Handlist of Chester Beatty's western medieval manuscripts

Handlist of western medieval manuscripts currently or formerly in the collections of Sir

Alfred Chester and Edith Beatty Part 2, manuscripts by current location (2016)

Note on numbering:

Manuscripts were usually given multiple numbers during their time in the Beattys’ collection. For

the purposes of this list the numbers given in Eric Millar’s catalogue, the Sotheby’s sale catalogues of

1968-9, the list of manuscripts exchanged or given away (held in the Chester Beatty Library), or

written into the manuscripts are used as the major references (although other numbers are listed

where these are known).

Some of the provenance information is taken from the Old General Catalogue of Western

Manuscripts held in the archives of the Chester Beatty Library. This information should be treated

with caution, as it often appears to have been added from memory and is sometimes incorrect.

This list is still incomplete, and probably contains errors. Additional information and corrections are

very welcome.

NB this list does not (normally) include manuscripts that were dismembered by Beatty and then left

the collection, or fragments other than those in Millar’s catalogue.

Entries in this handlist are presented as follows:

Current whereabouts of MS

Major reference number in the Beatty collection

Author and title of work, in the form (or forms) in which it appears in catalogue entries for the MS

Acq. = Source and date from which the MS was acquired with price paid if known. Prices do not include commission.

(alternative numbers used whilst the MS was in Beatty’s collection)

Dis. = Date and means by which MS was disposed of with price paid if known.

Common abbreviations:

ACB = Alfred Chester Beatty

EB = Edith Beatty

Millar = E. G. Millar, The Library of A. Chester Beatty: A Descriptive Catalogue of the Western

Manuscripts 2 Vols (Oxford, 1927-30).

Baltimore, Walters Art Museum W 751 (http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W751/)

W MS 10 Gospel Book Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 14122) by EB, 17th Dec. 1920, £500.1

(W MS 5; 104)

Dis. = sold 1952 by EB through Maggs Bros.2

Baltimore, Walters Art Museum W. 759 -762 (http://art.thewalters.org/detail/31958)

W MS 63 Antiphoner (Beaupré Antiphoner) 4 Vols.

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 22nd Jun. 1921 (Yates Thompson Sale), lot 67, £1510.3

(W MS 51; 59; 124)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 15, £1850, to Spanish Art Gallery.

Baltimore, Walters Art Museum MS W. 777

W MS 46 Gratian, Decretum (Decretals)

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 1036), 23rd Feb. 1923, £395.4

(W MS 18A; 135)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 11, £4000, to Maggs Bros.

Berlin, Staatsbibliothek HS 241

Hours (The Hours of Nicholas von Firmian)

Acq. = privately from Sabin, 1923.5

(W MS 80; 120; 127)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 68, £450, to Rosenthal.

Berkeley Castle Hours (The Nevill Hours)

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 25th Jul. 1922, lot 584, £100.

(W MS 78; 92; 99)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 26, £160, to Quaritch for the Earl of Berkeley.

1 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letters from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. and 30th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 2 http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W751 (accessed 19.11.2015). 3 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1921-1926, p. 1586. 4 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, agreement between ACB and Mr Fenwick dated 23rd Feb. 1923. 5 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; notes held at Sotheby’s London.

http://www.thedigitalwalters.org/Data/WaltersManuscripts/html/W751

Birmingham Barber Institute No 397

W MS 90 Hours of Cardinal della Rovere

Acq. = probably Red Cross Sale, Christies, 26th Apr. 1916, lot 2082, £236.6

(W MS 18; 85; 113; 121)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 67, £6500, to Thomas Agnew.

Boston Public Library MS 1532

W MS 54 Bible in 4 Vols. (The Duprat Bible)

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 4259), 20th Dec. 1920, £2000.7

(W MS 42; 50; 108 A-D)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 13, £600.

Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale MS IV 191

Odo of Morimond, Commentary on the Old Testament

Acq. =

Dis. = given to Eric Millar, 1st Jul. 1926.8

Brussels, Bibliothèque Royale MS IV 542

W MS 98 Hours Acq. = Ellis, 1920, £400.9

(W MS 15; 81; 121; 128) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec.

1968, lot 36, £4500, to Maggs Bros.

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS 330

W MS 38 The de Brailes Leaves

Acq. = Dr Rosenbach, New York, Nov. 1920, $6000.10

(W MS 39)

Dis. = privately to the Fitzwilliam Museum with the aid of the National Art Collections Fund, 1932, £3500.

Cambridge, Fitzwilliam Museum MS 375

Hours Acq. = privately from Maggs Bros., Nov. or Dec. 1923, £450.11

(W MS 77, 94)

Dis. = Given to the Fitzwilliam Museum, 1936.

6 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1914-1917, p. 1025. 7 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 8 D. H. Turner, ‘List of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Owned by Eric Millar’, British Museum Quarterly Vol. 33 (1968), p. 11. 9 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 10 Millar, vol. 1 p. 122; see also British Library Add MS 52657 f. 54. 11 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue.

Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer Cod. Bodmer 14 (http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/fmb/cb-0014)

Azo, Summa in Codicem et Institutiones cum Extraordinariis/ Hazo Bononiensis, Hugolinus Bononiensis, Iohannes Bassianus, Placentius

Acq. =

(W MS 112)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 55, £9500, to Martin Breslauer.


W MS 13 Canons of the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 389), May 1923, £400.12

(W MS 9)



W MS 121

Lactantius, Opera

Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 66, £4000, to Alan G. Thomas.


W MS 110

Paul the Deacon, Homilary

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 6659), Nov. 1925, by EB, £300.13

(W MS 5A; 132)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 2, £14000, to Martin Breslauer.

12 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, corrected offer in letter from ACB to Fenwick of 21st May 1923. 13 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719.

http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/fmb/cb-0014









W MS 117.III

Polybius, Historiae

Acq. = Quaritch, after 1919.14

(W MS 52; 100; 109; 117) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May

1933, lot 62, £195, to Quaritch.

