Confessio amantis.
English brown calf, inlaid panels, with gilt panel tooling, ca. 1700.
Purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) in 1900.
180 leaves (2 columns, 49 lines), bound : vellum, ill. ; 350 x 220 mm
Eighteenth century bookplate of John Campbell, 4th Earl of Loudoun; after 1816, passed to a Marquess of Hastings; purchased by J. Pierpont Morgan (1837-1913) from Quaritch in 1900; J.P. Morgan (1867-1943).
Ms. moralizing tales in verse; written and illuminated in England, 1400-1425.
Scribe: referred to as "Gower Scribe III"
Decoration: 1 small miniature; floriated borders at the beginning of each book; numerous illuminated initials.
The front flyleaf has a note stating that M.125 and Harley MS 7334 have a "similar script." While both are in anglicana formata, the script of these two manuscripts are actually quite distinct. M.125 does, however, share a scribe with Glasgow, University Library, MS Hunter 7 (S.1.7), another copy of the Confessio amantis.
On fol. 36r there is a faded 16th-century inscription, "to my ryt specialle frend willyam myrray [?] ...." The same hand appears in the margin of fol. 44r and may also be responsible for the fragmentary inscriptions of fol. 180v. There are additional marginalia on fol. 91v (17th century) and fol. 110r.
Revised: 2017