MS 220: Charles Wheatly, Common-place Book to the Primitive Writers

Archive Unit
  • This material is held at
  • Reference
      GB 473 MS220
  • Dates of Creation
      Oxford?, 18th c.; 1711
  • Name of Creator
  • Language of Material
      English Latin Greek Modern 1453-
  • Physical Description
      Support (paper) typically 196 x 147 mm. Text area: varies considerably but typically 192 x 113 mm. not including marginalia. Fol. i +181 leaves. (1 complete sequence of foliation: i + 181 leaves; also an integral but intermittent sequence of pagination centre of top margin on fols 3v-60r: 2-115 pages). Binding: Contemporary vellum over paste board, with shelfmark stamped in gilt at top of spine, and considerable repairs to the spine. Binding dimensions 220 x 155 mm.

Scope and Content

Holograph of common-place book discussing passages from the Church Fathers by the liturgical writer and Fellow of St John's, Charles Wheatly (1686-1742), begun in 1711.

1. Fols. 1r-181v: Wheatly, Charles. A common-place book to the primitive writers . (From title page, author's name added in a later hand). Latin, Greek & English. Single 18th c. hand. Written in long lines with 35 lines to a page. Divisions and notes in the left hand margin. Title page with double-ruled black ink border, and single rules above and below quotation from Irenaeus.

  • a. Title page, fol. 1r: "A | common-place Book | TO THE | PRIMITIVE WRITERS | wherein | The most material passages in ye most ancient | Fathers & First Councills, relating to Doctrine | Worship , or Manners are reduced to proper Heads | [Latin quotation from Irenaeus' Against heresies Book 3, Chapter 4, over 8 lines] Quid enim? Et si quibus de aliquâ modicâ quæstione ... | Begun | September. 21 Anno Dom. 1711." [fol. 1v blank].
  • b. List of Patriarchs in two columns, fol. 2r. [fols 2v-3r blank].
  • c. Text, fols 3v-60r: "[Marginal caption] Millenium ... [Marginal caption] Dæmoniacks."
  • [numerous blanks between textual divisions, fols 60v-177v blank].
  • d. Index, fols 178r-180v. [fol. 181r blank].
  • e. Duplicate list of Patriarchs, unfinished, fol. 181v.

Access Information

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Acquisition Information

Inscription at head of title page: "Liber Coll. S. Joan. Bapt. Oxon. Ex Legato Caroli Wheatly, A.M. ejusdem Coll. olim Socii". Wheatly's bookplate on front pastedown. See also the Benefactor's Book (SJC MS 374) at col. ccccxlvi: "His Common Place Book to ye Primitive Fathers MS."

Previous shelfmark "Archiv: 56/6" on front pastedown, together with blue-inked St John's College bookstamp.

Other Finding Aids

This catalogue entry derives from Stewart Tiley's unpublished descriptive catalogue of the post-1500 western manuscripts at St John's College, Oxford (2018). This entry was uploaded to ArchivesHub in March 2023 as part of the St John's College Library digitization project. To learn more about the project and to find digital resources, please visit the Digital Library