University of Virginia Library

III

Several conclusions can be drawn from the model of transmission offered
here. Most of the surviving manuscripts were produced during the 1620s and
early 1630s. The appearance of these copies was rapid; all but one of the con-
temporary Nomenclator Navalis manuscripts were produced within two years of

Mainwaring's first presentation copies. The key versions of the text are found in
two manuscripts: CairdMS LEC/9 and BL Harley MS 2301. Caird MS LEC/9
represents the text of an early, similar cluster of manuscripts which became a
source for twelve further manuscripts and the 1644 printed text. The text found
in one of these manuscripts, BL Harley MS 2301 went on to influence the entire
Nomenclator Navalis tradition. There are several points at which surviving manu-
scripts could feasibly have been copied from one another: BL Harley MS 6268
copies the manicule locations of BL Sloane MS 207, while Crane's Lambeth Pal-
ace MS 91 and Lambeth Palace Sion College MS L.40.2/E48 are indistinguish-
able, both textually and in their presentation. BL Sloane MS 207 was copied
from the manuscript of the text given to Zouche,since it retains the presentation
copy's dedicatory address. University of Illinois MS 0211 resembles both the BL
Harley MS 2301 Nomenclator Navalis tradition and the BL Add. MS 48165 Parts
and Things belonging to a Ship text, while the Lambeth Palace Sion College MS
L.40.2/E48-Lambeth Palace MS 91 and BL Sloane MS 207-BL Harley MS
6268 pairs share an otherwise unique relocation of 'shore'. Despite their variant
producers, owners, and physical properties, the texts contained in the extant
manuscripts are strikingly interlinked, often drawing upon one or more other
copies of the dictionary.

Most notably, the reproduction of this text almost always involved the re-
location of dictionary entries and often included the addition or omission of
content. Although the popularity of the dictionary testifies to the need for a book
explaining nautical terms to 'gentlemen commanders', its ownership amongst
already experienced naval figures indicates that it also represented the combined
knowledge of the naval and military figures among whom it circulated, including
Mervyn, Carew, Denbigh, and Northumberland. The manuscript circulation of
the text helped to produce a living collection of nautical definitions which re-
flected and informed current usage.

COPIES OF SIR HENRY MAINWARING'S

PARTS AND THINGS BELONGING TO A SHIP

                                                 

Manuscript	Scribe	Date	Text	Owner	Navy Records Society Reference
Sotheby's, December 4—5, 2015 (lot 534); location un-known. Reproduction in the British Library (MS RP 5197)	Crane	1620—3	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Dedicated to Edward, Baron Zouche, Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
Christie's Dec. 5, 1974 (lot 302); location unknown	Crane	1620—3	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Dedicated to the Marquess of Buckingham, Lord High Admiral	NRS-9
Lambeth Palace MS 91	Crane	1620—3	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Dedicated to George Abbot, Archbishop of Canterbury	NRS-6
Collection of the Duke of Sutherland, Mertoun House	Crane	1620—3	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Dedicated to John Egerton, first Earl of Bridgewater
Lambeth Palace Sion College MS L.40.2/ E48	Crane	Post-January 1625	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Dedicated to Robert Naunton, Secretary of State
National Maritime Museum Caird Library MS LEC /9	Crane	Pre-1642, likely much earlier	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Arms of the Earl of Nor-thumberland	NRS-8
Collection of the Duke of Devonshire, Chatsworth House	Crane	Unknown	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Devonshire Collection
University of Illinois MS 0211	Crane	1626	Partially Nomenclator Navalis	Trumbull Collection
BL Sloane MS 207	One hand	Before 1646, probably before 1623	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Henry Mervyn	NRS-2
BL Harley MS 6268	Three or more hands	Unknown	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Arms of Robert Harley	NRS-4
State Papers Domestic 16/127	One hand	Entered the State Papers Office in 1628	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Unknown	NRS-5
National Library of Wales Herbert of Cherbury MS E4/2	Two or more hands	c. 1628	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Herbert of Cherbury
BL Additional MS 48165 (Yelverton MS 177)	One hand	Unknown	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Yelverton Collection	NRS-11
National Maritime Museum Caird Library MS SMP/3	Two or more hands, one also of BL MS Stowe 180	Unknown	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Unknown
National Maritime Museum Caird Library MS AND/25	Two hands	Pre-1671	Unknown	Thomas Fairfax
Lambeth Palace MS 268	One hand	Pre-1629	Nomenclator Navalis	George Carew	NRS-7
BL Additional MS 21571	One hand, also of BL Harley MS 2301	1625	Nomenclator Navalis	Arms of the Earl of Denbigh	NRS-3
BL Additional MS 48157 (Yelverton MS 169)	One hand	3 September, 1633	Nomenclator Navalis	Yelverton Collection	NRS-10
BL Additional MS 76660	One hand	1820s	Nomenclator Navalis	Papers of Sir Robert Cavendish Spencer (Althorp papers)
BL Harley MS 2301	Two hands, one also of BL Add. MS 21571	Unknown	Nomenclator Navalis	Unknown. NRS-I Mathematical note of Charles Cavendish bound in, in a different hand	NRS-1
Copy owned by William Freke	Unknown	Pre-August 1625	Referred to as 'S[i]r Henery Maynewaring's exposition of sea termes'	William Freke
Copy owned by Robert Devereux	Unknown	Pre-1646	Referred to as 'Nomenclator Navalis a manuscript'	Robert Devereux
Copy owned by Erasmus Norwich	Unknown	Pre-1697	Referred to with the Parts and Things belonging to a Ship title	Erasmus NRS-12 Norwich	NRS-12
The Sea-man's Dictionary (London, 1644)	None	I644	Parts and Things belonging to a Ship	Printed by G. M. for John Bellamy. Licensed by John Booker