Digital Medieval Manuscripts at Houghton Library
Bibliography for Harvard University, Houghton Library,
MS Richardson 44
This bibliography was compiled by Jessica Berenbeim, Justin Stover, Joshua O’Driscoll, William Stoneman and Julia Schlozman.
Please be advised that some links may require Harvard ID and PIN.
HOLLIS Record (Link)
Note: This manuscript is the first section of a now-dispersed codex of which other sections are Cambridge, St. John’s College MSS N. 16 (Life of St. John the Baptist and Life of St. John the Evangelist) and N. 17 (Life of St. Jerome) and San Marino, Huntington Library MS HM 115 (John Lydgate’s Life of Our Lady).
A Catalogue of the Curious and Extensive Library of the late John Towneley, Esq., part I: The Books will be Sold by Auction… on Wednesday, June 8th, and Six Following Days (Sunday Excepted)… 1814 (London: R.H. Evans, 1814). MS designated lot nos. 879 (Life of Jerome); 880 (Lydgate); 882 (Life of St. Catherine); 883 (Life of St. John the Baptist and Life of St. John the Evangelist).
HOLLIS
Henry Hucks Gibbs, The Life and Martyrdom of St Katherine of Alexandria.London: Roxburghe Club, 1884.
A transcription of the manuscript, with a reproduction of f. 1r. HOLLIS
Montague Rhodes James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of St John’s College, Cambridge. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1913.
See pp. 285-286, nos. 249 (MS N. 16) and 250 (MS N. 17) for a description of two manuscripts believed to be part of the original, now-dispersed codex including MS Richardson 44 and MS HM 115. HOLLIS
Helen Rudd, Catalogue of the Aldenham Library Mainly Collected by Henry Hucks
Gibbs, First Lord Aldenham. Letchworth: n.p., 1914. MS cited p. 228.
Alban George Henry Gibbs, baron (second Lord?) Aldenham (1846-1936): his sale, Sotheby’s, London, 22 March 1937, lot no. 97.
W.H. Bond and C.U. Faye, Supplement to the Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada. New York: Bibliographical Society of America, 1962. MS cited p. 248.
A brief description of the manuscript’s contents, physical properties, and provenance. Available online (Link). HOLLIS
Auvo Kurvinen, “Two Sixteenth-Century Editions of the Life of St Catharine of Alexandria,” in English and Medieval Studies Presented to J.R.R. Tolkein on the Occasion of his Seventieth Birthday, ed. by Norman Davis and C. L. Wrenn, pp. 269-79. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1962.
Though the manuscript is not cited, this reference provides an extensive discussion of the manuscript transmission of the Life of St. Catherine of Alexandria in Middle English. HOLLIS
J.B. Severs, ed., A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500. New Haven: Connecticut Academy of Arts and Sciences, 1967–2005. MS cited in v. II, pp. 601–602.
Very brief citation, listed as Gibbs MS. HOLLIS
R.E. Lewis, N.F. Blake, and A.S.G. Edwards, Index of Printed Middle English Prose. New York; London: Garland, 1985. MS cited p. 12,no. 28.
Mentioned in a list of manuscripts containing the life of St. Catherine in Middle English.
HOLLIS
Linda Ehrsam Voigts, “A Handlist of Middle English in Harvard Manuscripts,” Harvard Library Bulletin 33.1 (1985), pp. 1–96. MS cited pp. 64-66.
An extensive description of the manuscript, providing excerpts of the text. Available online (Link). HOLLIS
C.W. Dutschke, et. al., Guide to Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the Huntington Library. San Marino: The Library, 1989. MS cited in v. I, pp. 152–53.
Brief mention in an entry on MS HM 115, discusses the provenance of the three separated manuscripts. HOLLIS
Karen A. Winstead, Chaste Passions: Medieval English Virgin Martyr Legends. Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2000. MS cited pp. 118–63, 184-201.
The author provides a translation of the prologue and chapters 1–30, as well as a transcription of the text (Appendix B). HOLLIS
Julia Boffey and A.S.G. Edwards, A New Index of Middle English Verse. London: British Library, 2005. MS cited p. 72, no. 1070.11/1.
Brief citation for the verse: “Heyl maystresse of rethorions/heyl spouse of crist ihesu”
HOLLIS
William P. Stoneman, Of Current Interest: Recent Research on Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Hougton Library. Cambridge: Houghton Library of the Harvard College Library, 2006. MS cited p. 11, no. 2.
A brief description that provides bibliography and a list of the manuscript’s contents. HOLLIS
Claire M. Waters, Virgins and Scholars: A Fifteenth-Century Compilation of the Lives of John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, and Katherine of Alexandria. Turnhout: Brepols, 2008.
Edition and translation of the text on pp. 276-423. Plate 2 is mislabeled; it is not MS Richardson 44, f.3v, but rather London, British Library, MS Additional 18852, f. 288. HOLLIS
