• Historiated initial of Chaucer holding an open book, at the beginning of the prologue to the Canterbury Tales., Canterbury Tales

prime minister: his book-plate with heraldic arms and the motto 'virtute non verbis' (inside upper cover); purchased by the British Museum together with 1244 other Lansdowne manuscripts in 1807. Author portrait Herman Scheerre Geoffrey Chaucer London England, S. E. (London?)

• Illuminated initial 'A'(t) at the beginning of the Reeve's tale, identified by a rubric in the upper margin 'The Reve'., Canterbury Tales

prime minister: his book-plate with heraldic arms and the motto 'virtute non verbis' (inside upper cover); purchased by the British Museum together with 1244 other Lansdowne manuscripts in 1807. Illuminated initial Herman Scheerre Geoffrey Chaucer London England, S. E. (London?)

• Decorated initial 'KL', accompanied by a bar developing foliate extensions with a dragon, at the beginning of August in the Calendar., Kalendarium, cum figuris eclipsum, tabulis, et canonibus

Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 2v; its book-plate with the pencil inscription: ‘XIII.6.26’, inside upper cover).Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with

• Diagrams of the eclipse of the moon., Kalendarium, cum figuris eclipsum, tabulis, et canonibus

Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 2v; its book-plate with the pencil inscription: ‘XIII.6.26’, inside upper cover).Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with

• Puzzle initial 'P'(ost) with human head, in Haimo Halberstatensis's In Apocalypsim., In Apocalypsim (ff. 1-106), In Cantica Canticorum (ff. 107-135v)

Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 1; its book-plate with the pencil inscription: ‘XV.8.5’, inside upper cover).Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with

• Puzzle initial 'A'(pocalipsis), in Haimo Halberstatensis's In Apocalypsim., In Apocalypsim (ff. 1-106), In Cantica Canticorum (ff. 107-135v)

Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 1; its book-plate with the pencil inscription: ‘XV.8.5’, inside upper cover).Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with

• Illuminated initial 'W'(hilom) at the beginning of the Miller's tale, identified by a rubric in the upper margin 'The Meller'., Canterbury Tales

prime minister: his book-plate with heraldic arms and the motto 'virtute non verbis' (inside upper cover); purchased by the British Museum together with 1244 other Lansdowne manuscripts in 1807. Illuminated initial Herman Scheerre Geoffrey Chaucer London England, S. E. (London?)

• Calendar page with illuminated initials., Kalendarium, cum figuris eclipsum, tabulis, et canonibus

Royal Society, London (its ink stamp: 'Soc. Reg. Lond / ex dono HENR. HOWARD / Norfolciensis.', f. 2v; its book-plate with the pencil inscription: ‘XIII.6.26’, inside upper cover).Purchased by the British Museum from the Royal Society of London together with

• Illuminated initial 'T'(her) and decorated catchword., Canterbury Tales

with heraldic arms and the motto 'virtute non verbis' (inside upper cover); purchased by the British Museum together with 1244 other Lansdowne manuscripts in 1807. Illuminated initial 'T'(her) and decorated catchword. Herman Scheerre Geoffrey Chaucer London England, S. E. (London?)

• Table and decorated initial., Miscellaneous scientific treatises

'de Liber sancti Augustini Cante' (f. 1v); see also James 1963 no. 1166.Johannes de London, monk of St Augustine's Abbey, c.1364: inscribed 'Liber Johans de London' and '1364' (f. 1v).Index added, 14th-15th centuries (f. 242).John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609),

• Table., Miscellaneous scientific treatises

'de Liber sancti Augustini Cante' (f. 1v); see also James 1963 no. 1166.Johannes de London, monk of St Augustine's Abbey, c.1364: inscribed 'Liber Johans de London' and '1364' (f. 1v).Index added, 14th-15th centuries (f. 242).John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609),

• Detail of table., Miscellaneous scientific treatises

'de Liber sancti Augustini Cante' (f. 1v); see also James 1963 no. 1166.Johannes de London, monk of St Augustine's Abbey, c.1364: inscribed 'Liber Johans de London' and '1364' (f. 1v).Index added, 14th-15th centuries (f. 242).John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609),

• Table., Miscellaneous scientific treatises

'de Liber sancti Augustini Cante' (f. 1v); see also James 1963 no. 1166.Johannes de London, monk of St Augustine's Abbey, c.1364: inscribed 'Liber Johans de London' and '1364' (f. 1v).Index added, 14th-15th centuries (f. 242).John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609),

• Illuminated initial 'D' in colours and gold with foliate decoration including acanthus leaves, ivy, and foliate feathering extending into the margins to form a partial border, including a male figure., Confessio amantis, imperfect

£10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library. Illuminated initial John Gower London England, S. E. (?London)

• Text page., Polychronicon with other historical works

the 17th-century list of contents (f. 2) and in David Casley, ~A Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the King’s Library~ (London, 1734).A part of the manuscript including Nicolas Trevet's Annales sex regum Angliae, a list of Anglo-Saxon kings, the Revelationes

• Decorated initial 'P'(ost), with a partial bar border., Polychronicon with other historical works

the 17th-century list of contents (f. 2) and in David Casley, ~A Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the King’s Library~ (London, 1734).A part of the manuscript including Nicolas Trevet's Annales sex regum Angliae, a list of Anglo-Saxon kings, the Revelationes

• Puzzle initial 'Q'(uinta), at the beginning of book 3 of the Polychronicon., Polychronicon with other historical works

the 17th-century list of contents (f. 2) and in David Casley, ~A Catalogue of the Manuscripts of the King’s Library~ (London, 1734).A part of the manuscript including Nicolas Trevet's Annales sex regum Angliae, a list of Anglo-Saxon kings, the Revelationes

• Drawing of the world, with God wearing a crown above, Christ in Majesty, and the devil bound below., Tractatus de sphaera (index De sphera)

National Biography~ (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004) [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/12020, accessed 10 Feb 2006]. Thomas Rodd the younger (b. 1796, d. 1849), London bookseller; bought from him by the British Museum on 13 August 1840 for 10s, along with 32 other manuscripts

• Miniature of the Death and Assumption of the Virgin, of the Virgin Mary's entombment and the passing of her soul to Christ, surrounded by a crowd of apostles and angels, and her Assumption to heaven in a mandorla, within a mosaic-like frame., Cutting from an Antiphoner (index antiphoner, antiphonal)

his sale 26 June 1885, lot 124.George Salting (b. 1835, d. 1909), art collector and benefactor: probably purchased from Colnaghi, London art dealers (Kanter); bequeathed by him to the British Museum.Transferred from the Department of Prints and Drawings of the

• Illuminated initial., Nova Statuta (index Statutes of England, Statuta Angliae, Statute book) from Edward III to Richard II

Statuta Angliae, Statute book) from Edward III to Richard II Inscription, 15th century, partly erased (f. 225v). C. Meyer, book-seller, London, late 18th century: a pink label inscribed 'Bound & Sold by C. Meyer. Bookseller & Binder to the Queen