Sir Thomas Phillipps: Aelfric, Abbot of Eynsham: Fragments of Aelfric’s Grammar, translated by Phillipps, 1837

RLIN ID No.
NYGG03-A13

Title
Fragments of Aelfric’s Grammar, Aelfric’s Glossary…, edited by Sir Thomas Phillipps: manuscript, 1837.

Physical Description
1 item (various pagings) ; 35 cm.

Historical/Biographical Note
Aelfric (fl. 1006), Abbot of Eynsham in Worcestershire, was a prolific writer. He became known as “Grammaticus” for his Latin grammar and glossary. In 1837 the manuscript collector Sir Thomas Phillipps discovered in an old binding among the archives of Worcester Cathedral a manuscript by Aelfric in the orthography of the 12th century which included a Saxon grammar, a short poems lamenting the number of foreign bishops in England, and a fragments of a poem on The Debate of the Soul and the Body.

Scope and Contents Note
Manuscript of Aelfric’s texts in the hand of Sir Thomas Phillipps, dated 1837, and accompanied by an early trial printed version of the same texts, probably of same date. The manuscript appears to have been used for both the trial and the final version Phillipps printed at his Middle Hill Press in 1838.

General Note
Fragmentary texts from a 13th century ms. (Worcester Cathedral F. 174) wherein the linguistic forms are consistently Early Middle English. cf. Cat. of Manuscripts Containing Anglo-Saxon / N. R. Ker (1957), p. 466.

General Note
Bound in drab terra-cotta covered boards similar to those Sir Thomas Phillipps used for the publications of his Middle Hill Press.

General Note
Entry No. 13,598 in The Phillipps Manuscripts: Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum in Biblioteca D. Thomas Phillipps, Bt., with an introduction by A. N. L. Munby (London: Holland Press, 1968).

General Note
Item No. 1 in the Miscellaneous Manuscripts section of the appraisal list of Harrison D. Horblit’s Sir Thomas Phillipps Collection prepared by Lionel and Philip Robinson of London,

Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift; Jean Mermin Horblit, widow of collector Harrison D. Horblit; 1995.

Exhibition Note
Exhibited: “The Collector Collected: The Horblit Archive of Sir Thomas Phillipps at the Grolier Club,” organized by the Grolier Club, 1997 May 20 to July 31.

Names
Aelfric, Abbott Eynsham. Grammar. Selections. 1837.
Aelfric, Abbott of Eynsham. Glossary. Selections. 1837.
Horblit, Harrison D., collector.
Horblit, Jean Mermin, donor.
Phillipps, Thomas, Sir, 1792-1872.
Body and the soul. Selections. 1837.

Subjects
English language. Middle English, 1100-1150. Grammar. Early works to 1800.
English language. Glossaries, vocabularies, etc. Early works to 1800.
Latin language. Dictionaries. English (Old). Early works to 1800.
English language. Middle English, 1100-1500. Texts.

Occupation (as reflected in collection)
Translators. England. 19th century.

Location
Grolier Club, 47 East 60th Street, New York, N.Y. 10022-1098.