Cologny, Fondation Martin Bodmer Cod. Bodmer 183

W MS 69 Peter of Poitiers, Compendium in Genealogia Christi (Roll Chronicle)

Acq. = Maggs Bros., 1923, £260.15

(W MS 49; 64)


Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, W 017

W MS 17 Gospel Book (The Stavelot Gospels)


(W MS 10; 100)

Dis. = n/a

Dublin, Chester Beatty Library W 022

W MS 22 Bible, Genesis-Ruth (The Walsingham Bible)


(W MS 17; 106)

n/a


W MS 29 Job, glossed Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 3344), 17th Dec. 1920, £285.18

(W MS 23; 92)

n/a


W MS 40 Psalter Acq. = Quaritch, 1923.19 (W MS 31) n/a

14 S. de Ricci, ‘Les manuscrits de la collection Henry Yates Thompson’, Bulletin de la société francaise de reproductions de manuscrits à peintures (1926), p. 30. 15 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. See also Maggs Bros. Cat 404 (1921), no. 6. 16 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 17 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 18 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 19 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue.


W MS 43 Augustine, De Civitate Dei

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 12269), Nov. 1925, £1500 by EB.20

(W MS 13A)

n/a


W MS 61 Psalter Acq. = privately from R. G. L. Barrett, Esq. 1924.21

(W MS 50B; 57)

n/a


W MS 66 Gratian, Decretum (Decretals)


(W MS 48; 61; 146)

n/a


W MS 76 Statius of Naples, Thebaid


(W MS 60B; 72)

n/a


W MS 78 Statutes and Matricola of the Guild of Innkeepers, Perugia

Acq. = Sabin, 1921 or 1924.24

(W MS 60; 73)

Dis. = n/a


W MS 80 Liber de Naturis Rerum

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 134/3948), Nov. 1925, by EB, £450.25

(W MS 110A; 138)

Dis. = n/a


Hours (The Coetivy Hours)

Acq. = privately from Henry Yates Thompson by EB, 1919, for £4000 and presented to ACB, 1919.26

(W MS 33, 69, 80, 87)

Dis. = n/a.

20 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719. 21 Millar, vol. 2 p. 75. 22 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 23 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719. 24 Millar, vol. 2 p. 230, but also Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue, which states that the manuscript was purchased by Sabin at Sotheby’s in 1923 and sold to Beatty in 1924; notes now at Sotheby’s, London, state that the ms was purchased by Sabin in 1921 and by Beatty in 1924. 25 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719. 26 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; British Library, Additional MS 52656, f. 23.


Hours Acq. = privately, 1928.27 (W MS 85*, 95) Dis. = n/a.


Hours (The Hamilton Field Hours)

Acq. = privately in America, 1927, $2000.28

(W MS 68A; 77; 84) Dis. = n/a.


Rosarium Acq. = (W MS 122; 123; 129)

Dis. = n/a.


Gospel Book (The Evangeliarum of Santa Justina)

Acq. = Purchased from the executors of the Holford estate, 4th Jan. 1928.

(W MS 115B; 127)

Dis. = n/a.


Giovanni Gioviano, Opera


(W MS 99; 106; 110C)

Dis. = n/a.


Franciscus Barbarus and others, Miscellany


(W MS 101; 108; 108A)

Dis. = n/a.


Dictys Cretensis, De Bello Troiano


(W MS 100; 107; 110B)

Dis. = n/a.


Cicero, Orationes Novem

Acq. = Privately from Sydney Cockerell by EB. Sep. 1920.32

(W MS 96; 97; 103; 144) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun.

1932, lot 27, £180, to Quaritch. Reacquired for EB by Sydney Cockerell, 28th Jul. 1947.


Antiphonary Acq. =

Dis. = n/a.

27 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 28 Documentation in Chester Beatty Library Archive. 29 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719. 30 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719. 31 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719. 32 British Library, Add. MS 52657, f.45v.


W MS 180

Jaume Domènech, Universal History in Catalan

Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 30, £2200, to Quaritch. Subsequently reacquired.

Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève, Comites Latentes MS 15 (http://www.e-codices.unifr.ch/en/list/one/bge/cl0015)

W MS 71 Psalter Acq. = Quaritch, after 1924.33

(W MS 60D; 66)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 19, £23000, to Charles W. Traylen.

Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève, Comites Latentes MS 21

W MS 88 St Basil, De Vera Inregritate Virginitatis and Ephraem the Syrian, Laudatio Sancti Ioseph

Acq. = Leighton 1919.34 (W MS 8; 108; 116) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun.

1969, lot 64, £900, to Charles W. Traylen.

Geneva, Bibliothèque de Genève, Comites Latentes MS 38

W MS 83 Hours (The Comites Latentes Hours)

Acq. = Quaritch, 1920.35 (W MS 12; 73; 84; 91)


The Hague, Royal Library, MS 135 E 23 (http://manuscripts.kb.nl/search/manuscript/extended/page/1/shelfmark/135+E+23)

W MS 87 Hours Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 19th Dec. 1928, lot 579, £71.36

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 32, £2400, to Meier Elte.

Harvard, Houghton Library MS Richardson 17 (http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/5141175)

Sallust, De Bello Catilinae

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 13th Jul. 1920 (Mostyn Sale), lot 104, £48.37

(W MS 107; 109; 115; 123)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 61, £115, to Maggs Bros.

33 Millar, vol. 2 p. 129, see also Sotheby’s sale, 27th Jul. 1925, lot 222. 34 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 35 Beatty lodged a bid for this manuscript with Quaritch for the sale on the 2/2/1914, but was outbid. London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1914-1917, p. 915; Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 36 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1926-1930, p. 2100. 37 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-1920, p. 1500.

