Cataloguing the Harley Manuscripts ... continued
The Harley Manuscripts, over 7,000 volumes spanning the period from the 8th to the early 18th century, are one of the 'foundation collections' of the British Library. Over the last few years, the Library has been working to make revised catalogue descriptions for them available online. So far, cataloguing of medieval manuscripts in the collection has been completed, throwing up some fascinating discoveries on the way, as keen readers of the BL’s Medieval Manuscripts blog will already know. But beside these medieval treasures, Robert Harley (1661–1724) and his son Edward Harley (1689-1741) collected many later manuscripts, dating from the 17th century and the early years of the 18th century. Post-1600 manuscripts make up nearly half the entire collection. Some had already been re-catalogued as part of previous projects (Science manuscripts; Greek manuscripts; Hebrew manuscripts; Tudor & Stuart manuscript pamphleteering; etc.), but until 2018 the bulk of post-1600 manuscripts remained to be added to the online catalogue. The current project aims to update descriptions for post-1600 manuscripts given in the four volume printed Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum (1808-1812), in line with modern cataloguing practice, and add them to the online catalogue.
Séguier binding showing the monogram of Pierre Séguier and his wife Madeleine Fabri (Harley MS 3979)
Notable manuscripts include the collections of Sir Simonds D’Ewes (1602–1650), politician and antiquary, one of the first libraries acquired by Robert Harley in 1704, forming about one twelfth of the Harley Manuscripts as a whole, and the copious heraldic collections of the four-generation Holme family of Chester. Besides English, Welsh and Scottish material, the Harleys used overseas agents to purchase manuscripts from the Continent, especially France, Germany and Italy,. These included manuscripts from the libraries of the German scholar J. G. Graevius (1632-1703), the French statesman and patron Pierre Séguier (1588-1672), and other collectors. Besides political, heraldic, theological and legal manuscripts, there are ships logs and travel narratives, journals, verse collections, writings on the occult, surveys, and more.
How to make oneself understood in France, from Penson’s Short Progress (Harley MS 3516 f. 44v)
Owing to the size of the collection, some works appear in several guises, reflecting contemporary manuscript copying and circulating practices (e.g. Harley MS 2224 and Harley 4619, papers relating to the parliament of 1628-9 and the imprisonment of Sir John Eliot and others in the Tower for non-payment of King Charles I’s forced loan). In many cases manuscripts surprise the reader with humdrum incidental features, such as doodles, pen trials, shopping lists, bills, and recipes, bringing to life their writers, illustrators and former owners.
Doodles in a volume from Randle Holme’s library (‘Cheshire collections’, Harley MS 1988 f. 2v)
An incidental note in one of Randle Holme’s heraldic manuscripts: a bill from the indexer, complaining about past underpayment (Harley MS 1985 f. 127).
The current phase of the cataloguing project runs from April 2024 to April 2026.
Tabitha Driver
Cataloguer, Modern Archives and Manuscripts
Further reading:
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-1812).
Cyril Ernest Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A study of the sources of the Harleian collection of manuscripts preserved in the Department of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972
Cataloguing the Harley manuscripts - Medieval manuscripts blog (May 2019)
Some discoveries during the cataloguing projects:
Unexpected encounters of the fragmentary kind - Medieval manuscripts blog (June 2019)
New Prophecies of the Ancient Sibyls - Medieval manuscripts blog (December 2020)
A newly discovered manuscript from Byland Abbey - Medieval manuscripts blog (April 2021)
Deciphering an English exorcism manual - Medieval manuscripts blog (March 2022)
Records of homosexuality in 17th century England - Untold lives blog (April 2019)
Henry Stubbe: Islam and religious toleration in Restoration England - Untold lives blog (May 2019)