Catalogues of Manuscripts
The Parker Library's collection of western medieval and early modern manuscripts have been catalogued on four occasions; first by Thomas James (1600), then twice in the eighteenth century by William Stanley (1722) and James Nasmith (1777), and finally by Montague Rhodes James (1909-1912). In addition, catalogues have also been published of the Library's decorated manuscripts up to c.1100 (Mildred Budny, 1997), of the manuscripts in French (Nigel Wilkins, 1993) and those containing Middle English prose (Keri Anne Rand, 2009).
Main Catalogues:
M.R. James, A Descriptive Catalogue of the Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. 2 vols. (Cambridge, 1912).
M.R. James' weighty two-volume catalogue remains the standard reference for the Library's medieval and Renaissance manuscripts despite having been published over a century ago. He lists 538 items, although a few of these are printed books without any manuscript content, and provides far more detailed descriptions than Nasmith. James' catalogue is also the main source for the manuscript descriptions on Parker on the Web, albeit with relevant amendments and additions where necessary, including (i) specification of titles (rubrics), incipits and explicits, (ii) specification of folio locus where lacking, and (iii) the addition of the most recent author attributions and standardised titles of the various texts.
Each manuscript's description also supplies a PDF copy of James' original entry.
James Nasmith, Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum quos Collegio Corporis Christi et B. Mariae Virginis in Academia Cantabrigiensis legauit Reverendissimus in Christo Pater Matthaeus Parker, Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis (Cambridge, 1777).
Prior to M.R. James' catalogue, Nasmith's work on the Parker collection was regarded as the standard guide. It describes 482 manuscripts, classifying them through the use of a continuous numerical system related to the size of the volume, from largest to smallest. He included 10 manuscripts not known to his predecessor Stanley, but omitted one printed book included within the latter's work. Nasmith's descriptions of the manuscripts served as the starting point for James's own discussion of the texts and, for this reason, his work remains important for an understanding of the contents of the Parker Library, despite the fact that he was not particularly concerned with Anglo-Saxon material.
Willliam Stanley, Catalogus librorum manuscriptorum in Bibliotheca Collegiis Corporis Christi in Cantabrigia: Quos legauit Matthaeus Parkerus Archiepiscopus Cantuariensis (London, 1722).
Stanley's catalogue returned to the same scheme of classification as that employed by Parker in his Register. It provides descriptions of 473 manuscripts, of which 429 were Parkerian, and a further 44 volumes were subsequently donated by others, classified as ‘Libri ab alienis donati’. In expanding greatly upon Thomas James’ frequently terse statement of the contents of the manuscripts, Stanley provides the first modern catalogue of the Parker collection. It must be noted however, that it lacks any prefatory material that may serve to explain the author's editorial choices.
Thomas James, Ecloga Oxonio–Cantabrigiensis, tributa in libros duos, quorum prior continet catalogum confusum librorum manuscriptorum in illustrissimis bibliothecis, duarum florentissimarum Acdemiarum, Oxoniae et Catabrigiae (London, 1600), pp. 70–98, reprinted in E. Bernard & H. Wanley, Catalogi librorum manuscriptorum Angliæ et Hiberniæ, in unum collecti, cum indice alphabetico. 2 vols. in 1 (Oxford, 1697), Vol. I Pt. III, pp. 131–46.
Thomas James (1572/3–1629) was appointed to the position of librarian at Thomas Bodley's library in the University of Oxford in 1599, and his Ecloga Oxonio–Cantabrigiensis, a catalogue of the manuscripts then in the college libraries of Oxford and Cambridge, plus those in Cambridge University Library, appeared the following year. Corpus' collection appears under the heading 'Libri manuscripti in Bibliotheca Collegii Sancti Benedicti Cantabrigiensis’, as the college was known as St. Benet's College at the time. The catalogue employs a simple numerical classification that, wherever possible, makes use of the numbers already used in the Register of the contents of Archbishop Matthew Parker. The catalogue briefly describes 396 items, yet through a series of repetitions, omissions, and other errors, his numbering runs only to 395. M.R. James concluded that Thomas James omitted all printed books donated by Parker (most manuscripts classified as ‘Miscellanea’ in the Archbishop's Register), and some 10 others. However, he did include 10 manuscripts that were not part of Parker's bequest.
Additional catalogues and indexes based on specific themes:
R. Vaughan & J. Fines, 'A Handlist of Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, Not Described by M.R. James,' Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society 3.2 (1960): 113-123.
This lists the 73 manuscripts acquired by the Library between the publication of M.R. James' catalogue and 1960, together with other items not included by James. For example, some of items were part of the College Archive in 1912 and later transferred to the Library. However, it contains only basic information and has much less detail than James' catalogue. It can be downloaded from the link on this page (we are grateful to the authors for permission to make this available).
N. Wilkins, Catalogue des manuscrits français de la Bibliothèque Parker (Parker Library), Corpus Christi College Cambridge (Cambridge, 1993).
This catalogue covers all manuscripts in the Library wholly or partly written in Anglo-Norman or medieval French. It is particularly useful for providing up-to-date bibliographies on the manuscripts, new identifications of authorship of texts, and more extensive identification of incipits and explicits. It can be downloaded from the link on this page (we are grateful to the author for permission to make this available).
M. Budny, Insular Anglo-Saxon, and Early Anglo-Norman Manuscript Art at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge: An Illustrated Catalogue. 2 vols. (Kalamazoo, 1997).
This is a detailed descriptive catalogue of the 56 manuscripts dated prior to 1100, covering not only their decoration, but also of their text contents and codicological aspects. Extensive up-to-date bibliographies are provided for each manuscript as well as numerous illustrations.
K.A. Rand, The Index of Middle English Prose, Handlist XX: Manuscripts in the Library of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge (Cambridge, 2009).
This catalogue provides a detailed descriptive listing of the 52 manuscripts in the Corpus collection containing Middle English prose texts, with a full bibliography for each manuscript.