Harvard, Houghton Library MS Richardson 26 (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-

3:FHCL.HOUGH:939450)

W MS 25 Augustine, Works

Acq. = Quaritch, 1920.38

(W MS 20; 110)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 6, to Maggs Bros.

Harvard, Houghton Library MS Typ 141 (http://pds.lib.harvard.edu/pds/view/3684061)

W MS XII Augustine, De Civitate Dei

Acq. = probably Quaritch.39

Dis. = probably exchanged with Yahuda, 26th May 1930.40


W MS 104.III

Lactantius Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 12283), 17th Dec. 1920, £285.41

(W MS 88; 97; 103; 104)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 57, £160, to Quaritch.


W MS 35 Rabanus Maurus, Expositio Iheremie prophete (Commentary on Jeremiah)

Acq. = Quaritch.42 (W MS 5; 33) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May

1933, lot 44, to Young.


W MS 73 Augustine, La Cité de Dieu, books XI-XXII (in French)

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 23rd Mar. 1920 (Yates Thompson Sale), lot 54, £850.43

(W MS 1; 55; 69)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 19, to Quaritch.

38 Millar, vol. 1 p. 94. 39 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 40 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 41 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 42 Millar, vol. 1 p. 117. 43 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-20, p. 1446.

Harvard, Houghton Library MS Typ 202 (http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL.HOUGH:3715484)

W MS 31 Bede, Expositio in Lucam (Commentary on St Luke)


(W MS 14; 95)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 7, £150, to Quaritch.


Hours Acq. = Gilhofer and Ranschburg, Vienna, Feb. 1920.45

(W MS 34; 86; 112; 120; 120.III)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 64, to Quaritch.


Pontifical (The Broadley Pontifical)

Acq. = privately from Sabin, in or after 1922.46

(W MS 112A; 116; 124)


Harvard, Houghton Library MS Typ 228

W MS 68 Augustine, De Civitate Dei, books I-XXII


(W MS 52; 63; 102)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 51, £120, to Goodyer.

Harvard, Houghton Library MS Typ 703 (http://lms01.harvard.edu/F/231SBVQAE9EMAPH2S7N2KUC2CCC4PN73CXTK82PC4942TPS5QG-08278?func=find-c&amp=&CCL_TERM=sys%3D009993183&pds_handle=GUEST)

Augustine, Ennarationes in Psalmos

Acq. =


44 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 45 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 46 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 47 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921.

Houston, James E. and Elizabeth J. Ferrell Collection48

W MS 74 Histoire Ancienne


(W MS 57A; 71)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 20, £1200, to Spanish Art Gallery.

Jerusalem, National Library of Israel, Yah MS Var 4 (http://rosetta.nli.org.il/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE8767875)

W MS XVIII

Hours Acq. = Francis Edwards, 1918.50

(W MS 88, 148)

Dis. = exchanged with Yahuda 26 May 1930.


Hours (with autograph of George Edmund Street)

Acq. =

(W MS 74A)

Dis. = exchanged with Yahuda Dec. 1927.


W MS XIV Hours Acq. = Belin, Paris, 1920.51

(W MS 75, 118)

Dis. = exchanged with Yahuda Jan. 1930.52

48 E. Morrison and A. D. Hedeman (ed.), Imagining the Past in France: History in Manuscript Painting, 1250-1500 (Los Angeles, 2010), p. 169. 49 Millar, vol. 2 p. 147. 50 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Archive Book 8: Manuscripts Sold or Given Away. 51 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 52 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged.

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W MS III De miseriae humanae conditionis


(W MS 105)

Dis. = to Yahuda 17 Dec. 1931.


W MS XV*

Sermones Acq. = Leighton 1917.54

(W MS 48)



W MS XIX*

Adversos hereticos

Acq. =

(W MS 48, 53)

Dis. = exchanged with Yahuda Jan. 1929.


W MS IX* Bible Acq. =


53 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 54 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged.

http://rosetta.nli.org.il/delivery/DeliveryManagerServlet?dps_pid=IE16253818





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W MS VII*

Antiphoner Acq. =


Jerusalem, National Library of Israel, Yah MS Var 16

Missal (Utrecht Missal)

Acq. =

(W MS 36*, 47)

Dis. = exchanged with Yahuda Jan. 1929.

Lisbon, Museu Calouste Gulbenkian MS LA 210

Hours (The Holford Hours)

Acq. = privately from the executors of the Holford estate, 4th Jan. 1928.55

(W MS 122A; 123; 130)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 31, £2800, to Dr Rosenthal.

London, British Library, Add. MS 43460 W MS 3

Augustine and Jerome, Theological Works, Commodianus, Carmen Apologeticum

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 12261), 4th Aug. 1924, £850.56

(W MS 1A)

Dis. = private sale to Wilfred Merton, who ‘immediately offered to transfer it to the [British] Museum at cost price’, 1933.57

London, British Library Add. MS 48985

W MS 60 Hours (The Salvin Hours)

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 23rd Mar. 1920 (Yates Thompson Sale), lot 35, £2000.58

(W 50; 55; 71)

Dis. = presented to the British Museum, 1955.

55 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 56 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Mr Fitzroy-Fenwick dated 4th Aug. 1924 and countersigned by Fenwick 9th Aug. 1924. 57 E. G. Millar, ‘Three Manuscripts from the Chester Beatty Collection’, BMQ (1933) p. 18. 58 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-1920, p. 1446.







