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Introduction to Art. 72, Nomina Librorum Bibliotece

Abbreviations: AND: Anglo-Norman Dictionary; ANL: Anglo-Norman Literature: A Guide to Texts and Manuscripts (R. Dean and Boulton); BL: British Library (London); Bodl.: Bodleian Library (Oxford); CT: Chaucer, Canterbury Tales; CUL: Cambridge University Library (Cambridge); DOML: Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library; FDT: French Devotional Texts of the Middle Ages (Sinclair 1979); FDT-1French Devotional Texts of the Middle Ages, . . . First Supplement (Sinclair 1982); IMEV: The Index of Middle English Verse (Brown and Robbins); MED: Middle English Dictionary; MWME: A Manual of the Writings in Middle English, 1050–1500 (Severs et al.); NIMEV: A New Index of Middle English Verse (Boffey and Edwards); NLS: National Library of Scotland (Edinburgh).

This Latin list of the biblical books appears immediately after the Anglo-Norman Bible stories on the last verso of quire 11. As a conclusion to the Bible stories, which begin in Genesis, it should be regarded as not simply a filler of blank space. It provides “a comprehensive sense of the great book from which the foregoing narratives were excerpted” (Kuczynski 2000, p. 130). With several apocryphal books included, the list reflects the typical contents of thirteenth-century Bibles (Ker, p. xiii). Two notes are appended to it, one on interpretation of Hebrew names (a normal item at the end of medieval Bibles), and another on the types and lengths of a cubit. Paraphs adorn each book name except for the single grouping of the five books of the Pentateuch (“libri legales”). Some anomalies occur in the order of books. For example, Mark is listed before Matthew, and Psalms appears in final position.

Proper names for biblical books are here translated into modern spellings in accord with the DOML edition of the Vulgate Bible with Douay-Rheims translation, edited by Edgar (pp. xxxi–xxxiii).

[Fol. 105va–b. Scribe : B (Ludlow scribe). Quire : 11. Layout : Double columns. The title is written by the scribe and underlined in red. Editions : None. Translations : None.]