COMMONPLACE BOOK. Manuscript of Robert Assheton, ca 1667 ff.
In total ca 105 pages 12mo (155 x 95 mm. / ca 6 x 4 inches), contemporary calf very worn. Relating almost entirely to Manchester and its collegiate establishment (now the cathedral).
The ownership inscription of Robert Assheton of Magdalene College, Cambridge, is dated 1667 and 1668, and there are later inscriptions by Charles Craven of St John's College, Cambridge dated 1815 and 1847, who also notes that he 'traced over with fresh ink' the original.
The first section, in English, is 'A true Copy of the foundation of the [C]ollege of Manchester by King Charls [sic] the first', 36 pages. There follows, in Latin, the Statuta Collegii .., 39 pages; Juramenta Suscipienda (a series of oaths sworn on the bible by 'A.B.' a fellow of the college, 2 pages; a breif [sic] account of the Collegiate Church of Manchester from ye first foundation of it by Ld Delaware, 7 pages; and two 'Acts of Chapter', 1 page.
The book concludes with a historical account by Charles Craven of Robert Assheton, his son the Rev Richard Assheton and a further Richard Assheton the writer's great-uncle, 2 pages, and six pages of notes and accounts of an earlier date, ca 1700.
The flyleaf bears a note (signature not deciphered) dated 1910:

'This Manuscript book, in the handwriting of Robert Assheton, sometime Fellow of the College of Manchester, was bought by Mr. Joshua Bury, snr. verger & Land Agent of the Cathedral for £1 in 1910, and was purchased of him for the same sum by the Chapter. I had its back repaired.'

The volume is therefore evidently a stray from the Chapter Library.
[No: 22017]