The second volume of a two-volume Bible in the later Wycliffite version, beginning at Proverbs, preceded by a table of lessons, epistles and Gospels for the year according to the use of Salisbury.
Contents: (1) ff. 1-9, 'Heere bigynneþ a reule þt telleþ in whate chapiters of þe bible ȝe may fynde all þo pistles and þe gospels in al þe ȝer after Salisbery vs markid wt letteris of þe a.b.c at þe begynning and endiþ wt strikys.' Forshall and Madden, iv. 683-98, but the text here and in Eng. MSS 76, 77, 78 and 80 differs substantially from theirs, which goes with the earlier Wycliffite version. A table for the common of saints is not provided here or in Eng. MSS 76, 77, 78 and 80: cf. Forshall and Madden, p. 696, footnote. Commemorations precede the sanctoral, as in MS. Eng. 77. They differ from other Rylands copies by making no mention of Salus populi as part of the commemoration of brothers and sisters.
(2) ff. 10-272, The second volume of a Bible in the later Wycliffite version, beginning at Proverbs. There are the usual prologues throughout the New Testament, but in the Old Testament only at Isaiah and Baruch. From quire 11 (ff. 82-9) onwards the outside leaves of every quire show offsetting from other outside leaves; for example, part of f. 238 (start of quire 31) has offset onto f. 89v (end of quire 11), except for the red ornament of the blue initial T.
Script: ** Written space: 272 x 180 mm. 2 columns, 52 lines.
Secundo folio: þin iȝe.
Decoration: There are continuous foliate bar borders on ff. 10r (Proverbs), 46v (Isaiah), 126v (Minor Prophets) and 166r (Matthew), and [-shaped or I-shaped borders on other pages where principal books begin, sprouting acanthus leaves and knotwork, with extensions terminating in acanthus leaves, ivy leaves and bezants. There is a 9-line initial on f. 10r, blue and pink with white penwork and floral infill, on a burnished gold ground (water damaged). There are 5- or 6-line initials of a similar design at the beginning of other books: ff. 18v, 21v, 23r, 29r, 66v, 90v, 92v, 96v, 118r, 129v, 130v, 133r, 133v, 134r, 136r, 137v (two), 138v, 139r, 142v, 143v, 156v, 180v, 189v, 204v, 215v, 221r, 226r, 231v, 233v, 234v, 236r, 237r and v, 239r, 240r and v, 241r, 245r, 259r, 260v, 261v, 262v, 264r and v, and 265v. There are numerous 3-line initials in blue ink with red penwork flourishes.
Other features:: Catchwords are sometimes abbreviated, for example (f. 229v) 'he acur', while f. 230 begins 'he acursid'. There are manicules on ff. 58v, 89v, 222v, 224v, 234v, 235v, 236v, 238v, 254v, 255v and 257v.
Description derived from N.R. Ker, Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), p. 414. By permission of Oxford University Press.