London, British Library Egerton MS 3055 (http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=7271&CollID=28&NStart=3055)

W MS 33 Caius Suetonius Tranquillus, De vita Caesarum (Lives of the Caesars)


(W MS 28; 85)


London, British Library Egerton MS 3088 (http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8747&CollID=28&NStart=3088)

W MS 59 Bede, De Temporum Ratione; Chronicle of Dore Abbey (Treatises on the Compotus; of Natural Things; Chronicles of Robert Losinga, Bishop of Hereford, and of Hugh of St Victor; and annals of Dore Abbey)


(W 39B; 54)


London, British Library, Egerton MS 3089 (http://www.bl.uk/catalogues/illuminatedmanuscripts/record.asp?MSID=8738&CollID=28&NStart=3089)

W MS 16 Gregory the Great, Dialogues


(W MS 11; 73)


59 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 60 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Mr Fitzroy-Fenwick dated 4th Aug. 1924 and countersigned by Fenwick 9th Aug. 1924. 61 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921.

Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum MS 16 (http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1483/unknown-maker-gospel-lectionary-ottonian-late-10th-century/)

W MS 42 Gospel Lectionary (Evangeliarium)

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 4th May 1926, lot 29, £2050.62

(W MS 9C)

Dis. =

Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum MS 48; (93.M1.6) (http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1531/georges-trubert-workshop-of-jean-bourdichon-book-of-hours-french-about-1480-1490/)

W MS 85 Hours Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 14/15th April, 1924, lot 166, £420.63

(W MS 87; 94)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 71, £90000, to M. Brymer Esq.

Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum MS Ludwig V 6 (http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1368/master-of-the-kremnitz-stadtbuch-master-michael-unknown-missal-from-the-collegium-ducale-austrian-about-1420-1430/)

W MS 81 Missal Acq. = purchased from Paul Gruppe, Berlin, Feb. 1920.64

(W MS 74; 91; 114)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 22, to Rosenthal.

62 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1926-1930, p. 1906. 63 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1921-1926, p. 1749. 64 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; Millar, vol. 2 p. 254.

Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum MS Ludwig IX 3 (http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1387/unknown-maker-ruskin-hours-french-about-1300/)

W MS 64 Hours (The Ruskin Hours)

Acq. = privately from Dr S. C. Cockerell, 1924.65

(W MS 50A; 56)


Los Angeles, The J. Paul Getty Museum MS Ludwig XI, 1 (83.MN.120) (http://www.getty.edu/art/collection/objects/1405/ser-ricciardo-di-nanni-lucius-caecilius-firmianus-lactantius-leonardo-di-giovanni-tolosani-da-colle-divinae-institutiones-de-ira-dei-de-opificio-de-ave-phoenice-italian-about-1456/)

W MS 110.III

Lactantius, De Divinis Institutionibus/Divinae Institutiones, De Ira Dei, De Opificio, De Ave Phoenice


(W MS 103; 103A; 110)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 58, £250.

Manchester, John Rylands Library (http://www.artfund.org/supporting-museums/art-weve-helped-buy/artwork/11787/colonna-missal-various-artists)

Colonna Missal Acq. = (W MS 128) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun.

1932, lot 33, to Quaritch.

65 Millar, vol. 2 p. 103. 66 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719.

Milan, Biblioteca Nazionale Braidense AC IX 36

W MS 56 Bible Acq. = Myers and Co. New Bond St, 1927.67

(W MS 44A; 51)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 17, £2000, to Dr Radaeli.

Munster University Library MS NR 1003

W MS 109

Missal (Lamberti Missale)

Acq. =


New York, Metropolitan Museum of Art 1997.320 (http://www.metmuseum.org/collection/the-collection-online/search/466297)

W MS 51 Bible (The Bible of Jean Bude)

Acq. = purchased privately, through S. C. Cockerell.68

(W MS 41; 46)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 48, to Perimayne.

New York, Morgan Library MS G 17 (http://corsair.themorgan.org/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=76952)

W MS 21 Missal (Le Mans Missal)

Acq. = privately Paris 1924.69

(W MS 16A)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 40, to Rosenthal.

New York, Morgan Library MS M 777 (http://corsair.themorgan.org/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=143954)

W MS 19 Gospel Book (The Mostyn Gospels)

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 13th Jul. 1920 (Mostyn Sale), lot 40, £2500.70

(W MS 16; 57; 122)



W MS 47 Gospel Book (The Seitenstetten Gospels)

Acq. = Jacques Rosenthal, 1927.71

(W MS 27A; 136)


67 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 68 Millar, vol. 2 p. 32. 69 Millar, vol. 1 p. 76. 70 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-1920, p. 1500. 71 Millar, vol. 2 p. 13.

http://corsair.themorgan.org/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=76952





W MS 1 Bede, Historia Ecclesiastica (fragment)


(W MS 0)



Hours (Hours of Jean Robertet, aka The Foucquet Hours)

Acq. = privately from the executors of the Holford estate, 4th Jan. 1928.73

(W MS 74; 83; 90)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 54.


W MS 48 Gradual (The Seitenstetten Gradual), (catalogued as a Missal by Millar)

Acq. = Jacques Rosenthal, 1927.74

(MS W 31A; 137)

Dis. = sold by EB, 1951, to Morgan Library.75


W MS 8 Gospel Book (The Tours Gospels)

Acq. = through Quaritch, 1919, £1775.76

(W MS 3; 109)

Dis. = sold 1952 by EB through Maggs Bros to the Morgan Library for £15750.77


W MS 9 Gospel Book Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 2165/21787), 17th Dec. 1920, £1500.78

(W MS 4; 87)

Dis. = sold 1952 by EB through Maggs Bros to the Morgan Library for £7875.79

72 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Mr Fitzroy-Fenwick dated 4th Aug. 1924 and countersigned by Fenwick 9th Aug. 1924. 73 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 74 Millar, vol. 2 p. 17. 75 http://corsair.themorgan.org/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?BBID=158991 (accessed 14.11.2015) 76 S. de Ricci, ‘Les manuscrits de la collection Henry Yates Thompson’, Bulletin de la société francaise de reproductions de manuscrits à peintures (1926), p. 32. 77 London, National Archives, T218/409. 78 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 79 London, National Archives, T218/409.



