Guiffrey's sigla for the Duke de Berry's inventories

Going straight to an entry in the edited inventories of the Duke de Berry without reading the introduction can lead to some confusion.

Guiffrey's base-text (in his vol. I) is the manuscript completed on 31 January 1413 (nos. 1-1099), with additions made until the Duke's death in 1416 (nos. 1100-1251).

Following the main text of each entry he often adds in smaller type the manuscript's marginal additions. He also often refers to the equivalent item as recorded in the other inventories (in his vol. II): that of 1401-03 (the MSS being recorded in 1402); a list of gifts given to the Ste-Chapelle, Bourges from 1404-07; and the posthumous inventory of 1416-c.1418. There is usually also a valuation, expressed in "liv.[res] t.[ournois]":




He uses the mnemonic sigla "A", "B", "SG", and "D" as follows:
A = "1413"  inventory. Archives nationales, KK. 258
B = "1401" inventory. Bibliothèque nationale, ms. fr. 11496
SG = "1416" inventory. Bibliothèque St-Geneviève, Lf. 54 f.
D = "1404" list of gifts (Dons). Bibliothèque nationale, ms. n.a.fr. 1363

It can be especially confusing because Delisle (in Le cabinet des manuscrits de la Bibliothèque impériale (national) (Paris, 1868-81), vol. III, pp. 170-94) used a mostly different set of sigla for the same documents:
A = "1402"
B = "1413"
C = "1416"
D = "1404"

Delisle also uses a different series of numbers (1-297) for each item because, unlike Guiffrey, he was only concerned with the MSS. To potentially complicate matters further, in his 'Les livres d'heures du Duc de Berry' (Gazette des Beaux-Arts, 29 (1884), p. 97-110, 281-292, 391-405) he numbered the manuscripts I-XXXVI, and gave the references to the inventories according to older editions, e.g.:

"XXXII.
Item unes petites heures de Nostre Dame, nommées Heures de Pucelle, enluminées de blanc et de noir, à l'usage des Prescheurs, garnies de petis fremouers d'or, où il a une anonciacion, et au bout des tirans a deux petis boutons de perles; couvertes d'un drap de soie bleuue. (A. 171, B 1, C 978.)
Estimées 15 1. t. en 1416."