#33 MS Binding

This is one item that would certainly have stood out on the shelf in the early library of Pembroke!

1. The title of this work is “Sex Theses de Sacra Scriptura & Ecclesia” - Six Theses on Sacred Scripture and the church.

2. It was printed in 1603 in Hanover. The first edition had been published in 1580.

3. It is 200 x 120mm in size

4. It was printed in Hanover by Wilhelm Antonius. Together with his brother, he was a well-known printer of philosophical works. His elaborate printer’s mark shows a man at the foot of a mountain, with a bird or dragon perched on top.

5. The author is John Rainolds (1549-1607) a scholar and later president of Corpus Christi College, Oxford. He was instrumental in the creation of the King James Bible, which he worked on to the end of his life.

6. Strikingly, this book has been bound in a much earlier manuscript. To protect it on the shelf, it lives in an archive box in our Stack now.

7. From the tags on the back, we can assume that at some point, this book had ties to hold it together. This is supported by the number ‘3’ written on the text block, as early books were often stored with spines inwards. The clasps or ties would help keep the pages tight together while stored this way.

8. Although it is hard to make out, the illuminated capital is a letter ‘e’. It is the start of the passage “Ego autem, sicut oliva fructifera in domo Dei”. This is from Psalm 51 of the Vulgate, and together with the following lines indicates that this was a service book for use at the Mass.

9. The style of the writing suggests the manuscript is from the 13th or 14th centuries.

10. Pembroke owns several books bound in manuscript parchment, although our others have music on them. This is the only one with extensive writing on it.