W MS 23 Lectionary (The Trond Lectionary)


(W MS 18; 84)



Peter Lombard, Commentary on the Pauline Epistles

Acq. = ‘from a Spanish collector through the late S. Babra, Barcelona, 1927’.81

(W MS 24A; 133)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 9, £17000, to E. P. Goldsmith & Co. Ltd.


W MS 24 Minor Prophets, glossed


(W MS 19; 91)



Hours (Hours of Charlotte of Savoy)

Acq. = privately from Quaritch, 1923.83

(W MS 67A; 79; 86) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun.

1969, lot 59, £40000, to A. Haddaway Esq.


Hours (Hours of Anne of Austria)

Acq. = at or after Sotheby’s sale 3rd Jul. 1922, £100.84

(W MS 75C; 84; 86; 93) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun.

1969, lot 69, £1800, to Quaritch.

80 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 81 Millar, vol. 2 p. 1. 82 See n. 11 above. 83 Catalogue of Thirty-Eight Illuminated Manuscripts of the 8th to the 17th century, The Property of the late Sir A. Chester Beatty (Sotheby’s, 24th June 1969), p. 70. 84 See letter from E. G. Millar, 11th Apr 1924, Chester Beatty Library Archive.

New York, Public Library, Spencer MS 27 (http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-eb74-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99)

Livy, De Secundo Bello Punico


(W MS 99; 104; 105; 112)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 59, £440, to Quaritch for New York Public Library.

New York, Public Library, Spencer MS 28 (http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-eb78-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99)

Hyginus, De Sideribus


(W MS 89; 96; 106)


New York, Public Library, Spencer MS 29 (http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-eb9e-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99)

Gospels / Gospel Lectionary (Gospel Book of Pope Pius II)

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Mar. 1920 (Yates Thompson Sale), lot 61, £520.87

(W MS 50; 95; 110; 118)


New York, Public Library, Spencer MS 64 (http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47da-ecd5-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99)

Missal (of San Petrino)

Acq. = from Ellis, 1924, £1050.88 (W MS 111; 115; 123)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 66, to Prof. Pitti.

85 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 86 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 87 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-1920, p. 1446. 88 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue.

Oxford, Lincoln College MS Lat. 150 (E)

W MS 58 Missal (fragment)


(W MS 43B; 53)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 52, £3500, to Maggs Bros.

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France MSS n.a.f. 15939-15944 (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b8449690f.r=15939)

W MS 75 Vincent of Beauvais, Speculum Historiale

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 3rd Mar. 1920 (Yates Thompson Sale), lot 55, £6700.90

(W MS 53a-e; 56a-56f; 70) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec.

1968, lot 20, £88000, to ‘de Gourlay’ (pseudonym for anonymous buyer).

Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France MS n. a. lat. 3115 (http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b550008032/f4.image.r=3115)

W MS 85-92.III

Hours Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 30th Jan. 1920, lot 134, £1950.91

(W MS 75B, 85, 92)


Paris, Bibliothèque nationale de France MS n. a. lat. 3119

Hours (The Kalmancsehi Hours)

Acq. = (W MS 111A; 114)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 65, £510, to Quaritch for Lucius Wilmerding Esq.92

Princeton, Scheide Library

W MS 14 Councils and Decretals (Canones Conciliorum et Decreta Romanorum Pontificum (Collectio Dionysio-Hadriana))

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 390), May 1923, £450.93

(W MS 8)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 41, £12000, to Bernard M. Rosenthal Inc.

89 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Mr Fitzroy-Fenwick dated 4th Aug. 1924 and countersigned by Fenwick 9th Aug. 1924. 90 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-20, p. 1446. 91 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-20, p. 1423. 92 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1933, p. 91. 93 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719.

Princeton, University Library Kane MS 31

Cicero, De Oratore

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 30th Jan. 1920.94

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 28th Jun. 1921, lot 163 to Quaritch.95

Princeton, University Library Kane MS 33 (see Index of Christian Art)

Sallust, Catilinae Coniuratio and Bellum Iugurthinum

Acq. =

Dis. =


Justinian, Epitoma Historiarum Philippicarum

Acq. = (37)

Dis. =


Sextus Iulius Frontinus, Straegemata

Acq. = (27)

Dis. =

Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale, VE 1006

W MS 4 Datiani, Epistola; Fulgentius, De Veritate Praedestinationis etc.


(W MS 1B)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 2, £760, to Negrati.


W MS 2 Homilary (The Ottobeuren Homilary)


(W MS 1)



W MS 7 Bede, Commentary on the Canonical Epistles and Apocalypse


(W MS 2)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 1, £1700, to L. S. Olschki.

94 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-20, p. 1423 95 D. C. Skemer, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Princeton University Library (Princeton, 2013) pp. 71-2. 96 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Mr Fitzroy-Fenwick dated 4th Aug. 1924 and countersigned by Fenwick 9th Aug. 1924. 97 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, agreement between ACB and Mr Fenwick dated 23rd Feb. 1923. 98 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, agreement between ACB and Mr Fenwick dated 23rd Feb. 1923.

Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale VE 1348

W MS 12 Canons of the Council of Aix-la-Chapelle


(W MS 7)



W MS 5 Augustine, Sermons


(W MS 1C; 5)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 38, £48000, to Leo S. Olschki.

Rome, Biblioteca Nazionale, VE Sessor 590

W MS 6 Eugippius, Excerpts from St Augustine


(W MS 1D)


San Marino, Huntingdon Library, HM 31151 (images available through the ‘Digital Scriptorium’)

W MS 26 Augustine, Treatises Against Heresy


(W MS 21; 110)


Senshu University, MS 7 (http://www.senshu-u.ac.jp/socio/ms_anglo/KmView/MS_07/kmview.html)

Psalter Acq. = Quaritch, May 1916. (10)

Stockholm, National Museum, NMB 1960.

