Durham University Library Archives & Special Collections Catalogue
Pieces of the upper inner corner of two leaves, lacking the ends of lines and the bottom line of text, from a 12th century glossed Old Testament re-used as binding supports.
Parchment
Pricking in inner margins; outer margins missing. Ruled in softish dark brown. Marginal glosses do not extend beyond the measure of the text, and utilize the same ruling. Written space of text calculable as 223 mm high; over 130 mm wide. 26 lines of text originally.
Written in Protogothic, in two sizes, competently.
Written in England or northern France, 12th century.
A pointing hand, added in the lower right margin of back flyleafv, which Dr C. de Hamel has suggested is identical to markers found in books from Christ Church Canterbury: Oxford, Bodleian Library, MSS Bodley 196 and Rawlinson.B.191, and Cambridge Trinity College MS R.17.1 (James No. 987), see M. R. James, The Canterbury Psalter, (1935), f.181v and 205v, and hence that the fragments here may come from the book listed at Canterbury College Oxford in 1501: W. A. Pantin, Canterbury College Oxford i, Oxford Historical Society NS 6, (1946), 21 "110. Item Esdras, Hester, Thobias, Iudith glosati 2o fo. de iuda", and 44 "190. Item Esdras cum aliis 2 f. de Iuda"; the eccentric placing of Tobit after Esther seems to support this, although here it is possible that the eccentricity was confined to the Prologue and the first gloss to Tobit, as against the whole of Tobit, as in Cosin MS V.ii.2 where these are repeated after Judith (f.48r). There are two possible identifications for the Canterbury College book in Prior Eastry's catalogue of the motherhouse: M. R. James, The ancient libraries of Canterbury and Dover, (Cambridge, 1904), No. 1325, now Cambridge Trinity College MS B.5.17 (James No. 163), and No. 865, one of the books bequeathed by Ralph of Sarre, dean of Rheims, (d. 1194); it is possible that a glossed Job from Ralph's bequest (ibid. No. 866) was in Oxford in 1501 (Pantin, p. 21) and that a fragment of it from an Oxford binding is Oxford Bodleian Library MS Lat.misc.b.18 or 19), which is very close in style to the fragments here, and has distinctive Christ Church annotations (as described p. 87 in N. R. Ker, "Membra disiecta, second series", British Museum Quarterly 14, (1940), 7986, and illustrated Sotheby's 24 June 1980 p. 60). Now raised endpapers in Shelfmark of source: Bamburgh Select 40 - Ioannis Driedonis a Turnhout sacra theologiae professoris apud Louaniensies, De captivitate & redemptione humani generis, liber vnus. (Louanij: ex officina Rutgeri Rescij, 1534), bound in full calf, blind panel roll enclosed by blind fillets (Oldham HM.h.2, Ker roll XI), clasp holes on upper board, catches on lower board. Oxford, not after 1544.
front flyleafv-r
[Text:] Et egressus est omnis populus. ... ... fecissent sibi conflatilem
[Interlinear gloss:] De his omnibus tabernacula ... ... [above 9:4] aures liberius commodantur
[Marginal gloss:] [In domate suo] ... et tabulatis. Ita quisque nos ... ... qualiter factum sit ostenditur.
II Esdras 8:16-9:18.
back flyleafr-v
[Text:] tam in uicino positis ... ... ad pacem seminis sui per[tinerent. Q]ue habetur in hebreo ... obelo id est ueru prenotauimus; [EXPLICIT] LIBER HESTER;
[Interlinear gloss:] iudaico populo ... ... [above final verse and note] rogate que ad p. s. i.
Esther 9:20-10:3 & note.
back flyleafv (a) [Chroma]co & heliodoro episcopis. ... Mirari non desino ... ... estis dignati; complesse. Explicit prefacio IN libro TOBI; (b) B[eda]. Liber tobie insuperficie littere ... ... signantur in subditis;
Tobias (a) prologue and (b) gloss.
Ker, N. R., Fragments of medieval manuscripts used as pastedowns in Oxford bindings: with a survey of Oxford binding c. 1515-1620 
(Oxford: Oxford Bibliographical Society, 2004)
Oldham, J. B., English blind-stamped bindings (Cambridge: CUP, 1952)
Stegmüller, Friedrich, Repertorium biblicum medii aevi , (Madrid: 1950-1980)