University of Virginia Library

I

Mainwaring dedicated and presented manuscripts to at least five people: his
employer, Edward, Baron Zouche, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports (manu-
script sold at Sotheby's, 2015, current location unknown); to the Lord High
Admiral, the Marquess of Buckingham (manuscript sold at Christie's, 1974, cur-
rent location unknown, MS 9 in the Navy Records Society edition); to the Sec-
retary of State, Sir Robert Naunton (Lambeth Palace Sion College MS L.40.2/
E48); to the Archbishop of Canterbury, George Abbot (Lambeth Palace MS 91,
MS 6 in the Navy Records Society edition); and to Sir John Egerton, first Earl
of Bridgewater (Sutherland Collection, Mertoun House, Roxburghshire). These
copies, all transcribed by Crane, share the same type of watermark, have similar
luxury presentation bindings with silk ties, and all but one have the same title-
page border with illustrations of navigational instruments 6 Crane also made
three further copies, which were not explicitly produced on Mainwaring's be-
half. One of these, National Maritime Museum CairdLibrary MS LEC/9 (MS
8 in the Navy Records Society edition), which is likely to have belonged to
Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland, conforms to the uniform style of
Mainwaring's presentation manuscripts, with the same fleur-de-lis watermark
and lavish title-pageborder 7 By contrast, the other two undedicated Crane
copies - one now in the Devonshire Collection at Chatsworth House, prob-
ably originally owned by Sir William Cavendish, second Earl of Devonshire
(1590–1628), and one now held by the University of Illinois andonce owned
by the diplomat William Trumbull (1576/80–1635) - containa different, pillar

watermark, and a variant style of title-page decoration which is more charac-
teristic of Crane. The title pages of both manuscripts explicitly identify Crane
as the scribe 8.

Five manuscripts of the dictionary survive which are not associated with
Mainwaring or Crane's initial circulation of the text, but which retain the dic-
tionary's original title. BL Sloane MS 207 (MS 2 in the Navy Records Soci-
ety edition) is a transcription of the copy presented to Zouche, and reproduces
Mainwaring's dedication to him 9 This manuscript was owned by Henry Mervyn
(1583–1646), Admiral of the Narrow Seas. BL Harley MS 6268 (MS 4 in the
Navy Records Society edition) is titled An Abstract and exposition of all things per-
taininge to the practique of Navigation, bears Sir Robert Harley's (1579–1656) arms,
and was written by at least three scribes. Another undated copy of the dictionary,
in a single hand, survives in the State Papers (MS 5 inthe Navy Records Soci-
ety edition), while a further copy in at least two hands is now a loose bundle of
folios held in the National Library of Wales. 10 Owned by Edward Herbert,first
Baron Herbert of Cherbury, it may have formed part of his collection of material
associated with the Duke of Buckingham's 1627 siege of Rhé. 11 Lastly, BL Add.
MS 48165 (Yelverton MS 177, MS 11 in the Navy Records Society edition) is the
first of two manuscripts of the dictionary that once belonged to Henry Yelverton
(1566–1630). Though it shares a binding style and watermark with the other
Yelverton manuscript, Add. MS 48157 (Yelverton MS 169, MS 10 in the Navy
Records Society edition), the copies are written in different hands. 12

A separate group of manuscripts gives the dictionary a different title. Lambeth
Palace MS 268 (MS 7 in the Navy Records Society edition) is headed Nomenclator
Navalis or an exact Collecion and exposition of all words and tearmes of Arte belonginge to
the Partes, quallities, Condicions, proportions, Rigging, ffittinge, manageinge, and saileinge
of Shipps with other Necessaries to be knowne in the Practique of Navigation; Alsoe inclu-
deinge soe much of the Arte of Gunnery as Concernes the use of Ordenance at Sea. It is in a
single professional hand and contains neither a dedication nor a title page. This
manuscript belonged to George Carew (1555–1629), earl of Totnes, whose arms it
sports, and survives in its original binding. Four more copies also use the Latinate
title. BL Add. MS 21571 (MS 3 in the Navy Records Society edition) is elaborately
written in a distinctive rounded hand, in black, red, and gold ink. It is the only copy
produced in a pocket-friendly octavo format, and retains significantwater dam-
age, possibly acquired during its direct consultation at sea. One of the few dated
versions, its index concludes with a paraph containing a note of the year, 1625. It
has no dedication, but its binding is stamped with the Earl of Denbigh's arms. BL
Harley MS 2301 (MS 1 in the Navy Records Society edition) is in the hands of

two scribes, one of whom also appears to have copied Add. MS 21571. They swap
stints between the dictionaryentries for J and K, halfway through L, and during
P, but the watermark remains the same throughout the manuscript. The second
Yelverton manuscript, BL Add MS 48157, is written in a single, unique hand,
contains no dedication, is dated 3 September 1633, and retains its contemporary
vellum binding and blue silk ties. The latest of the Nomenclator Navalis versions, BL
Add. MS 76660 is an 1820s copy in a single hand. Though its paper, script, and
dedication to William Fielding, Earl of Denbigh (1796–1865) from an unknown
'HN' are all of the nineteenth century, it is interesting that the manuscript is bound
in a seventeenth-century style, with panelled calf and gold tooling.

Finally, two more manuscripts of the dictionary, now both in the Caird Li
brary of the National Maritime Museum, contain significantly altered versions
of the dictionary. An undated copy written in two hands,MS SMP/3 reproduces
selected rearranged entries, while a greatly abbreviated 4-page version of the
dictionary survives as part of MS AND/25. The index of MS SMP/3 is laid out
in the same style as in Crane's manuscripts, with central headings and ruled-off
sections. The scribes responsible for the copy did not attempt to reproduce one
another's handwriting; rather, one scribe repeatedly identifies his own dictionary
entries with a trefoil paraph. MS AND/25 is bound with two unattributed hand-
coloured prints of ships, sections of which have been labelled alphabetically. The
labels correspond to the brief index of the abbreviated dictionary, suggesting that
the roughly copied manuscript was once used for the personal study of ships'
terms and parts, rather than for presentation or a gift. 13