Manuscript produced in England containing a translation into French of the the Pseudo-Aristotelian 'Secretum Secretorum', or 'Secret of Secrets'.

The Secret of Secrets is a translation of the Arabic 'Kitab sirr al-asrar', ostensibly a letter to Alexander the Great from Aristotle. The work is intended as a didactic piece in the 'Mirror for Princes' tradition and covers a range of topics including statecraft, alchemy, magic, astronomy, and ethics.

The manuscript is the work of one scribe and is written in a bastarda bookhand.

The manuscript was produced in the 15th century and was written and illuminated for an heir to the English throne. Mofrin suggests that this particular manuscript may have possibly been produced for Edward Westminster, Prince of Wales (1453-1471), son of King Henry VI. An illumination on folio 1r shows a 15th-century crowned figure receiving the manuscript. The initial C bears the arms of France and England surmounted by as a label of 3 points. The illumination and initial are surrounded by a full border with leaves and sprays of gold.

Folio i is a later sheet which has been tipped in at the front of the manuscript, probably circa 1548, with a decorated inscription to Edward Seymour, Duke of Somerset. The background is blue with writing in gold, surrounded by a full floral border in green, blue and red.

The rest of the manuscript is decorated with initials in gold, red, or blue, with red and blue penwork extending into the margins. Rubrics are given in red.

There are very occasional marginal annotations, by two different hands, possibily of the 16th century, in English and French.

Each folio has been lined and ruled recto and verso in red.

Horizontal catchwords are present on folios 11v and 28v.

Quire signatures in the form of letters and Roman numerals are occasionally visbile in the lower right-hand corner of the recto sides.

There is evidence of contemporary repairs to the vellum on a few folios.