Читать книгу The Codex Mendoza: new insights онлайн

144 страница из 150

The exact dates of transfer for Selden’s manuscripts are problematic. It appears that some reached Oxford in 1655 and that others did not arrive until 1659 with the bulk of the library, but there are no separate listings to distinguish these; many others never reached Oxford. Because of problems with John Selden’s will, the disposal of his books became, in effect, the decision of his executors, amongst whom Sir Matthew Hale (1609-1676) took the most active role. It is not impossible that Hale could have ordered some “tidying” by means of binding up the loose materials before Oxford’s allocation of manuscripts was transferred. Otherwise, however, at least the brown leather bindings can be matched with those of non-Selden books which can be shown to have been bound at Oxford in between the 1650s and1660s, even if the style of these and of Codex Mendoza’s parchment binding are perhaps too plain to definitively determine where they were bound.

Fourth stage (Oxford, Bodleian Conservation Workshop, 1985-6)