james ware's collection of manuscripts passed on to his son, who sold it to the earl of clarendon. it was later transferred to james brydges, 1st duke of chandos, who sold some of the manuscripts, including that known now as rawlinson b 502, to dr richard rawlinson (d. 1755). rawlinson's collection of manuscripts was bequeathed to st john's college, oxford, whence in 1756 it finally found its way into the bodleian library.