• Manuscript, on parchment, of Peter Idley's Instructions to his son, an adaptation (ca. 1445-50) of Albertano of Brescia's treatises addressed to his own sons. The manuscript was produced in England at the end of the fifteenth century and is written in anglicana and secretary script.
• Ex libris Thomas Dowse. Purchased at Sotheby's London sale, 2006 July 6, (lot 61) for the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection.
• Idley's Liber Secundus, a separate poem, follows the Instructions on f. 31v.
• Fragments of late thirteenth-century graded calendar used as pastedowns.
• Numerous sixteenth-century ownership inscriptions of Thomas Dowse on flyleaves.
• Verses from William Warner, Erasmus, and Shakespeare copied on flyleaves in sixteenth-century hands.
• Binding: contemporary white leather over wooden boards; spine sewn on five double tawed leather thongs; remnants of clasp (three foliate metal pins) on upper cover.
• Peter Idle, Instructions to His Son. James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University.

Subjects:

• Idley, Peter, d. 1474?
• Conduct of life -- Early works to 1800.
• Didactic poetry, English -- Early works to 1800.
• English poetry -- Middle English, 1100-1500.
• Youth
• Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library.
• Dowse, Thomas

Added entry:

• Albertano, da Brescia, 13th cent.