Inventions or devises

Contributor:

Burghley, William Cecil, Baron, 1520-1598 (dedicatee)

Name:

Bourne, William, approximately 1535-1582

Timespan:

Early works to 1800

Date:

1576

Description:

Descriptions of 133 devices for use in war on land and sea, including use in gunnery and navigation. Following a dedication (f. iv recto-iv verso) to William Cecil, Lord Burghley, Lord High Treasurer to Elizabeth I, and a preface (f. 1r-6v), a table of contents (f. 7r-17r) lists the 133 devices. Numbers in the upper margin of the text correspond to the numbers in the table of contents. The manuscript predates the first printed edition by approximately 2 years, and has more devices than the printed edition, although it does not include all of the devices that appear in the printed edition. A later note refers to the use of the eighth or ninth device against the Spanish Armada (f. 25r).

Language:

English

Provenance:

Sold at auction at Christie's, 29 November 1999, lot 207.; Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.; Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2019.

Relation:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page: http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/366278; Digital facsimile for download (OPenn): https://openn.library.upenn.edu/Data/0001/html/ljs345.html

Subject:

Inventions -- Early works to 1800; Inventions; Military art and science -- Early works to 1800; Military art and science; Technology -- Early works to 1800; Technology

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

Codices; Diagrams; Drawings (visual works); Tables (documents); Treatises; Manuscripts, English; Manuscripts, Renaissance; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

127 leaves : paper, illustrations; 198 x 146 (170 x 115) mm bound to 204 x 158 mm

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Title for manuscript from dedication (f. iv verso).; Foliation: Paper, i (later paper) + 127 + i (later paper); [i-iv], 1-37, [i], 38-61, [i], 62-69, [i], 70-119, [120]; foliation in ink, lower right recto. References in this record are foliation in the manuscript.; Layout: Written in 21-25 long lines; text block outlined in ink.; Script: Written in secretarial script, with dedication (f. iv recto-iv verso) and emendations in italic script in the hand of William Bourne.; Decoration: 3 inserted drawings in ink, of a cannon (following f. 37), a walled city (following f. 61), and a simple plan of a fort (following f. 69); smaller illustrations in ink in the text, including ships under sail and a scale (f. 18v, 58v, 60v, 63v).; Watermark: Urn inscribed TC, similar to Briquet 12814 (Silly, France, 1582).; Binding: Speckled calf, rebacked.; Origin: Probably written in Gravesend (home of William Bourne), England, ca. 1576.; Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, LJS 345

Collection:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)