Comment on this Record
| | Providence, Providence Public Library, Special Collections,
Wetmore MS 1 | | Description: ff. iii+ 149 + v - Gold-stamped calf: in each corner 2 arrows in saltire, points in base, surmounted by a heart and ensigned with a royal crown, within a base of fleur-de-lys and in the flaunches a Tudor rose; center stamp of feathers, enfiled with a crown, w/olive branches - Henry, Prince of Wales (1594-1612); Thomas Watson (1720-79), S. J.;Thomas Pennant (1726-98); by inheritance to Rudolph (1823-92), Earl of Denbigh; Denbigh sale, Christie's, 4-7-1938, lot 12 to Stonehill; Edith Wetmore (1870-1966); in 1955 to Prov.Pub.Lib. - Susanne Rischpler, Biblia Sacra figuris expressa: Mnemotechnische Bilderbibln des 15. Jahrhunderts(Wiesbaden 2001), discussing the five known mss of this type; the Providence book is described on pp. 187-190; meanings of the symbols are on pp. 171-181 | | Notes:-It is said that the book had been a gift from Elizabeth of Bohemia (1596-1662), daughter of James I of England, to her brother, Henry. Former call number: C091 B582b. | | Number of Parts: 1 - Number of Images Available: 160 | | Direct Link: http://ds.lib.berkeley.edu/WetmoreMS1_28 | | Language: Latin Country: Germany Century: 15th |
| | Part 1: ff. 1-149v | | Description: - Parchment - 105 x 76 mm - Bible usually in 10 compartments to a page: 3 rectangular shapes each in upper & lower registers ; 4 in the middle register but in triangular shapes formed by a V (itself dimidiated) placed over the entire middle register. | | Country: Germany | Cardinal point: | | Region: | City: | | Assigned Date: s. XVex | Searchable Date Range: 1485 - 1499 | | Dated by scribe: No | Inscribed Date: | | Document: No | Number of Scribes: | | Script: Gothic cursive | | Figurative Decoration: Innumerable sketched figures that act as a rebus-like mnemonic device, with the same figure reoccuring at need. | | Notes: Foliated in modern pencil in lower right corner of recto. In the center lower margins of ff. 7, 15, 25, 35, 45, 55, 64, 76 are red roman numerals (I - VIII) that may be quire numbers. Latin | | Number of Texts: 15 |
| | Text 1: ff. i-iii verso + 1-3; ff. 3v-5v blank | | Author: Peter of Bergamo | | Title: Tabula aurea | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Doctoris angelici divi Thomæ Aquinatis Opera omniaed. By Stanislas Edouard Frette' and Paul Mare' (Paris, 1871-1880) vols. 34-35; here copied sparsim throughout the book, and to be read in this order: ff. 130-138v, 119-128v, 1-3, 140-147v, 129. | 
| Front matter
Front pastedown with the bookplates of the Earls of Denbigh and of Edith M. K. Wetmore.
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| ff. i verso - ii
Note in the hand of Thomas Pennant: The gift of Mr. Thomas Watson, November 4, 1763, late of Holywell, Flints., and late of the Society of Jesus now on his road to his native country, Scotland.
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| | Text 2: f. 6 | | Title: Claves sacre scripture | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Text is divided into seven points, and is complete on this page. | |
| | Text 3: ff. 6v-7 | | Title:
Bible study guide
| | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Groupings of the O.T. books of the bible into Legal, Historical, Sapiential, Prophetic; then the N.T. in the Gospels, the Catholic Epistles, the Pauline Epistles (this list carried forward by a tie mark, "f," from the lower verso to the recto). | |
| | Text 4: ff. 7v-84; ff. 84v-86v blank | | Title:
Bible in mnemonic form
| | Language(s): Latin | 
| ff. 28v-29
Nehemiah. On the recto, a note sending the reader to the end of the volume for 2 Ezra (= 3 Ezra). Finger pointing to an open book.
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| ff. 34v-35
Psalter, with leather tab on the fore edge to signal the beginning of this book. In this section, fewer explanations, so the images stand out more readily.
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| ff. 42v-43
Proverbs. Leather tab on the upper edge of the book block to signal beginning of this book.
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| ff. 43v-44
Last division at lower right, "verte foliam [to this sign]" referring reader to f. 45 for concluding text.
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| ff. 57v-58
Baruch; opened codex. Ezechiel; man with wallet-bound book (?) in his mouth. Leather tab on fore edge to signal beginning of Ezechiel.
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| ff. 71v-72
Pauline Epistles, To the Romans. Leather fore edge for the beginning of the Epistles.