W MS 92 Hours (The Giraldi-Guicciardini Hours

Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 34, £4000, to Alan G. Thomas.

99 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, agreement between ACB and Mr Fenwick dated 23rd Feb. 1923. 100 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Mr Fitzroy-Fenwick dated 4th Aug. 1924 and countersigned by Fenwick 9th Aug. 1924. 101 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Mr Fitzroy-Fenwick dated 4th Aug. 1924 and countersigned by Fenwick 9th Aug. 1924. 102 Millar, vol. 1 p. 96.

Stuttgart, Landesbibliothek, Theol. & Phil. Fol. 341

W MS 32 Peter Lombard, Commentary on the Psalms


(W MS 27; 96)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 8, £260, to Rosenthal.

The Wormsley Library

W MS 28 Zacharias Chrysopolitanus, In Unum ex Quatuor

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 27th Jul. 1925, lot 201, £700.104

(W MS 22A)


Yale, Beinecke Library MS 111 (http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/9799497)

Legenda Aurea Acq. =

Dis. = exchanged with Prof. Yahuda, 18th Dec. 1928.105

Yale, Beinecke Library MS 400 (http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3519437?image_id=1041033)

W MS 85.III

Hours (The De Levis Hours)

Acq. = Quaritch, 1916, £2000.106

(W MS 67; 78; 115). Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May

1933, lot 53.

Yale, Beinecke Library MS 402 (http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3592243)

W MS 20 Gospels of Matthew and Mark

Acq. = from Leon Gruel, Feb. 1920.107

(W MS 12; 24)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 43, £7500, to H. P. Kraus.

Yale, Beinecke MS 407 (http://brbl-dl.library.yale.edu/vufind/Record/3432849)

W MS 79 Bible (Bible of Cardinal Nicholas Albergati)

Acq. = privately from the executors of Sir George Holford, 4th Jan. 1928.108

(W MS 74; 84A)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 61, £85000, to H. P. Kraus.

103 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 104 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1921-1926 p. 1852. 105 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Archive Book 8: Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 106 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 107 Millar, vol. 1 p. 75. 108 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue gives the date 4th Jan. 1928; Millar, vol. 2 p. 232.

http://hdl.handle.net/10079/bibid/9799497




W MS 11 Capitularies of Charlemagne, Louis the Pious and Charles the Bald (Ansegisi Capitula)


(W MS 6)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 40, £24000, to H. P. Kraus Inc.


W MS 30 Bible, Isaiah to 1 Corinthians

Acq. = from Leon Gruel, 1920.110

(W MS 24; 39)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 44, £12000, to H. P. Kraus Inc.

Yale, Beinecke Library MS Osborn fa42

W MS 37 Henrici de Knarresburc, Collectanea

Acq. = Maggs Bros, 1922.111 (W MS 38) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun.

1932, lot 10.

Location unknown:

[Oslo, Schøyen Collection, MS 50 (http://www.schoyencollection.com/history-collection-introduction/roman-history-collection/roman-history-ms-50)] Deaccessioned.

W MS 15 Eutropius, Breviarum ab Urbe Condita (The Maffei Eutropius)


(W MS 9B)


[sold at Sotheby’s 20th Jun. 1978 (Abbey Sale), lot 2976]

W MS 18 Gregory the Great, Homilies on Ezechiel

Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 934/2708), 17th Dec. 1920, £270.113

(W MS 15; 94)


109 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, agreement between ACB and Mr Fenwick dated 23rd Feb. 1923. 110 Millar, vol. 1 p. 104. 111 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; see also Maggs Bros. Cat. 404 (1921) no. 11. 112 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, agreement between ACB and Mr Fenwick dated 23rd Feb. 1923. 113 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921.

http://www.schoyencollection.com/history-collection-introduction/roman-history-collection/roman-history-ms-50








[sold at Sotheby’s 7th Jul. 2009, lot 19, http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/western-manuscripts-and-miniatures-and- the-korner-sale-l09740/lot.19.html]

W MS 27 Luke’s Gospel, glossed


(W MS 22; 43)


W MS 34 Bible

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 21st Jun. 1922, lot 572, £140.115

(W MS 35)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 12, £5500, to Weinreb & Douwma Ltd.

W MS 36 Haymo, Commentary on the Pauline Epistles, part II

Acq. = Quaritch, 1920.116 (W MS 6; 34) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun.

1969, lot 47, £3500, to Maggs Bros.

W MS 39 Psalter (fragment)

Acq. = privately in Holland, 1922.117

(W MS 30)


W MS 41 Bible, Psalms-Revelation

Acq. = Francis Edwards.118 (W MS 32; 69) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May

1933, lot 45.

W MS 45 Cassiodorus, Historia Ecclesiastica Tripartita

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 12th Dec 1927, lot 56, £280.119

(W MS 19A; 134)


W MS 49 Bible Acq. = from P. M. Barnard, Tunbridge Wells, 1917, £40.120

(W MS 35; 40; 44) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec.

1969, lot 48, £800, to Quaritch.

114 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 115 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1921-1926 p. 1644. 116 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 117 Millar, vol. 1 p. 127. 118 Millar, vol. 1 p. 134. 119 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1926-1930, p. 2033. 120 Millar, vol. 2 p. 26.

W MS 50 Bible Acq. = privately from Mrs Wallace Watts, 1926.121

(W MS 39A; 45)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 13, £2200, to N. Israel.

W MS 52 Bible Acq. = privately from Arthur Severn Esq., 1926.122

(W MS 43D; 48)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 16, £1700, to Martin Breslauer.

W MS 53 Bible (King Haakon’s Bible)

Acq. = privately from Arthur Severn Esq., 1926.123

(W MS 43C; 47)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 50, £3000, to Rainer.

