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1. “Penaunce is the seconde medycyne of syn[n]e after Noees flode” (Jolliffe, p. 63: A.4.ii; Memoriale Credencium, ed. J. H. L. Kengen; IPMEP 448): fols. 2r-16v [19]
2. “[w]E knoweth well by comyn exp[er]ience...” (Reclusorium Anime [extract]; Jolliffe, p. 114; I.41; Hartung, vol. 7, p. 2535 [150]): fols. 17r-25v
3. “[a] grete Clerke Richard of Seynt Victores seyeþ in a boke| of contemplation þt ther be þre worthynges of eu[er]y c[ri]sten| soule Thought Thenkyng & contemplacou[n]” ( De contemplacione, Ed. Hayes[20]; Jolliffe, p. 127: M.5/p. 138: 0.15; IPMEP 5): fols. 25v-26v
4. “Nonnulla de hominum natura prava” (Latin): fols. 26v- 27r
5. “[t]her be vj thynges þt will bring a mannys soule to hevyn” (“Of the Six Religious Duties”: Jolliffe, p. 114: I.36; Hartung, vol. 7, p. 2318 [141]): fols. 27r-28r)
6. Chaucer's Melibee (ending at VII 1846/B2 *3036): fols. 29r-48r
7. “Rubrica ¶De vita & honestate Clericor[um]”:[21] fols. 49r-57r
8. “Computacio Danielis Prophete” (Latin): fols. 58r- 58v
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9. “Apes videre vel cap[er]e lucru[m] sig[nifica]t” (Somniale, Latin: fols. 59r-61v

The rest of the manuscript consists of collection of fiction and nonfiction texts written by Gideon Bonnivert of Oxnead Hall, Norfolk in the second half of the seventeenth century (fols. 62-437), and is not relevant to the present discussion. (See Manly-Rickert 1:515 and the Catalogus Librorum Manuscriptorum Bibliothecæ Sloanianæ [British Library, vol. 1, pp. 202- 204]).

The paper stocks are distributed as follows (cf. Manly-Rickert 1:515):

1. Unicorn, a pair of twins, one 9.3 cm long from tip of the raised hind foot to tip of horn, aligned parallel to chainlines 3.9 cm apart; the second mark measures 9.9 cm from tip of the raised hind foot to tip of horn, also with attendant chainlines 3.9 cm apart. Very close to Briquet Licorne Simple 9997 (1477-78), but in both marks the front leg descends below the chainline (this watermark also occurs in British Library Canterbury Tales MS Royal 17.D.XV): fols. 1-48
2. Unicorn, a pair of twins, the first (e.g., fol. 51) measuring 9.5 cm from tail to tip of horn, aligned parallel to chainlines 3.6-3.7 cm apart; the second (e.g. fol. 53) measuring 10 cm from tail to tip of horn, aligned parallel to chains between chainlines 3.9| 3.5 cm apart; the second has a fatter and squatter appearance (cf. Briquet Licorne Simple 10024 & 10026 (this watermark also occurs in British Library Canterbury Tales MS Royal 17.D.XV and is the same paper stock used by Caxton in his first edition of the Canterbury Tales: (STC 5082 [1477]): fols. 49-57
3. Circle, near Briquet Cercle 3107 (Augsburg, 1455; Magdebourg, 1458), 4°. Since the mark is symmetrical, it is impossible to determine whether the top half or bottom half appears on a given folio: fols. 58-61

Seymour (1995, p. 144) based on “contents and watermarks,” suggests “18 (wants 1), 28 // 312 4-510 // 610 (wants 1) // four leaves of uncertain structure, ff. 58-61. One leaf lost after quire 5.” The watermark distribution, however, does not support this hypothesis. I propose instead the following:

1(?) 2 12 3 12 4 24 (- 1, 22, 23, 24) 5(?) 6 4

The reasons for proposing this collation are detailed below:

[Description: SB 52, Page 111.[22] ]

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The four new collations provided here derive from a consideration of the kinds of physical structures that can result from the folding of paper into gatherings. This and other kinds of physical evidence (scribal stints, textual lacunae, sewing, changes of paper stock, catchwords), taken together with the layout and distribution of texts in the MSS, argue for a limited number of possible structures. From among those structures, I believe the ones I propose here are the most probable and most reasonably account for the evidence provided by the testimony of these fifteenth-century witnesses.

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