Hand: OE Recipe (118rv), BL Cotton Galba A.xiv

Name

OE Recipe (118rv)

Manuscript

BL Cotton Galba A.xiv

Script

Unspecified

Scribe

Unspecified

Date

Saec. xi1

Place

Leominster

Catalogue Number

Scragg 488

Stokes, English Vernacular Script, ca 990–ca 1035, Vol. 2 (PhD Thesis, University of Cambridge, 2006)

The script here is somewhat irregular but looks more fluent than most others in this manuscript and has a slight forward slope. A medium-width pen was used with some shading, but the writing-frames are less densely filled than those of other scribes in this manuscript. The bodies of letters are fairly wide and rounded, ascenders are about as long as minims, and descenders are of similar length or slightly longer. Ascenders have regular wedges, but minims have approach-strokes at the top and horizontal or rising ticks for feet. Descenders are straight. A fairly rounded but basically teardrop-shaped a was used throughout. The same form was used for æ, the hook of which is rounded but is high in a bulging and slightly open ligature whenever possible. The hook of c is short, and the lower curve longer. The back of d is fairly short, fairly straight, and fairly flat, angled at about 15–30°. Horned e is found, with the hook in a high, open, bulging ligature whenever possible. The tongue of f can be long. The mid-section of g can be quite angular, and the tail is fairly straight and is angled down and left. The shoulders of h, m, n, and r are all very rounded, all start below cue-height, and all reach forward in a wide curve, the stroke swelling as it turns down. The down-stroke of r usually turns slightly back to the left before curving out to the right and then up. The second arch of m begins close to the base-line as the letter is written with minimal pen-lift. Tall and low s were both used: tall s is normally found before t but the low was sometimes used there as well, and tall s is sometimes found initially (saluian, 118r10). Tall s stands firmly on the base-line, and the hook of low s branches at the base-line. The conventional distinction between þ and ð was followed. The back of ð is thick, angled at about 60°, turned up slightly at the tip, and has a cross-stroke which does not pass through the back at all and which is hooked down on the right. Straight-limbed dotted y was used, the right branch of which is hooked left, and the tail somewhat curved back under the preceding letter. The top of 7 is hooked up slightly at the left and is angled up, and the down-stroke is vertical.