Type

Lost Manuscript

Babel MS 17

Two thin strips are presently known from this manuscript, from consecutive leaves. Each provides the width of the text, from which the height of the written space and number of lines has to be inferred. While these fragments present short blocks of text, the relatively small amount of text missing between the two pieces suggest that the mise-en-page involved a new line for each entry in Papias's vocabulary and thus there was substantial blank space on the page. The style of textura and the evidence of an illuminated initial suggest that this was a high-grade manuscript. 

Textual Information
Subject
Grammatical
Author of work
Papias
Title of work
Elementarium doctrinae rudimentum
Language
Latin
Palaeography
Type of script
Gothic
Script detail
Textura praescissa
Place of production
England
Material Information
Material
Parchment
Layout
Bicolumnar
Decoration

Iluminated initials - perhaps three lines in height, 26mm wide - for the start of each letter; sections within each letter have three-line lombards, blue with red penwork flourishing, 11mm wide.

Ruling
very faint plummet
Dimensions
Page

mm (h) x ?235+mm (w)

Number of lines
?37
Number of columns
2
Height of minims
3mm
Space between lines
6mm
Height of written space
?222
Width of written space
148
Inner margin

42

Width of text 1

67

Reservation 1

11

Width of text 2

70

Outer margin

48

History and further information
Information on dismantling

The manuscript appears to have been available for a Cambridge bookbinder to use these strips in the later 1560s or early 1570s.

Number of folios represented
2
Author: David Rundle_