The Harleian Library, Harley Collection, Harleian Collection and other variants ( la, Bibliotheca Harleiana) is one of the main "closed" collections (namely, historic collections to which new material is no longer added) of the

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom and is one of the largest libraries in the world. It is estimated to contain between 170 and 200 million items from many countries. As a legal deposit library, the Briti ...

in London, formerly the library of the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

. The collection comprises 7,660 manuscripts, including 2,200

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared document where the text is often supplemented with flourishes such as borders and miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Church for prayers, liturgical services and psalms, th ...

s, more than 14,000 original legal documents; and more than 500 rolls. It was assembled by Robert Harley (1661–1724) and his son

Edward Edward is an English given name. It is derived from the Anglo-Saxon name ''Ēadweard'', composed of the elements '' ēad'' "wealth, fortune; prosperous" and '' weard'' "guardian, protector”. History The name Edward was very popular in Anglo-Sax ...

(1689–1741). In 1753, it was purchased for £10,000 by the British government. Together with the collections of Sir Robert Cotton (the

Cotton library The Cotton or Cottonian library is a collection of manuscripts once owned by Sir Robert Bruce Cotton MP (1571–1631), an antiquarian and bibliophile. It later became the basis of what is now the British Library, which still holds the collection ...

) and

Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector, with a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British Mu ...

(the Sloane library) it formed the basis of the British Museum's collection of manuscripts, which were transferred to the new British Library in 1973.British Library.
History of the Harley Library
. The collection contains illuminated manuscripts spanning the early

Middle Ages In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

to the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) , from , with the same meanings. is a period in European history marking the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and covering the 15th and 16th centuries, characterized by an effort to revive and surpass ide ...

. There are important early British manuscripts, many from Western Europe, and several Byzantine manuscripts in Greek and other languages.

Manuscripts

The Ramsey Psalter, BL Harley Ms 2904, Initial B, folio 4

Among the most significant manuscripts are: *

Lacnunga The ''Lacnunga'' ('Remedies') is a collection of miscellaneous Anglo-Saxon medical texts and prayers, written mainly in Old English and Latin. The title ''Lacnunga'', an Old English word meaning 'remedies', is not in the manuscript: it was given t ...

(Harley MS 585) * Harley Psalter (Harley MS 603) * Kildare Poems (Harley MS 913) *''

Annales Cambriae The ( Latin for ''Annals of Wales'') is the title given to a complex of Latin chronicles compiled or derived from diverse sources at St David's in Dyfed, Wales. The earliest is a 12th-century presumed copy of a mid-10th-century original; later ...

'', in Harley MS 3859; including mediæval Welsh genealogies et al *'' Sumer Is Icumen In'', in Harley MS 978 * Inventory of Henry VIII of England (Harley MS 1419) * Gospels of Mael Brigte (Harley MS 1602) * Harley 1775, an illuminated Gospel Book produced in Italy during the last quarter of the 6th century * Minuscule 113 (Harley MS 1810) - and many others, see the category at bottom of the page *

Harley Lyrics The Harley Lyrics is the usual name for a collection of lyrics in Middle English, Anglo Norman (Middle French), and Latin found in Harley MS 2253, a manuscript dated ca. 1340 in the British Library's Harleian Collection. The lyrics contain "bot ...

(Harley MS 2253) *

Harley Golden Gospels The Harley Golden Gospels, British Library, Harley MS 2788, is a Carolingian illuminated manuscript Gospel book produced in about 800–825, probably in Aachen, Germany. It is one of the manuscripts attributed to the "Ada School", which is named ...

(Harley MS 2788) *

Ramsey Psalter The Psalter of Oswald also called the Ramsey Psalter (British Library, Harley MS 2904) is an Anglo-Saxon illuminated psalter of the last quarter of the tenth century. Its script and decoration suggest that it was made at Winchester, but cert ...

(Harley MS 2904) *

Book of Nunnaminster The Book of Nunnaminster (London, British Library, Harley MS 2965) is a 9th-century Anglo-Saxon prayerbook. It was written in the kingdom of Mercia, using an " insular" hand (as used in the British Isles), related to Carolingian minuscule. It was ...

(Harley MS 2965) * Minuscule 3686 *

Harleian Genealogies __NOTOC__ The Harleian genealogies are a collection of Old Welsh genealogies preserved in British Library, Harley MS 3859. Part of the Harleian Library, the manuscript, which also contains the '' Annales Cambriae'' (Recension A) and a version of ...

(Harley MS 3859) *

Minuscule 104 Minuscule 104 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 103 ( Soden), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment leaves. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 11th century.K. Aland, M. Welte, B. Köster, K. Junack, ...

(Harley MS 5537) *

Minuscule 505 Minuscule 505 (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), ε 248 (in the Soden numbering), is a Greek minuscule manuscript of the New Testament, on parchment. Palaeographically it has been assigned to the 12th-century. Scrivener labelled it by number 56 ...

(Harley MS 5538) *

Uncial 0121a Uncial 0121a (in the Gregory-Aland numbering), α 1031 ( Soden), is a Greek uncial manuscript of the New Testament, dated paleographically to the 10th-century. Description The codex contains a parts of the 1 Corinthians 15:52-2 Corinthians 1 ...

(Harley MS 5613) * Ptolemy's ''Geography'' (Harley MS 7182 & 7195) * Harley MS 7334 *

Harleian prayerbook The Harley Prayer Book (British Library, Harley MS 7653) is one of a group of four early Anglo-Saxon prayer books produced in Mercia, likely around Worcester. The others are the Royal Prayer Book, the Book of Cerne, and the Book of Nunnaminster. ...

(Harley MS 7653)

References

External links

The foundation collections
at the Catalogue of Illuminated manuscripts
List of medicine and alchemist manuscripts
PDF, 192 KB
The Book of Nunnaminster (Harley 2965)
{{coord, 51.530, -0.128, type:edu_region:GB-CMD, display=title 1753 establishments in England Archives in the London Borough of Camden

Manuscripts

References

Further reading

External links