St John's College S.70 (James 462)

John Palmer, Notes on the Psalms, and on his Eastern travels. English, 1806 and undated

John Palmer, Fellow of St John's College and Sir Thomas Adams Professor of Arabic at Cambridge (1769-1840): notebook containing a series of brief notes on Psalms 4 to 149, in numerical order and with several omissions. The volume now encloses, and has perhaps enclosed for many years, a series of loose folios recording Palmer's travels in Old Cairo, Euripus, Parnassus, Smyrna, Jerusalem, Tiberias, Damietta and Bethany. One bifolium is dated May 1806, but has additions dated 1811 and post 1817. These pages have apparently strayed from S.74. The main body of notes may date from the 1830s, if the vol. is a companion to S.71.

Manuscript extra information

190x120 mm. 59 surviving fos as bound (32 onwards blank), but many fos have been torn away at the end of the vol., possibly blanks removed to accommodate the 19 loose leaves. Small College bookplate at fo. 1v. Bequeathed to the College by the author: plate recording the bequest inside front cover. The vol. was first classified into the Lower Library collections as A/W.5.88.

Autograph. Paper, some sheets worn and foxed. A standard plain-paper commercial notebook: original half leather, marbled paper on boards.