St John's College U.6 (formerly K.45) (James 354)

Catalogue of manuscripts in St John's College Library. Latin and English, 1630s

 

'Libri Manuscripti Collegii Sancti Johannis Cantabrigiae secundum seriem suam exhibiti per ordinemque Alphabeticum dispositi' (on fo. 2r, the original paper cover). As the title promises, this catalogue is in two parts. An alphabetical listing (fos 4r-19v) is followed by a list arranged by classmark A.1 to H.6 (fos 21r-32v). H.8 and I.1 are added in later hands. The total number of volumes in each class appears at the foot of each list. An incomplete, separate, but near contemporary list, loose within the volume, catalogues MSS and their donors in a classification from 5.21 to 7.28: this reflects the original shelf arrangement of the MSS in Class A, as is frequently preserved in cancelled class-marks within the volumes so classified. 'A Catalogue of Manuscripts given by the right honourable Thomas Earle of Southampton to the Library of St Johns Colledge in Cambridge' on a loose label, cut from the head of an earlier but almost contemporary list, perhaps a companion list to what is now U.4.

Manuscript extra information

300x200 mm. 32+4 fos (modern foliation). 'No 354 in my catalogue M. R. J[ames]' on fo. 1r.

A single, early seventeenth-century hand. Many corrections and alterations in later hands, all apparently of the same century. Paper. Limp vellum binding, the original paper covers to the main vol. now fos 2 and 32. On the cover are some pen flourishes and 'Smou[l]t', five times. This may be Thomas Smoult (1631 or 1632 - 1707), Fellow of St John's College, Professor of Moral Philosophy in the University of Cambridge, and Library Keeper in the College 1694-8 (see Rentals). Currently boxed with SJC, MS U.4.