The Greater Work (Opus Majus), Vol. 1

...out an almost exact correspondence in their errors and in their variants. The Oxford manuscript Abbreviated as MS. has therefore been taken as the foundation of the present edition, and is denoted by the letter O. It is, however, by no means perfect, especially in the second and third sections of the work: and recourse was had both by Jebb John Jebb published the first major edition of the Opus Majus in 1733. and by the present editor to various manuscripts in the British Museum and elsewhere to supply the imperfections. Foremost among these are the two Cottonian manuscripts, Julius D.v. and Tiberius C.v. These are "shelfmarks" identifying specific volumes in the library of Sir Robert Cotton. (designated here as Jul. and Tib.). The first of these, unfortunately much injured in the fire of 1731, gives the first three sections of the work and a large part of the fourth. The second gives the whole of the fourth.

For the geographical portion of the fourth section, I was allowed to consult the manuscript in the possession of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge. It is not, however, believed to be of earlier date than the middle or later part of the fifteenth century. Occasional reference has been made to a manuscript of the fifth section of the work, the Perspective original: "Perspectiva"; this section covers the science of optics and vision., in the possession of Magdalene College, Cambridge, which I was permitted to examine. It is not, however, of earlier date than the Bodleian manuscript, and its variants are not of great importance.

Of the manuscripts of the Perspective and of the On the Multiplication of Species original: "De Multiplicatione Specierum"; a fundamental work by Bacon concerning how physical forces and light are transmitted through space. which appear to have been transcribed more frequently than other portions of the work, by far the most important is the British Museum manuscript (Royal, 7 F. viii), already spoken of as contemporary, or nearly so, with Bacon. This, as I have said, was carefully collated A scholarly term for comparing different versions of a text to identify changes or errors. by Jebb, who indeed has in certain places copied on the margin extracts from Combach's Johannes Combach (1585–1651), a German philosopher who published an earlier edition of Bacon's optical works. printed edition of the Perspective of 1614. The diagrams of this manuscript are of special value. The