The Manuscript
The manuscript is a folio volume of sixty pre-lined pages of six staves containing 94 pieces for keyboard and 18 Voycall Lessons. It was rebound using part of the original covers, in 1949. The first page bears the inscription Elizabeth Rogers hir virginall booke. Ffebruary ye 27 1656. However on the same page the name Elizabeth Fayre is written, and it has been suggested that these two Elizabeths are the same person, before and after marriage.
There are various other writings, including the name "John Tillett", who may have been a subsequent owner of the manuscript, some poetic fragments, and a note concerning the tuning of the viol. There are also three incomplete tables of contents. Four different hands have been discerned.
The manuscript is now in the British Library, catalogued as Additional Manuscript 10337.
Read more about this topic: Elizabeth Roger's Virginal Book
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