Record

PwV - Literary Manuscripts in the Portland (Welbeck) Collection, 16th-19th centuries

Document Reference	Pw V 1
Title	MS commonplace book of Denzil Holles; n.d. [c.1558]
Date	1558 (c)
Extent	57 ff
Level	Item/file
Access Conditions	Microfilm surrogate available - readers may be required to use the microfilm in the first instance.
Content Description	Individual items in this volume are described under references Pw V 1/1-57.
Content Description	Commonplace book of Denzil Holles as a young man, with miscellaneous literary and general entries. Subjects include: list of armour, military terms and equipment; astronomy; astrology; magical recipes and charms; household and medicinal recipes; travelling recommendations; list of heraldic devices; poems. Date of 1558 is given on f 3v and was written when Denzel Holles was about 20 years of age. For a detailed description and analysis of this book see Watson 'The Denzill Holles Commonplace Book...'.
Language	English
Language	Latin
ReprodnNote	Volumes from Pw V cannot be photographed by readers with their own camera or device, but reprographic copies can be supplied for educational and private study purposes only.
Physical Description	Quarto volume Text material on ff 1r-15v, ff 18r-20r, f 30r and f 57v. Modern foliation in pencil.
Condition	Good and clean
Descriptive Features	Watermark: Hand and Star with letters IB at the base of the hand, approx. 78 x 30 mm, similar watermark forms are found throughout; irregular chainlines approximately 25 mm apart. One secretary script in brown ink throughout. First half of 20th century plain vellum binding on pasteboard; upper and lower covers are blind tooled with double line fillet following the edges of the four outer borders; spine, stamped in black, reads 'COMMON-PLACE BOOK OF DENZIL HOLLES 1558'; this binding is similar to that in Pw V 2 executed by Birdsall of Northampton; an earlier binder gave the book front and back covers made from parchment leaves of an early music manuscript which now serve as flyleaves; two stubs of the same type of parchment are found between ff 7v-8 and also between ff 53v-54.
Watermark	Hand and Star
Related Material	University of Nottingham Library:
Related Material	University of Nottingham Library:
Publication Note	E.P. Watson, 'The Denzill Holles Commonplace Book: memoranda of a country gentleman, c. 1558, Nottingham University Lib. MS PV 1' in D. Williams (ed.), 'Early Tudor England: Proceedings of the 1987 Harlaxton Symposium' (The Boydell Press, Woodbridge; 1989), pp. 139-55