GEMMS IDGEMMS-MANUSCRIPT-001420
TitleThe Melford Hall Manuscript
ShelfmarkEgerton MS 3884
Creation Dateca. 1620 - 1759
RepositoryBritish Library
Contents NoteThis is a previously unknown manuscript of John Donne's poetry, found at Melford Hall, Suffolk, by Gabriel Heaton of Sotheby's in 2018. Containing over 130 poems by Donne, it is the second largest known collection of the poet-preacher's verse in manuscript. The volume also contains verse by Francis Beaumont, Thomas Carew, and Sir Thomas Overbury, in addition to several unattributed mid-seventeenth-century poems. These are professionally inscribed in a neat italic hand (iron gall ink on gilt edged paper), with corrections and revisions throughout in a second hand. Towards the back of the volume are 89 pages of notes on sermons, principally by Robert Meldrum (c. 1653-1699), dating from the 1670s, written in a later seventeenth-century hand, as well as several popular songs copied in the mid-eighteenth century.
Material Features365 pages. Quarto. Contemporary gilt panelled calf with oval centrepiece; gilt edges. Italian paper; ruled in dry-point; peacock watermark. Restored for sale by Brockman Bookbinders.
Associated Peoplemanuscript owner - Parker, William
ProvenanceThe sermon notes reveal that, by the 1680s, the manuscript was in Scotland, either at Yester House, seat of the Hay family, then Earls of Tweeddale, or in the village of Gifford, East Lothian. However, the only previous owner which has been formally identified is Sir William Parker of Melford Hall, 7th Bt. (1769-1830), owing to the armorial bookplate within the volume.
AcquisitionThis manuscript was originally sold for £475,000 at auction (£387,500 plus auctioneer's premium) to an overseas bidder (Sotheby's, 10 December 2018, Lot 110). The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport subsequently announced a temporary export bar on the work in 2019 to save the manuscript for the nation; following which, the British Library raised the funds from several organisations and individuals to secure the acquisition of this manuscript, including the T. S. Blakeney Fund, the Bridgewater Fund, the National Heritage Memorial Fund, the British Library Collections Trust, the Friends of the National Libraries, and the American Trust for the British Library.
Source of DataBritish Library online catalogue; Hannah Yip.
Other NoteDigitisation of the manuscript was funded by the Collections Trust.
Sermons ContainedSermon on Psalms 4:4 -- f. 144rSermon on Genesis 2:7-8 -- f. 144rSermon on Psalms 4:6 -- f. 144r-vSermon on unidentified text -- f. 144vSermon on Ecclesiastes 2:1 -- ff. 144v-145rSermon on Psalms 62:9 -- f. 145r-vSermon on Ecclesiastes 1:13 -- f. 145vSermon on Job 28:28 -- ff. 145v-146rSermon on Ephesians 4:14 -- f. 146rSermon on Romans 1:21 -- f. 146r-vSermon on 2 Peter 1:21 -- f. 147rSermon on Hebrews 8:6 -- f. 147r-vSermon on Romans 1:3 -- f. 147vSermon on Romans 1:4 -- ff. 147v-148rSermon on unidentified text -- f. 148r-vSermon on Hebrews 7:26 -- f. 148vSermon on Romans 8:34 -- ff. 148v-149rSermon on Hebrews 9:14 -- ff. 149r-150vSermon on 2 Corinthians 5:19 -- f. 149vSermon on Jeremiah 2:19 -- f. 150rSermon on Psalms 14:2 -- f. 150rSermon on 1 Timothy 3:16 -- f. 150vSermon on Colossians 3:6 -- f. 151rSermon on 2 Corinthians 5:10 -- f. 151r-vSermon on 2 Thessalonians 1:8-9 -- ff. 151v-152rSermon on Romans 5:1 -- f. 152rSermon on Philippians 4:7 -- f. 152r-vSermon on Psalms 9:12 -- ff. 152v-153rSermon on Philippians 4:11 -- f. 153rSermon on Romans 8:28 -- f. 153r-vSermon on Luke 11:13 -- ff. 153v-154rSermon on 1 Peter 1:8 -- f. 154r-vSermon on Hebrews 11:26 -- f. 