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Research dossier · Arts & Letters

British Library, Harley MS 1775

manuscript

Manuscripts, fine bindings, an engraving plate and preserved performance ephemera
Arts and lettersInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionDec 22, 2020
Entity authorityQ5658773 ↗
Source-derived summary

British Library, Harley MS 1775 is an illuminated Gospel Book produced in Italy during the last quarter of the 6th century. The text is in Latin and is a mixture of the Vulgate and Old Latin translations. This text is called "source Z" in critical studies of the Latin New Testament.

It is written in an uncial text with the running titles written in rustic capitals. The manuscript has enlarged initials and the opening lines of major text divisions are written in red. There are contemporary corrections in slanting uncial script which employ a Greek syllabification similar to that used by Victor of Capua.

There are 468 vellum folios that are 177 by 120 mm. The text is written in a single column of 130 by 85 mm. Each Gospel is started on a new quire. The quires are numbered so as to aid in the assembly of the codex.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “British Library, Harley MS 1775” as manuscript. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA useful identification and reception guide that helps separate the work itself from editions, performances, ownership and later interpretation. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1775—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. The account is most persuasive where British, Library and Harley can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the arts & letters register because the source frames it as manuscript. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Attribution, date and provenance are strongest when supported by the original work, a catalogue record and documented transmission. The source revision retrieved here is dated Dec 22, 2020. The linked authority identifier is Q5658773. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1775.

Critical limits

Later fame can flatten the distinction between original context, subsequent adaptation and institutional collecting history. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Separate the work, its editions or performances, and its later reception. Catalogue records, publication histories and object files often preserve different parts of that story.

Best used for
  • Identifying works and editions
  • Tracing reception history
  • Finding collection records
Verify next

The original object or edition, catalogue raisonné, performance record, rights file and holding institution.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “British Library, Harley MS 1775”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow British Library, Harley MS 1775 primary sources, British Library, Harley MS 1775 archive and British research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “British Library, Harley MS 1775”?
  2. How did later circulation or interpretation alter the work’s reception?
  3. Which edition, object, performance or recording is being described?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “British Library, Harley MS 1775” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.