Published Facsimiles

Facsimiles of all charters surviving in single-sheet form have been published in one or other of the following works, known as BMFacs., OSFacs., and BAFacs.:

Facsimiles of Ancient Charters in the British Museum, ed. E. A. Bond, 4 vols. (London, 1873-8), including:

  • the collection formed by Sir Robert Cotton (1571-1631), from the archives of Christ Church, Canterbury, Abingdon, etc. (BL Cotton Augustus ii)
  • later arrivals in the Cotton collection, from the archives of the Old Minster, Winchester, Rochester cathedral, etc. (BL Cotton Charters)
  • the collection formed by Sir Simonds D'Ewes (1602-50), from the archives of the Old Minster, Winchester, Bury St Edmunds, etc., which passed subsequently into the hands of Robert Harley, Lord Oxford (BL Harley Charters 43 C 1-8)
  • the collection formed by Sir Christopher, Lord Hatton (c.1605-70), from the archives of Worcester cathedral (BL Add. Charters 19788-19802)
  • the collection formed by Sir Robert Harley, Lord Oxford (1661-1724), including the D'Ewes charters (above), with others from Worcester (BL Harley Charters 83 A 1-3)

Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon Manuscripts, ed. W. B. Sanders, 3 vols. (Ordnance Survey: Southampton, 1878-84), including:

  • charters which remain at Canterbury cathedral (vol. I)
  • charters which remain at Westminster abbey, Exeter cathedral, Wells cathedral, Winchester cathedral, Worcester cathedral, and in various other archives (vol. II)
  • the collection formed by Sir Edward Dering (1598-1644), liberated in the 1620s from the archives of Christ Church, Canterbury, which passed subsequently into the hands of Thomas Astle (1735-1803), supplemented by other charters, now among the Stowe Charters in the British Library, with two charters from the muniments of the Marquess of Anglesey (ex Burton abbey), now in Burton-on-Trent Museum (vol. III)

Facsimiles of Anglo-Saxon Charters, ed. Simon Keynes, Anglo-Saxon Charters Supplementary Series 1 (Oxford, 1991), including:

  • the Oslac charter, from the archives of Chichester cathedral
  • a group of charters from the archives of Burton abbey, now in the William Salt Library, Stafford
  • a collection of charters formed in the eighteenth century, from various archives, by Peter Le Neve (1661-1729), Gustavus Brander (1720-87), and Robert Austen (1740-97), which passed subsequently into the hands of W. H. Crawford, and which was acquired in 1891, after Crawford's death, by the Bodleian Library

The four volumes of BMFacs. contain excellent collotype facsimiles, face only, with transcriptions but without translation or commentary; whereas the three volumes of OSFacs. contain facsimiles produced by photozincography, face and dorse, with transcription and translation but no commentary. The single volume of BAFacs., published in 1991, contains photographic facsimiles (inevitably of variable quality), with commentary, but without transcription or translation.