Unpublished description by R.A.B. Mynors of Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 2992 (Boethius, Philosophiae consolatio)

Following the unsuccessful conclusion in 1930 of M.R. James’s work on the University Library’s medieval manuscripts, the next concerted attempt to produce updated descriptions of the collection was undertaken by Harold Pink, a member of staff in the Library’s Department of Manuscripts. Pink laboured on this task from 1948 until his retirement in 1970, in many instances revising those descriptions produced by James twenty years earlier. He began with those manuscripts in the Additionals classmark sequence, under the guidance of Roger Mynors, who himself contributed a number of descriptions, before later moving on to producing descriptions of manuscripts within the Two-Letter classmark sequence. Both Pink’s and Mynors’ unpublished descriptions have been accessioned into the University Archives as UA ULIB 7/3/75. At some stage, photocopies were made of the entire stock of their handwritten descriptions. These have now been scanned and are made available here for download as pdf files. In most respects, Pink’s and Mynors’ work on the Additional manuscripts has been superseded by that of Jayne Ringrose. Her Summary catalogue of the Additional medieval manuscripts in Cambridge University Library acquired before 1940 was published by Brewer in 2009, but is now also available on Apollo, together with more detailed descriptions of the manuscripts on which the published summary descriptions were based. For further information, see: James Freeman, 'Unpublished descriptions of western medieval manuscripts at Cambridge University Library', Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society (2020); James Freeman, 'H.L. Pink's descriptions', Cambridge University Library Special Collections Subject Guide (https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/manuscripts-university-archives/subject-guides/medieval-manuscripts-2/hl).

1930年，M.R.詹姆斯（M.R. James）对剑桥大学图书馆中世纪手稿（medieval manuscripts）的整理工作以失败告终。此后，学界再次发起协同一致的尝试，旨在更新该馆藏的著录信息，此项工作由图书馆手稿部职员哈罗德·平克（Harold Pink）承担。平克自1948年起投身此项工作，直至1970年退休，期间多次修订二十年前詹姆斯所完成的手稿著录。他最初在罗杰·迈纳斯（Roger Mynors）的指导下，从追加类索书号序列（Additionals classmark sequence）下的手稿入手开展工作，迈纳斯本人亦参与了多篇手稿的著录；此后他转而对双字母类索书号序列（Two-Letter classmark sequence）下的手稿进行著录。平克与迈纳斯的未刊手稿著录均已以档案号UA ULIB 7/3/75入藏剑桥大学档案馆（University Archives）。此前，他们的全部手写著录稿均被制作了影印副本，如今这些影印副本已被扫描，并以PDF文件的形式在此提供下载。在多数方面，平克与迈纳斯针对追加类手稿的研究成果已被杰恩·林罗斯（Jayne Ringrose）的相关工作所取代。其所著的《剑桥大学图书馆1940年前入藏的追加类中世纪手稿总目》于2009年由布鲁尔（Brewer）出版社出版，目前该出版物与支撑该出版性总目的手稿详细著录内容一同可在Apollo平台获取。如需进一步了解相关信息，请参阅：詹姆斯·弗里曼（James Freeman）《剑桥大学图书馆未刊西方中世纪手稿著录》，载《剑桥书目学会会刊（Transactions of the Cambridge Bibliographical Society）》（2020年）；詹姆斯·弗里曼《H.L.平克的手稿著录》，剑桥大学图书馆特藏主题指南（Cambridge University Library Special Collections Subject Guide，链接：https://www.lib.cam.ac.uk/collections/departments/manuscripts-university-archives/subject-guides/medieval-manuscripts-2/hl）。