W MS 55 Bible Acq. = Quaritch, 1918.124 (W MS 25; 45; 50*)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 14, to Quaritch.

W MS 57 Bible (with Jerome’s commentary)


(W MS 44; 52; 85)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 51, £6000, Bernard de Gabrielli.

W MS 62 Conrad of Saxony, Speculum Beate Marie Virginis

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 5th May 1926 (Brollemann-Mallet sale), lot 155, £680.126

(W MS 50C; 58)


121 Millar, vol. 2 p. 29. 122 Millar, vol. 2 p. 37. 123 Millar, vol. 2 p. 42. 124 Millar, vol. 2 p. 54. 125 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 126 Millar, vol. 2 p. 80; price given in an annotation to a copy of the sale catalogue.

[sold Sotheby’s, 7th Jul. 2009, lot 35, (http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2009/western-manuscripts-and-miniatures-and-the-korner-sale-l09740/lot.35.html)]

W MS 65 Aristotle, De Caelo et Mundo, Meteora, Metaphysica


(W MS 37; 60)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale, 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 15, £5800.

W MS 67 Justinian, The Codex of Justinian, Books I-IX


(W MS 57; 62; 97)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 17, £600, to St J. Hornby.

W MS 72 Augustine, La Cité de Dieu, books I-X (in French)

Acq. = Francis Edwards.129 (W MS 2; 54; 68) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun.

1932, lot 18, to T. H. Riches.

W MS 77 Private Devotions, written at Bruges by Iohannes de Ecclesia

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale 29th Jul. 1929, lot 8, purchased by Maggs Bros. and resold in the saleroom to EB.130

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 21, £14000, to Quaritch.

127 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, agreement between ACB and Mr Fenwick dated 23rd Feb. 1923. 128 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 129 Millar, vol. 2 p. 142. 130 Millar, vol. 2 p. 217; The Chester Beatty Western Manuscripts: Part I, Sotheby’s catalogue, 3rd Dec. 1968, p. 67. 131 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; Catalogue of Thirty-Eight Illuminated Manuscripts of the 8th to the 17th century, The Property of the late Sir A. Chester Beatty (Sotheby’s, 24th June 1969), p. 83.

W MS 86 Hours Acq. = Paris, Feb. 1924.131

(W MS 88, 91, 96) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun.

1969, lot 63, £5500, to Quaritch.

W MS 91 Hours (in the style of Geoffroy Tory)

Acq. = Quaritch, 1916, £1000.132 (W MS 76; 116; 125)


[sold at Sotheby’s, 4th Dec. 2007]

W MS 93 Breviary (The Armagnac Breviary)

Acq. = Sabin, 1923, £1600.133 (W MS 63; 75; 82)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 24, £3000.

W MS 96 Hours Acq. = Tregaskis, 1914, £200.134 (W MS 31, 90, 98)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 35, £2200, to N. Israel.

[http://m.tefaf.com/detail/heribert-tenschert-antiquariat-bibermuhle-ag]

W MS 97

Hours (Hours of Margriet of Uitenham)

Acq. = privately from Sabin, 1924, £200.135

(W MS 93; 118)


W MS 100

Hours Acq. = 1914, £450.136

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 25, £5000, to Altdorfer.

W MS 102

Hours Acq. = from the Fairfax Murray estate, 1918, £1200.137

(W MS 70, 82, 89; ?117, 147)


132 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; Catalogue of Thirty-Eight Illuminated Manuscripts of the 8th to the 17th century, The Property of the late Sir A. Chester Beatty (Sotheby’s, 24th June 1969), p. 103. 133 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 134 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; The Chester Beatty Western Manuscripts: Part I, Sotheby’s catalogue, 3rd Dec. 1968, p. 101. 135 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; The Chester Beatty Western Manuscripts: Part I, Sotheby’s catalogue, 3rd Dec. 1968, p. 82. 136 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 137 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue; The Chester Beatty Western Manuscripts: Part I, Sotheby’s catalogue, 3rd Dec. 1968, p. 92.

W MS 101

Diurnal Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 33, £1400, to Meier Elte.

W MS 105

Origen and Jerome, Commentaries on the Epistles of St Paul.

Acq. = EB.138


W MS 106

Proprium Missarum de Sanctis

Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 75, £1000, to Dr A. Martegani.

W MS 111

Passionale Acq. =


W MS 114

Missae de Virgine

Acq. =


W MS 115

Missal Acq. =


W MS 116

Bible Acq. =


W MS 117

Bible Acq. =


W MS 118

Livy, De Bello Punico Secundo Libri Decem

Acq. = Paul Gruppe, Berlin, 15th Apr. 1929, lot 4, £1466, via Quaritch.139


138 Catalogue of Thirty-Eight Illuminated Manuscripts of the 8th to the 17th century, The Property of the late Sir A. Chester Beatty (Sotheby’s, 24th June 1969), p. 42. 139 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1926-1930, p. 2118.

W MS 120

Quintilian, De Institutione Oratoria


(W MS 86; 98; 101; 105)


W MS 123

Flores Senecae Acq. = Purchased from Maggs Bros., 30th Nov. 1921.141

(W MS 113; 130; 148) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969,

lot 73, £2200, to Tulkens Antiquariat.

W MS 125

Cicero, Orationes Novem


(W MS 90, 95, 102, 104)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 28, £4800, to Rainer.

W MS 126

Isidore of Seville, Etymologiae

Acq. = Leighton.143 (W MS 45A) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969,

lot 53, £1400, to Quaritch.

W MS 128

Bible Acq. =


W MS 164

Cicero, De Senectute, De Amicitia, Paradoxa

Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 65, £600, to T. Silverstein Esq.

140 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 141 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 142 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 143 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 144 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue.

W MS 168

Alphonsus Bovosius, Liber Apologeticus Adversus Graecos

Acq. = Leighton.144 (W MS 70; 116; 131)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 37, £750, to Dr A. Martegani.

