While the Winchester Bible, which visitors to the Cathedral will find on permanent display in the Kings & Scribes exhibition, is by far the best-known medieval manuscript in our collection, we are also fortunate here at Winchester to have in our possession a small, but significant number of other manuscripts.
Among these is MS.20: a beautifully-bound 12th-century copy of a work by the anonymous historian and translator known as Pseudo-Hegesippus, who was active in the 4th century AD.
The binding of MS.20 is special for two reasons. First, because it has survived intact, without any major loss or damage, and second, because it is believed to be contemporaneous with the manuscript itself.
That the binding of any manuscript endures is a happy consequence of chance. While many instances of medieval bindings have survived to the present day, an equal number have been lost and replaced with newer bindings over time, especially where the old binding becomes worn and tired through overuse.
Today, we may replace the binding of medieval manuscripts for conservation purposes, such as can be seen with the Winchester Bible, which has been rebound several times during its long history, most recently in 2014.
Where original medieval bindings do exist, such as we see in the case of MS.20, we can learn much about the history of manuscript production during this period. The Hegesippus manuscript, for instance, offers a wonderful and rare example of a style of bookbinding known as English Romanesque, which is characterised by the large number and variety of stamps used to decorate the binding.
The manuscript was given to Winchester Cathedral by C.W. Dyson Perrins in 1947. Prior to Dyson Perrins, it passed through the ownership of several notable individuals, including the well-known English writer and interior designer, William Morris, who acquired the manuscript in 1896, only to sell it several years later, in 1898, to H. Yates Thompson.
