Neville researchers have known for awhile about this Greek annotation, but the writer was not identified. I have now confirmed that it was Henry Savile. The same book has Latin annotations which are certainly NOT in Savile's handwriting; they are probably Henry Neville's. We will leave those for later investigation.
The book, Sphaerics by Theodosius of Bythinia, was an important route for the reintroduction of Euclidean geometry to Europe.
Here is the entry from the Billingbear Book list, establishing its provenance; in 1780 this book was at the Neville family home before it was moved to Audley End:
Here is the USTC Entry. You see another copy of the entire book here. Here is Page 32:
Analyzing the Cover Page
Here is the full cover (Private Collection):
Here is the detail of the name "Henrye Nevell" written on top:
It is not clear whose handwriting this is. I have never seen the name "Henry" written with an "e" before in family documents, and this doesn't match the signature of any of the family members. It well could be that someone else wrote their name in the book to identify ownership. The books at Audley End generally do not have a name written on them.
Analyzing Henry Savile's Greek
These three Greek words were written in a letter from Henry Savile to Henry Neville in 1600. The English handwriting is unmistakably Savile's, as well as the signature on the letter. We can be 100% sure this is his Greek handwriting:
Here are just the words separated out:
We have another sample we discussed in Part 4 in another annotation in a book at Audley End. The English handwriting is unmistakably Savile's so this too must be his Greek:
Here is the annotation itself in Theodosius (Private Collection):
In this comparison, the letters on the left are from Theodosius, the ones on the right are from Savile's letter (yellowish color) and the annotation (whitish). Clearly this is the same handwriting:
Conclusion
Please note, this is not a random handwriting attribution! Henry Savile was one of the few people in England at the time who had the sophisticated knowledge of Greek and geometry to even make such an annotation. Henry Savile was also Neville's tutor and best friend.
I have shown these annotations to an expert in Henry Savile who confirms it is his handwriting. I have also compared it with a few other samples which are consistent. You can take this to the bank. It is an important discovery not just relating to Henry Neville, but for the history of mathematics in England at the time.
