The leaves may at one time have served as flyleaves to a printed book, but nothing further is known about their post-medieval history.
Flyleaves of some surviving books include notes of household accounting or records of births and deaths, in the manner of later family bibles.
The book collects eighteen poems hand-written by the author on the flyleaves of copies of several of his published books.
In its current binding there are two vellum flyleaves that are not counted in the foliation of the manuscript.
