Detail View: Medieval Collection: Riddle of the Sphinx
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Image Number:
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JRL0927298dc
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Reference Number:
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English MS 2
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Previous Accession Number:
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Crawford MS 2
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Link to Catalogue:
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Image Title:
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Riddle of the Sphinx
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Parent Work Title:
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Fall of Princes
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Alternative Parent Work Title:
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Falle of Pryncys
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Creator:
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Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
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Creator Role:
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Author
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Display Creator:
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Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
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Date Created:
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15th-16th century
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Page:
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18v
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Image Sequence Number:
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018v
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Description:
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Fall of Princes. Book one: the Sphinx asked Oedipus what animal cannot stand when born, goes first on four feet, then on three, finally on two and afterwards on three and four again? Oedipus answered that the creature is a child, who grows to be a man and uses a staff and finally returns with age to four feet. After he kills the Sphinx Oedipus is unfortunate all his life. Small illuminated and coloured initials introduce the verses. The written space is 285 x 200 mm in two columns and the script is rather an ugly and unstable anglicana formata.
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Language Code:
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enm-GB
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Subject:
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English literature
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Subject:
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Literature, Medieval
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Subject:
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Mythology, Greek--Poetry
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Subject:
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Mythology, Greek, in literature
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Subject:
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Poetry, Medieval
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Subject:
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Mythology in literature
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Subject:
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Literature, Medieval--Manuscripts
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Subject:
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English literature--Manuscripts
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Category of Material:
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Manuscripts
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Sub-Category:
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Codex
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Technique Used:
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Illumination (image-making process)
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Technique Used:
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Handwriting
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Medium:
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Ink
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Support:
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Vellum
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People Covered:
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Lydgate, John, 1370?-1451?
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Item Height:
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417 mm
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Item Width:
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292 mm
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Current Repository:
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The University of Manchester Library, U.K.
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Provenance:
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Fairfax, Brian, 1676-1749, the commissioner of customs and a fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge.
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Provenance:
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Child, Francis, Sir, 1735-1763, of Osterley Park, Middlesex.
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Provenance:
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Lindsay family Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, former owner
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Rights Holder - Image:
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The University of Manchester Library
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Rights holder - Work:
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The University of Manchester Library
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Access Rights:
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References:
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Tyson, Moses, 'Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library' (1928), p.7.
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References:
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Parts of this catalogue have been reproduced from Ker, N.R., 'Medieval manuscripts in British libraries, vol. III, Lampeter-Oxford' (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1983), p. 400. By kind permission of Oxford University Press
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References:
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Bergen, Henry, 'Lydgate's Fall of princes.' (London: Pub. for the Early English Text Society by H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1924-27.)
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Bibliographic Citation:
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Morgan, Margery M., 'A specimen of early printer's copy: Ryland English MS 2', Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, vol. 33 (1950), pp. 194-6.
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Notes:
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Ostensibly the work is an adaptation of Laurent de Premierfait's 1409 translation of Giovanni Boccaccio's 'De casibus vivorum illustrium', a collection of moralized tragedies, extending from Adam to King John of France, that were designed to illustrate Fortune's fickle nature and the downfalls brought on by sinful living and unjust government.
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Date Captured (yyyy-mm-dd):
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2009-08-11
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Multi Page Number:
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210
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Image Creation Technique:
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Digital capture by The University of Manchester Library
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Date Image Added (yyyy-mm):
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2009-10
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Metadata Language:
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eng-GB
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Collection Code:
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Medieval
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