St John’s College Library has fifteen Greek manuscripts, all of which are described in the following catalogue:
Mark L. Sosower, with descriptions of bindings by Jane Eagan, A Descriptive Catalogue of Greek Manuscripts at St John’s College, Oxford (Oxford: St John’s College Research Centre, 2007).
MS 30
MS 30 contains copies of various texts including Claudius Ptolemy’s Harmonics, Damianus of Larissa’s On Optics and Anthemius Trallianus’s Concerning remarkable mechanical devices. The component parts of this manuscript were produced between c.1552 and c.1562.
MS 32
MS 32 contains a sixteenth-century copy of Eusebius of Caesarea’s The Preparation of the Gospel. This manuscript has a near-unbroken chain of provenance that can be traced from Venice to Madrid, Granada, the Royal Library of San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and St John’s College Library.
MS 41
MS 41 contains a copy of Eusebius’s The Proof of the Gospel. This manuscript was produced in Venice c. 1542, probably for Diego Hurtado de Mendoza.
MS 44
MS 44 includes a copy of Nicetas Heracleensis’s Commentary on the Gospel according to Matthew. This manuscript was produced c. 1530-40. It contains headpieces in red ink drawn by the scribe.
MS 55
MS 55 contains copies of Catoptrica, Optics, and Phaenomena by Euclid. This manuscript was produced c. 1530-40, probably in Venice.
MS 146
MS 146 contains copies of Theon of Smyrna’s Mathematics useful for understanding Plato and Michael Psellus’s On the operation of Daemons. This manuscript was produced c. 1562.
MS 168
MS 168 contains copies of Alypius’s Introduction to Music and Gaudentius’s On Harmonics. This manuscript was produced in the middle of the sixteenth century, probably in Paris.
MS 191
MS 191 includes a copy of Hero of Alexandria’s The art of surveying and measuring land. This manuscript was produced c. 1565 in either Paris or Fontainebleau.
MS 211
MS 211 contains a copy of the Proverbs of Solomon in Greek and Latin. This manuscript stood behind the printed edition of 1646.
MS 220
MS 220 is a commonplace book by Charles Wheatly (1686-1742, liturgical scholar and Fellow of St John’s College). Begun in 1711, this manuscript discusses passages in Latin and Greek taken from the Church Fathers.
MS 281
MS 281 contains Greek passages from Homer’s Iliad with commentary. The book belonged to Robert Weston, a student of St John’s College (matriculated 1727).
MS 312
MS 312 is a glossary of words used by Epicurus and Philodemus, compiled by J. L. Stocks. It was produced c. 1900-1925 and was compiled for the revised edition of Liddell and Scott’s Greek-English Lexicon.
MS 313
MS 313 a collection of limericks and nonsense verses. The manuscript was written by Herbert Armitage James (president of St John’s College 1909-1931). It includes ancient Greek and Latin quotations as well as modern verses in English.
MS 330
MS 330 is a skit in Latin and Greek on the election of a vice-chancellor in 1834 (Fragmenta e Codice Barocciano). It is accompanied by letters, including one by Falconer Madan (Bodleian Library).
MS 336
MS 336 comprises forty exercise books of John Noel Dark (1886-1968), written partially when he was an undergraduate at St John’s College. The exercise books are written in English, Latin, and Greek.