The manuscript of John Pyel's cartulary is part of the great collection of manuscripts which belonged to Augustine Vincent, Rouge Rose pursuivant in 1616 and Windsor herald by his death in 1626. The collection was bequeathed to Ralph Sheldon of Beoley, Worcestershire, by Vincent's son, John, in 1671 and was presented by Sheldon to the College of Arms in 1684, a fact confirmed in the case of the Pyel cartulary by an inscription inside the front cover. The manuscript was bound by Augustine Vincent in a fashion similar to others in his collection, in reverse calf binding with leather clasps, later reinforced with brass strips. The outer cover is tooled with the motif ‘ZZ’ and inside is inscribed ‘Vincent 64’. It contains 120 folios of paper composed in nine quires of which none bears a number or identifying mark. The folios measure 270 × 202mm and the text varies between 196 × 115mm and 205 × 155mm. There are six fly leaves at the beginning and two at the end. The collation is as follows:

18 (2,3,5,6 missing); 27 (12–14 missing); 38; 48; 57+1; 67+1; 78 (3,5,14 missing); 87 (8–12 missing); 96 (5 strip c.4cm wide, 7,8 missing).