154vSermon on Romans 8:23 -- ff. 154v-155rSermon on Philippians 3:21 -- f. 155rSermon on Acts 2:1-3 -- f. 155r-vSermon on 1 Corinthians 13:12 -- ff. 155v-156rSermon on 1 Corinthians 15:28 -- f. 156r-vSermon on Psalms 16:11 -- ff. 156v-157rSermon on Hebrews 12:28 -- f. 157r-vSermon on Luke 13:24 -- ff. 157v-158rSermon on Psalms 32:5 -- f. 158rSermon on 2 Corinthians 7:10 -- f. 158r-vSermon on Matthew 9:13 -- ff. 158v-159rSermon on Exodus 15:11 -- f. 159rSermon on Galatians 2:20 -- f. 159vSermon on Romans 8:3 -- f. 159vSermon on Romans 8:3 -- ff. 159v-160rSermon on Matthew 22:37 -- f. 160rSermon on Matthew 22:39 -- f. 160r-vSermon on 1 John 3:7 -- f. 160vSermon on Exodus 20:2 -- ff. 160v-161rSermon on Exodus 20:4 -- f. 161r-vSermon on Exodus 20:7 -- ff. 161v-162rSermon on Exodus 20:8 -- f. 162r-vSermon on Exodus 20:12 -- ff. 162v-163rSermon on Numbers 30:4 -- f. 163r-vSermon on Matthew 5:21-22 -- ff. 163v-164rSermon on Exodus 20:14 -- ff. 164r-165rSermon on Exodus 20:15 -- f. 165r-vSermon on Exodus 20:16 -- f. 165vSermon on Exodus 20:17 -- f. 166rSermon on 2 Timothy 3:15 -- f. 166r-vSermon on Proverbs 4:25-27 -- ff. 166v-167rSermon on Galatians 4:4 -- f. 167r-vSermon on 1 Timothy 2:8 -- ff. 167v-168rSermon on Matthew 6:9 -- f. 168r-vSermon on 1 Timothy 6:8 -- ff. 168v-170rSermon on Philippians 4:6 -- f. 170rSermon on Ephesians 6:18 -- f. 170r-vSermon on John 16:23-24 -- f. 170vSermon on Psalms 76:11 -- ff. 170v-171rSermon on Colossians 2:19 -- f. 171rSermon on Matthew 28:19 -- f. 171rSermon on 1 Corinthians 12:12 -- f. 171rSermon on Romans 8:16-17 -- f. 171rSermon on Ephesians 6:12 -- f. 171vSermon on 1 John 2:15 -- f. 171vSermon on Galatians 5:24 -- f. 171vSermon on Mark 16:16 -- f. 171vSermon on Zechariah 8:19 -- ff. 172r-173vSermon [1] on 1 John 1:1-2 -- ff. 173v-174rSermon [3] on 1 John 1:1-2 -- f. 174rSermon [4] on 1 John 1:1-2 -- f. 174rSermon [5] on 1 John 1:1-2 -- f. 174r-vSermon on 1 John 1:5 -- f. 175rSermon on 1 John 1:5-6 -- f. 175vSermon on 1 John 1:7 -- f. 176rSermon on 1 Thessalonians 4:18 -- ff. 176v-181rSermon [1] on 1 John 2:1-2 -- f. 181vSermon [2] on 1 John 2:1-2 -- ff. 181v-182rSermon on 1 John 2:2 -- f. 182r-vSermon [1] on 1 John 2:1 -- ff. 182v-183vSermon [2] on 1 John 2:1 -- ff. 183v-184v Sermon [1] on 1 John 2:2 -- ff. 184v-185vSermon [2] on 1 John 2:2 -- f. 185vSermon [3] on 1 John 2:2 -- f. 185vSermon [1] on 1 John 2:3-4 -- f. 186rSermon [2] on 1 John 2:3-4 -- f. 186r-vSermon on Isaiah 25:9 -- ff. 186v-187rSermon on Zechariah 8:19 -- f. 187vSermon [1] on Revelation 3:20 -- ff. 187v-188rSermon [2] on Revelations 3:20 -- f. 188r
Sermon Reports ContainedSermons preached in April 1689 -- f. 186v
Attached URLs:
| URL | Notes |
|---|---|
| blogs.kcl.ac.uk/english/tag/melford-manuscript/ | Daniel Starza Smith, ''Penned it wins a sacred grace': John Donne and the Melford Manuscript', KCL blog (8 December 2020). |
| blogs.bl.uk/english-and-drama/2020/12/new-acquisition-john-donne-and-the-melford-hall-manuscript.html | Alexander Lock, 'New Acquisition: John Donne and the Melford Hall Manuscript', British Library blog (7 December 2020). |
| www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2018/english-literature-online-l18411/lot.pr.9X9JP.html | Sotheby's Catalogue entry for the Melford Hall Manuscript. |
| www.gov.uk/government/news/rare-seventeenth-century-poetry-manuscript-at-risk-of-export | Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport press release. |
| www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Egerton_MS_3884 | Digitised copy of British Library, Egerton MS 3884. |
GEMMS record createdJanuary 09, 2021
GEMMS record last editedFebruary 05, 2021