (Sotheby's London sale 25 May 1921, lot 921); from the collection of
Sir R. Leicester Harmsworth (Sotheby's London sale 15 October 1945, lot 2023). Purchased
from Martayan Lan Rare Books on the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Fund, 2011.
Title supplied by cataloger.
Annotation, in a later hand, on f1r: Sir John Mandevile's Travails.
Script: cursive anglicana hand in brown ink; 32 lines per page.
Side notes and notation marks in various hands, 15th-17th century.
Opening illuminated initial with ivy-leaf sprays into margins and 17 blue initials
with extensive red penwork flourishing. Three contemporary or near-contemporary marginal
drawings, one with color wash, of manicula.
Sir John Mandeville, Sir John Mandevile's Travails. James Marshall and Marie-Louise
Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.
Subjects:
Mandeville, John, Sir.
English prose literature -- Middle English, 1100-1500.
Voyages and travels -- Early works to 1800.
Manuscripts, Medieval -- Connecticut -- New Haven.
Manuscripts, Medieval -- England -- 15th century.
Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library.
Barwick, John, d. 1834.
Brooke, John Arthur, Sir, 1844-1920?
Brooke, Thomas, Sir, 1830-1908
Harmsworth, R. Leicester -- (Robert Leicester), Sir, 1870-1937