Stockholm, National Archives, E 8685, (olim. Cod. Skokl. Fol. 66). Gustav Fincke’s copybook

Modern foliation in pencil in the upper right margin of the recto side. There are two unnumbered blanks after fol. 31; one unnumbered blank after fol. 36; two unnumbered blanks after fol. 38; one unnumbered blank after fol. 87; one unnumbered blank after fol. 90, and one unnumbered blank after fol. 231. Fol. 176 is a singleton.

The quire structure is irregular and complex. The first and last quires contain 20 bifolia. Between them there are quires of varying sizes, including two large quires with smaller ones within them.

Two folia excised before fol. 67; both contained text. Two folia cropped after fol. 174. Fol. 180 is loose and taller than the surrounding leaves. Fols. 181 and 182 are nearly loose. A separate loose slip between fols. 182 and 183. Fol. 183 has been pasted on to the following and blank leaf. Fol. 231 has been taped to fol. 230 and its paper seems to be of a different type.

The manuscript is in decent condition. There is fraying and dirt along the edges. Moisture damage especially at the beginning of the manuscript. On fols. 100–107, 119–121, the ink from one side of the paper has seeped through. The covers are damaged and the binding is loose in some places.

one unruled column with a varying number of lines (

. 32–39.

Several hands writing cursive. At least one hand also appears in a copybook containing correspondence related to

Gustav Fincke

’s and

Ture Bielkes

’s administrative duties in

1555–1557

(

Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling, vol. 18 (f.d. Avskriftssamling 11B)

Simple pen-drawn initials at the beginning of each letter. Headings occasionally written in a more formal script.

Brown leather covers similar to those on

Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling I, vol. 18

. Covers badly worn and back cover torn; cardboard has been pasted to the back cover as support. The covers are smaller than the folia. A pasted paper label with a headling on the front cover, a paper label with an old shelf-mark on the spine.

The manuscript contains copies of correspondence, accounts and instructions mostly concerning

Gustav Fincke

(d. 1566) and his offices. The documents stem from the years

1545 to 1558

. For the years 1555–1557 there are several duplicates found in the copybooks of

Ture Pedersson Bielke

and

Gustav Fincke

(

Stockholm, National Archives, Kopiesamling I, vol. 17

and

vol. 18

). This manuscript is more closely related to vol. 18: both feature some of the same scribes and a similarly mixed quire structure. The number of scribes working with the manuscript, as well as the differences in the size and quality of the paper used, indicate that the copybook was composed over time, probably as the letters came in.

Initials ‘G[ustaf] F[incke]’ on the inside front cover.

Old Skokloster-samlings shelf-mark ‘66’ on the spine.

1709

, the manuscript was rediscovered in the manor of

Lehtinen

, which had belonged to the Fleming family until 1668; see front cover: what is now a practically illegible marking, transcribed by

Arwidsson (

Handlingar

1.VIII)

as ‘denna book är A:o 1709 in Januario på Lechtis gård i åbo lähn igenfunnen’. From there, it was taken to the

Swedish National Archives

Adolf Iwar Arwidsson (ed.),

Handlingar till upplysning af Finlands häfder 1–10

, Stockholm 1846–1858, 1, vii–viii.

Cataloguer

Ville Walta

Finnish Literature Society (SKS)

Codices Fennici

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