Subsequently dismembered. Three leaves reacquired by Chester Beatty Library.

W MS 173

Bible (Isaiah to Apocalypse)



W MS 199

Statutes of the Order of the Garter

Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 24th Jun. 1969, lot 74, £350, to Charles W. Traylen.

Pietro de’ Crescenzi, Liber Ruralium

Acq. =

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 26, £5000, to Rainer.

Hours Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 30th Jan. 1920, lot 131.146

(W MS 68B; 76; 83) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932,

lot 23.

Herodian, Historia de Imperio

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale (Mostyn sale), 13/14th Jul. 1920, lot 50, £250.

(W MS 58; 105; 107; 113)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 29.

Hours (in Dutch)

Acq. = (W MS 16; 94; 117; 125)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932, lot 30.

Hours Acq. = Dr I. Schwartz, Vienna, Feb. 1920, £500.147

(W MS 42; 89; 92; 97) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933,

lot 55.

Hours (The Mostyn Hours)

Acq. = Sotheby’s sale (Mostyn sale), 13th Jul. 1920, lot 63, £355.148

(W MS 79; 93; 100; 143) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933,

lot 56.

145 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 146 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 147 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 148 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-1920, p. 1500.

Lectionary written for Cardinal Marino Grimani

Acq. = probably Hodgson’s sale, 9th Nov. 1922, lot 388, £100.149

(W MS 115C; 126) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 7th Jun. 1932,

lot 32.

Statutes of the Order of St. Michael

Acq. = privately from the executors of the Holford estate, 4th Jan. 1928.

(W MS 116A; 129) Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933,

lot 70.

Hours (The Golf Hours)

Acq. = Quaritch, 1918.150 (W MS 82; 124; 131; 140)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 9th May 1933, lot 69.

Petrarch Acq. = privately from the Phillipps Collection (no. 250), 17th Dec. 1920, £115.151

Dis. =

Columella, De Rustica


(W MS 98; 102; 109)


Hours Acq. = Red Cross Sale, 26th Apr. 1916, lot 2081, £95.153

(W MS 84; 119)

Dis. = Exchanged with Yahuda.

149 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1921-1926, p. 1662. 150 Chester Beatty Library Archive, Western Manuscripts: Old General Catalogue. 151 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 152 Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS. Phillipps-Robinson C. 719, letter from ACB to Fenwick dated 17th Dec. 1920. Sale was approved by Court 20th Dec. 1920 and the manuscripts came into the possession of ACB and EB in January 1921. 153 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1914-1916, p. 1025.

Flores Historiarum


(W MS 51A; 65)

Dis. = Sotheby’s sale 3rd Dec. 1968, lot 18, £6000, to Weinreb & Douwma Ltd.

Gregory the Great, Moralia

Acq. =

Dis. = exchanged with Yahuda 17th Dec. 1927.

Petrus de Crescentis, Liber ruralium commodorium


Dis. = Presented to Mr Marks, May 26th 1930.155

Bible Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 30th Jan. 1920, lot 127.

Dis. = Presented to W. G. Beatty 18th Jun. 1928.156

Bible Acq. = Messers Young, Liverpool, 17th May 1921.157

Dis. = Presented to Eric Millar, 6th Jan. 1928.158

Bible (end of Genesis)

Acq. = Gruel, Paris, or Leighton.159 (W MS 49) Dis. = exchanged with Yahuda,

1931.160

Ovid, Metamorphoses

Acq. =

Dis. = to Eric Millar.161

Terence, Comedies

Acq. =

Dis. = to Eric Millar.162

Vitruvius Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 14th Jul. 1920 (Mostyn Sale), lot 125, £82.163

Dis. =

Gradual Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 11th Jun. 1923, lot 180, £100.164

Dis. =

154 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 155 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 156 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 157 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 158 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged; see also D. H. Turner, ‘List of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Owned by Eric Millar’, British Museum Quarterly Vol. 33 (1968), p. 14. 159 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 160 Chester Beatty Library Archive: Archive Book 8, Manuscripts Given Away or Exchanged. 161 S. De Ricci, ‘Les Manuscrits de la Collection Henry Yates Thompson’, Bulletin de la société francaise de reproductions de manuscrits à peintures (1926) p. 19; D. H. Turner, ‘List of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Owned by Eric Millar’, British Museum Quarterly Vol. 33 (1968), p. 15. 162 D. H. Turner, ‘List of the Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts Owned by Eric Millar’, British Museum Quarterly Vol. 33 (1968), p. 16. 163 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-1920, p. 1500. 164 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1921-1926, p. 1711.

MSS in this section may be matched with items above.

Hours Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 21-22nd Dec. 1915, lot 29, £20.165

Dis. =

Introits Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 21-22nd Dec. 1915, lot 37, £19.166

Dis. =

Hours Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 24th Mar. 1920 (Yates Thompson Sale), lot 64, £2700.167

Dis. =

Hours Acq. = Sotheby’s sale, 16th-17th Nov. 1925, lot 164, £30.168

Dis. =

The creation of this list would not have been possible without the collaboration of many scholars. In

particular, I am very grateful to Hyder Abbas, Toby Burrows, Roy Flechner, Ramona Fritschi, Mara

Hofmann, Peter Kidd, Danielle Magnusson, Lynn Ransom, Bill Stoneman, Jill Unkel, Karen Winslow

and Catherine Yvard.

This research has been generously supported by the Irish Research Council

Laura Cleaver

31.05.2016

All comments or corrections should be sent to Laura Cleaver at [email protected]

165 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1914-1916, p. 1011. 166 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1914-1916, p. 1011. 167 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1917-1920, p. 1446. 168 London, Quaritch Archives, Commission Book for 1921-1926, p. 1863.

Documents

Handlist of Chester Beatty's western medieval manuscripts