Physical description

Form:

Codex.

Paper, 195x154mm

Collation not attempted.

Pages are lined on top and left margins, leaving a writing space of approximately 186x141mm.

Hand A: The prefatory epistles (fols. 78r-79v) are both in a mid-seventeenth-century rapid mixed hand. The incredibly cramped and uneven appearance of the lines indicates that the hand is non-scribal, although the rapidity of the writing and the frequent use of contractions suggest the work of someone who wrote frequently.

Hand B: The main text is in a late seventeenth-century round hand. The slowness of the writing, the unevenness of the lines, and the inconsistent use of catchwords indicate the work of an amateur. The first use of a catchword is on fol.90r, and most of the following pages have a catchword, although a few pages have two words, and some have none. The ends of most lines have been filled in with dashes.

The present binding creates a book 204 x 73 x 25mm. The boards are covered mostly in green buckram, with the corners and spine in green leather, and there is a gold-tooled stamp in the middle of the front board, depicting Sir Hans Sloane's crest. Gold-tooled in a list down the spine are "J.Luke Travels", "Processo di G.F. Borri", "Life of C. Love", and "Brit. Mus. Sloane MS. 3945".

Modern foliation, 78-79 in ink, [blank unfoliated leaf], 80-113 in pencil, [2 unfoliated flyleaves, 1 pastedown]. Pagination in hand B (see description of hands), fols. 80r -113v paginated continuously 1-68.

Provenance

The "Life", and the three manuscripts with which it is presently bound, were purchased for the British Museum (now the British Library) in 1753 as part of the collection of Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753). Sloane's own manuscript catalogue (British Library, Sloane MS 3927), lists the four manuscripts together as MS B 1550. The placement of entry MS B 1550 indicates that Sloane probably purchased the manuscript after 1740.