Bald's Leechbook

14 September 2016
Diane Culpin

I focused my research on a manuscript written in the mid-10th century entitled Bald’s Leechbook.  The special collections area of our UNT Library in Willis has Bald's Leechbook (British Museum Royal manuscript 12D; with an appendix by Randolph Quirk Xvii) Edited by C. E. Wright.

https://iii.library.unt.edu/search~S12?/Xbald%27s+leechbook&SORT=D&m=&searchscope=12/Xbald%27s+leechbook&SORT=D&m=&searchscope=12&SUBKEY=bald%27s+leechbook/1%2C2%2C2%2CB/frameset&FF=Xbald%27s+leechbook&SORT=D&m=&searchscope=12&1%2C1%2C  However, this book is only available during daytime hours. 

Utilizing advances in digital technologies, I found the manuscript online at the British Library in London.  http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Royal_MS_12_D_XVII  The digital version contains 279 images of the Royal MS 12 D XVII. The manuscript cover charms, medical remedies, diagnoses, and prognostic text written in Old English and Latin. 

Using the MLA Guidelines for Editors of Scholarly Editions, I found the manuscript home page demonstrated some of the MLA key principles, sources and orientations.  The content section of the home page describes the subjects covered in the 3 books and some characteristics associated with the books.  The book was written for Bald by Cild. The site provides a reliable text via the high definition images of the manuscript itself.  However, there is no textual apparatus or notes associated with the images.  You have to be able to read Old English and Latin in ‘square minuscule’ script as well.

Source material considerations are documented in the Physical Description and Ownership sections on the manuscript home page. I found it fascinating that the manuscript was

written by the same scribe as the copyist of the Old English Bede in Cotton MS Otho B XI and as the third scribe of the A version of the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in Cambridge, Corpus Christi College, MS 173, who copied the annuals from 924 to 946 and years to 955…

A useful bibliography completes the home page.

The British Library’s editorial decision to digitize this manuscript makes it freely available for anyone to view and study this treasure via an internet connection.  The ability to scale the images improves the interactive experience.  While it is not the same as actually going to the British Library and examining the manuscript in person, the digital version is an excellent facsimile.