AMDigital Reference:MS 4340A

This manuscript is a 144-folio duodecimo, which belonged to Katherine Thomas. It is a commonplace book containing over a hundred short prayers, over a hundred biblical extracts, two children's catechisms, Thomas's letter of advice to her children, seven poems by Thomas (including elegies on her husband and two daughters), and some meditations and verses copied from other sources. Of these other sources, Thomas copies from books attributed to Bishop Andrews, Bishops Cossens, Doctor Patrick, and [Margery?] Kemp. The manuscript is arranged in two sequences. The first-largely comprised of prayers and biblical extracts-is copied forwards from the front, up to fol. 117r. In this sequence, some of the verso leaves are left blank, the texts continuing consecutively on the recto leaves. From fol. 117v, the texts are copied from the back of the manuscript, consecutively on both sides of the leaves. This sequence is copied sideways, vertically on the pages. It is as part of this sequence that the poetry, letter of advice, and catechisms are transcribed. The earliest datable item is an elegy composed by Thomas on the death of her daughter, Katherine, who died as an infant in 1665. Two further elegies by Thomas on her daughter Dorothy and her (unidentified) husband are dated 1676 and 1671, respectively. However, the evidence points to the manuscript's compilation during the 1690s: a note on the inside cover states "1691 / Katherine Thomas her Book"; and the verse copied from the tombstone of Elizabeth Pierce, who died in 1671, was "written June: 1694", 23 years later. Her only other dated piece is a poem on Christmas Day, 1693. Elizabeth Pierce was buried in Bath; hence, the speculation that the manuscript may have been compiled in that area.

Reproduction of: Katherine Thomas's Commonplace Book, 1665-1694.

National Library of Wales

Religious literature > Authorship.