DPL Reed MS6

1. Gospels, Middle English. England, mid-fifteenth century; seventeenth-century English vellum binding gilt-stamped with the arms of Sir Heneage Finch
2. Gospels, Middle English; part of St. Jerome’s Prologue and Matthew 1:1–1:6. England, mid-fifteenth century, f. 1v
3. Gospels, Middle English; part of the Apology on the Gospel according to Mark and Mark 1:1–1:7. England, mid-fifteenth century, f.44r
4. Gospels, Middle English; the end of the Apology on the Gospel according to Luke and Luke 1:1–1:14. England, mid-fifteenth century, f.60r
5. Gospels, Middle English; part of the Apology on the Gospel according to John and John 1:1. England, mid-fifteenth century, f.102v

133 leaves. 168 by 115mm. Single column, 29–30 lines, ruled in brown ink, written space 137 by 84mm; gothic bookhand.

Text: The revised text associated with Wycliffe’s disciple John Purvey (ca. 1354–1414).
Decoration: Four illuminated initials, and two-line blue initials throughout, with red penwork extending into the margin.
Binding: Seventeenth-century English vellum, gilt ruled, Finch arms stamped in gilt on both covers.
Provenance: An inscription ca. 1500 on folio 72r reads: ‘Robert gav[er]om of Bretton in the more ded [cropped]’. Bretton, which is located in Derbyshire, suggests the manuscript was written in the Midlands. Inscriptions on folio 133v include versions of the date 1560. Stamped in gilt on both covers are the arms of Sir Heneage Finch (d.1631). Purchased by Maggs on behalf of the Dunedin Public Library, from Sotheby's, 24 July 1956, lot 460.
References: Manion, Vines, de Hamel no. 62; Reed Early Bibles no. 6; C. de Hamel. The Book: A History of the Bible (London: Phaidon, 2001), pl. 184; C. Lindberg. A Manual of the Wyclif Bible, Including the Psalms: Dedicated to the Memory of Sven L. Fristedt (Stockholm: Stockholm University, 2007), no. 224.
Shelfmark: RMM MS 6.

Description reproduced from Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in New Zealand Collections (London, 1989) by permission of the authors (Christopher de Hamel, Margaret Manion, and the family of Vera F. Vines).