The Harleian Library, Harley Collection, Harleian Collection and other variants () 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. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

in London, formerly the library of the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

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

illuminated manuscript An illuminated manuscript is a formally prepared manuscript, document where the text is decorated with flourishes such as marginalia, borders and Miniature (illuminated manuscript), miniature illustrations. Often used in the Roman Catholic Churc ...

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

(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) and Hans Sloane (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 5th to the late 15th centuries, similarly to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire and ...

to the

Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...

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

Manuscripts

Among the most significant manuscripts are: * Lacnunga (Harley MS 585) * Harley Psalter (Harley MS 603) * Kildare Poems (Harley MS 913) *'' Annales Cambriae'', in Harley MS 3859; including medieval Welsh genealogies and other items *'' 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 (Harley MS 2253) * Harley Golden Gospels (Harley MS 2788) * Ramsey Psalter (Harley MS 2904) * Book of Nunnaminster (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) *Book of the Queen (Harley MS 4431) * Minuscule 104 (Harley MS 5537) * Minuscule 505 (Harley MS 5538) * Uncial 0121a (Harley MS 5613) * Ptolemy's ''Geography'' (Harley MS 7182 & 7195) * Harley MS 7334 * Harleian prayerbook (Harley MS 7653) *The Harley Glossary (eleventh-century Latin-Old English glossary, Harley MA 3376)

References

Catalogue

* (4 vols)
vol. 1
(MSS 1–1309)
vol. 2
(MSS 1310–3099)
vol. 3
(MSS 3100–7639)
vol. 4
(indexes)

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

Catalogue

External links