BEDFORD MISSAL, a book made for John Plantagenet, Duke of Bedford (q.v.) and his duchess. This rich volume is 11 inches long, broad and 2/2 thick, bound in crimson velvet, with gold clasps, on which are engraved the arms of Harley, Cavendish and Hollis, quarterly. It is embellished with 59 large miniature paintings, with over 1,000 of a small size; and among them are to be seen several portraits of persons of eminence. It was pur chased by Edward Harley, Earl of Oxford, from Lady Worsley, great-granddaughter to W. Seymour, 2d Duke of Somerset, who fig ured in the reign of Charles I; and descended from Lord Oxford to his daughter, the Duchess of Portland. In the year 1786, when the collec tion of the Duchess was brought to sale, it was purchased by Mr. Edwards for $1,100, and was sold again at the sale of the collection of that gentleman, in the year 1815, when it brought $3,350, and came into the possession of the Duke of Marlborough. On coming to the ham
mer once more it strongly attracted the atten tion of book-collectors and antiquaries, and realized the unprecedented sum of 5,350, being sold at that price (June 1833) to Sir John Tobin of Liverpool. It is now lodged in the collec tion of the British Museum. In a historical point of view it is interesting on account of its pictorial embellishments, some of which have been engraved by Virtue for his portraits to illustrate the (History of England.) For the antiquarian and the student of the fine arts it is one of the most interesting monuments of that age. The antiquarian Gough published a work describing the Bedford Missal. Dibdin, in his gives an account of it.