Paper Stocks in Western Medieval Manuscripts : Paper stocks

Paper Stocks in Western Medieval Manuscripts

<p style='text-align: justify;'>Various precedents of conveyancing in three fragments (CELM, pp. 646-9). Baker notes that ‘Iste liber constat Henrico Bernard’ (f. 1r) may refer to ‘Henry Barnard of London, gent. and Cambs. who acted as a pledge in Chancery in the 1470s’ (p. 649).</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>This manuscript comprises a paper quire (ff. 1-14), preceded by a singleton and a bifolium; Baker suggests these all hail from the same original volume (CELM, p. 646). Each folio measures about 310 mm in height x 222 mm in width, and the sheets are folded in folio. This suggests that the original sheets had dimensions ranging between 300-315 mm in height x 420-460 mm in width, a format of paper known as Chancery, which was the most common size of paper in medieval England. The range of measurements depends on the precise dimensions of the original sheets before folding and the trimming of the folio before binding.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>There are two paper stocks in this manuscript. The first is a bull head surmounted by a star, which is without a twin mark due to its exclusive appearance in the singleton. This stock is attested on Bernstein as WILC 561, dated to 1484. The other paper stock includes a hand surmounted a small crown. It is not attested on Bernstein, but a possible variant could be Briquet 11323, dated to 1479.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>These images have been produced through MSI in order to capture physical details of the item.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Orietta Da Rold and Logan Rivers</p>