Mirrour of the blessed lyf of Jesu Christi

Accession number: 
MS M.648
Title: 
Mirrour of the blessed lyf of Jesu Christi
Created: 
England, ca. 1440.
Binding: 
Presently in English 18th-century red morocco gilt; on spine is the acronymn MSS written in gilt on a black oval; an inscription on fol. 144v may be a reference to a previous binding: "N.B. This name was writ on the cover which was much decayd and consisted of two very thick oak boards covered with vellum."
Credit: 
Purchased by J.P. Morgan (1867-1943) in 1920.
Description: 
144 leaves (2 columns, 35 lines) : vellum, ill. ; 290 x 200 mm
Provenance: 
Given in the 17th century by Henry Williams to Hugo Hibbard (inscription on fol. 144v); given ca. 1750 by William Saunders M.D. of Wedham College, Oxford, to Edward Walmsley (inscription on fol. 144v); his sale (London? Mar. 1795 (perhaps Sotheby's, Mar. 16, 1795, lot 343: Life of Christ) to Captain Perrott Noel of the Worcestershire Militia (inscription on fol. 144v, bookplate on front pastedown with armorial and motto: jus suum cuique); inherited in 1916 by General Sir Neville Lyttelton (inscription on fol. 144v); purchased by J.P. Morgan (1867-1943) from Agnew in 1920.
Notes: 

Ms. devotional miscellany; written and illuminated in England, ca. 1440.
Texts: Nicolas Love's translation of Pseudo-Bonaventure's Meditationes de Vita Christi, Mirrour of the blessed lyf of Jesu Christi (fol. 1-141v); On translating the Bible into English, a Lollard tract (fo. 142-143v); Bridget of Sweden, Revelationes (Book IV, chapter 7) (fol. 144).
On fol. 144v is and inscription in an 18th or 19th century hand that reads: Episcop. Thom Arundell Anno Domni 1390.
Decoration: 16 miniatures, ornamental borders, and illuminated initials.

Script: 
English cursive script
Language: 
Middle English and Latin
Century: 
Classification: