British Literary Manuscripts from Bodleian Library, Oxford Series one, The English Renaissance, c. 1500-c.1700
-
Location: McKeldin Library Periodicals/Microform Room
- 43 Reels
Call Number: Microfilm PR418.M34B7
Description
This collection includes a selection of original 16th and 17th century literary manuscripts from the Bodleian Library at the University of Oxford. Included are manuscripts from the Rawlinson collection, the English poetry class of manuscripts and other poetic, theological and literary works that are of significant historical interest. The collection is divided into three parts:
Part 1. Rawlinson Poetry Manuscripts
This part contains over 90 manuscripts from the Rawlinson poetry collection. Included are works by Elkannah Settle, Sir Philip Sidney, Ben Jonson, William Killigrew, George Herbert, Ariosto, Philip Massinger, Beaumont and Fletecher and many others. There are also a number of miscellaneous and commonplace books. The selection criteria for literary material aims to be uncanonical, in representing the literature of a whole period rather than concentrating on major writers.
Part 2. English Poetry, English Miscellaneous and English Theology Manuscripts
This part contains many of the most famous manuscripts which are basic texts for the attribution of poems to the canons of John Donne, Thomas Traherne, Henry King and Robert Southwell. Included also are works by Beaumont, Browne, Drayton and others as well as dramatic texts by Jonson, Martson, Shakespeare and others. The selection criteria for literary material aims to be uncanonical, in representing the literature of a whole period rather than concentrating on major writers.
Part 3. Manuscripts from the Additional, Ashmole, Aubrey, Bodleian, Cherry, Clarendon, Don, Douce, Fairfax and Firth Collections.
This part covers ten collections which are of great historical interest, but not exclusively literary in content. The collections include among other things, poems by Beaumont and Fletcher. Sir Thomas Browne, Davies, Donne, Ben Jonson and Sir Walter Raleigh. Included also are dramatic works by Ruggles and Wren, and a volume of Caroline music, containing secular and sacred songs with words by Beaumont and Fletcher, Breton, Campion, Donne, Jonson, Massinger, Releigh, Shakeseapeare and Sir Henry Wotton.
Index/Guide
The following sources provide more detailed information about the contents of each microfilm reel in the collection:
There is a separate guide for each of the three parts of the collection (see below). Each guide includes a brief list of the contents within each reel as well as a detailed description of each manuscript.
The British Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Series one, The English Renaissance, C. 1500-c. 1700: Part 1 Rawlinson Poetry Manuscripts. McKeldin Reference Stacks PR418.M34B7 1988 Guide pt 1.
The British Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Series one, The English Renaissance, C. 1500-c. 1700: Part 2 English Poetry, English Miscellaneous and English Theology Manuscripts. McKeldin Reference Stacks PR418.M34B7 1988 Guide pt 2.
The British Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Series one, The English Renaissance, C. 1500-c. 1700: Part 3 Manuscripts from the Additional, Ashmole, Aubrey, Bodleian, Cherry, Clarendon, Don, Douce, Fairfax and Firth Collections . McKeldin Reference Stacks PR418.M34B7 1988 Guide pt 3.
Additional sources that may be useful are:
Bodleian Library. A summary catalogue of Western manuscripts in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. Oxford : Clarendon Press, 1895-1953. 7 volumes. Mckeldin Reference Stacks Z6621.O96W4
Crum, Margaret. First-line index of English poetry, 1500-1800, in manuscripts of the Bodleian Library, Oxford. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1969. 2 volumes. Mckeldin Stacks Z2014.P7F5 Folio
- MCK REF PR418.M34B7
- British Literary Manuscripts