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| ff. 72v-73
Quill pen; tie mark to the last division of the page with John, i.e. f. 71v to end the Epistle to the Romans. 1 Corinthians.
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| | Text 5: ff. 87-100 | | Title:
Biblical genealogies
| | Language(s): Latin | | Incipit: Considerans sacre historie prolixitatem | | Explicit: ascensionis et pentecosten. | | Notes: This text also in Vienna, Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek, Cod. 505, ff. 3-11v, containing the series of O.T. patriarchs from Adam to Christ. Each genealogical line follows a specific colored line: red, blue, light purple and so on. | |
| | Text 6: ff. 100-110v | | Title:
List of Roman Emperors
| | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Sequence of Roman emperors and German and Bohemian kings along a green line, beginning with Claudius and ending with Frederick III of Hapsburg who reigned 1452-1493; his accession date provides a possible terminus post quem for the copying of the ms. | 
| ff. 100v-101
Instructions for following the sequence of reigns from the previous text through the present one: "Respice supra flaviam lineam Imperator[um], Que continuatur hic cum viridi."
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| ff. 101v-102
This green strip labeled, "Quarta persecutio," and contains the last entry that is filled in with the information on the appropriate emperor, here Marcus Aurelius and Lucius Verus.
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| ff. 110v-111
Last Holy Roman Emperor added to the list: Frederick III of Hapsburg, crowned in 1452.
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| | Text 7: f. 111v; ff. 112-116v blank | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Sketch of two heads, possibly later in date, on otherwise blank leaves. | |
| | Text 8: ff. 117-118v | | Title: Conclusiones | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Materials relevant to the Dominicans for preaching. The Conclusionesare copied at two points throughout the book and should be read ff. 117-118v, 148r. | |
| | Text 9: ff. 119-128v | | Author: Peter of Bergamo | | Title: Tabula aurea | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Doctoris angelici divi Thomæ Aquinatis Opera omniaed. By Stanislas Edouard Frette' and Paul Mare' (Paris, 1871-1880) vols. 34-35; here copied sparsim throughout the book, and to be read in this order: ff. 130-138v, 119-128v, 1-3, 140-147v, 129. | |
| | Text 10: f. 129r-v | | Author: Peter of Bergamo | | Title: Tabula aurea | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Doctoris angelici divi Thomæ Aquinatis Opera omniaed. By Stanislas Edouard Frette' and Paul Mare' (Paris, 1871-1880) vols. 34-35; here copied sparsim throughout the book, and to be read in this order: ff. 130-138v, 119-128v, 1-3, 140-147v, 129. | |
| | Text 11: ff. 130-138v | | Author: Peter of Bergamo | | Title: Tabula aurea | | Title:
Incipiunt ethimologie et concordantie conclusionum per reverendissimum dominum magistrum petrum de pergamo
| | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Doctoris angelici divi Thomæ Aquinatis Opera omniaed. By Stanislas Edouard Frette' and Paul Mare' (Paris, 1871-1880) vols. 34-35; here copied sparsim throughout the book, and to be read in this order: ff. 130-138v, 119-128v, 1-3, 140-147v, 129. | |
| | Text 12: f. 139v | | Title:
List of Holy Roman Emperors
| | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: S. Rischpler suggests that this list was added to the book while in the possession of Henry, Prince of Wales (d. 1612), although the hand does not look English, and the list only need have been added after the accession of Rudolph II in 1576. | 
| ff. 139v-140
Continuation of the list of Holy Roman emperors from f. 110v, here containing the five rulers from Maximilian I (1493-1519) through Rudolph II (1576-1612).
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| | Text 13: ff. 140-147v | | Author: Peter of Bergamo | | Title: Tabula aurea | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Doctoris angelici divi Thomæ Aquinatis Opera omniaed. By Stanislas Edouard Frette' and Paul Mare' (Paris, 1871-1880) vols. 34-35; here copied sparsim throughout the book, and to be read in this order: ff. 130-138v, 119-128v, 1-3, 140-147v, 129. | |
| | Text 14: f. 148; f. 148v blank | | Title: Conclusiones" | | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Materials relevant to the Dominicans for preaching. The Conclusionesare copied at two points throughout the book and should be read ff. 117-118v, 148r. | |
| | Text 15: f. 149; f. 149v blank | | Title:
Orationes itinerantium
Prayers
| | Language(s): Latin | | Notes: Prayers based on the psalm, Levavi oculos meos. | 
| ff. ii verso - iii
Tipped-in letter from Thomas Watson, dated 30 October [1763] proposing to visit Thomas Pennant, and offering to Pennant coins and this book; the letter is transcribed by Rischpler, p. 190.
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