47 letters and documents, on paper (one document on parchment) in various cursive scripts, produced in England between 1554 and 1706. Mostly from the Elizabethan and Jacobean periods, they consist of claims for expenses, wages, and other benefits. They include an account of a banquet (15 November 1561), signed by the Marquis of Winchester and Sir Walter Mildmay; a Claim for Allowances (1563) by Sir Thomas Chaloner, Ambassador to Spain; L. S. (1578) by Lord Burgley about money to be sent to Ireland and mentioning Sir Philip Sidney; A. L. S. (1597) by George, Lord Hunsdon; A. K. S. (Chester, 11 Aug. 1601) by the antiquary and mathematician Edward Brerewood to the Privy Council. The documents also include signatures of other government officials and nobles. and The documents derive from the papers of Robert Petre, Auditor for the Exchequer, and his colleague Vincent Skinner.
Description:
Binding: Middle Hill boards, spine missing., Ex libris Sir Thomas Phillipps (unnumbered MS)., and Modern pencil pagination employed. Wanting p. 43-46, 65-68, 109-114, 119-120, 125-132, 139-142, 161-168, 177-178.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain--Politics and government--1533-1603 and Great Britain--Politics and government--1603-1625
Subject (Name):
Elizabeth--I,--Queen of England,--1533-1603, Great Britain.--Exchequer, James--I,--King of England,--1566-1625, and Phillipps, Thomas,--Sir,--1792-1872--Ownership
Subject (Topic):
Finance, Public--Great Britain and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript, on paper, in cursive bookhand, produced in England and dated May 27, 1582.
Description:
A note on f. 18v reads: "A verry tratoroos Worke pretended to bee the answers of Peyres Plowman to the prynted interrogatores of alleageaunce. Butt in treuthe a Waye to instruct papists how to answer tratorooslye & defende the trators for Martyrs that dyed at Tyburne in August 1582." and Binding: vellum wrapper, with front cover cut away. Disbound. Box also contains remains of silk binding thread in separate envelope.
Subject (Name):
Langland, William,--1330?-1400?--Piers Plowman
Subject (Topic):
Catholic Church--England--Controversial literature, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Tyburn gallows (London, England)
Manuscript fragment on paper of extracts from Laudabile sanctum. There follows on ff. 1r-7v an extended series of longer and shorter alchemical recipes and procedures, probably including excerpts from standard sources, a passage on transmutation, a brief account of the planets, etc., often with marginal captions. With a poem in English.
Description:
Binding: Parchment wrapper made from a bifolium of a late 13th-century French (or possibly English?) canon law manuscript written by two hands, one of them using a classical Littera parisiensis, the other slightly more rounded, the writing partly scraped away on what is now the front cover of the wrapper, the outer side of the lower cover with an inscription in a very large hand which has not been read., Script: Written by a single hand, very small (sometimes minute) and mostly very neat, using a good cursive italic for the Latin passages, and a secretary hand for the English, both sloping somewhat to the right., and Watermark: an extended hand with a five-pointed star extending on a stem from the middle finger, a quatrefoil (?) at the wrist, which is sharply cut off, the fingers partly articulated, of the type of Briquet 11341 and following, but more refined.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, English poetry--Early modern, 1500-1700, Formulas, recipes, etc, Latin poetry, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294 Freelove, Robert Jean, de Meun, d. 1305? Khālid ibn Yazīd al-Umawī, 7th cent
Published / Created:
[ca. 1550]
Call Number:
Mellon MS 33
Image Count:
277
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on paper of 1) Unidentified alchemy. 2) Jean de Meung, Liber Lapidis mineralis, Book II only, translated into English by Robert Freelove, 1522. 3) The Practys of Lyghtes. 4) Roger Bacon or Johannes Sawtre, Radix mundi, translated into English by Robert Freelove, 1550. 5) Rudianus, Liber trium verborum, translated into English. 6) Khalid ibn Yazid, Liber secretorum philosophorum, translated into English, 1542. 7) Unidentified alchemy.
Description:
Binding: Sixteenth century, English. Brown calf over pasteboards, the covers paneled in blind fillets, much deteriorated and the backstrip missing, preserved in a cloth case., No color or rubrication; occasional headlines or headings in large writing., Script: At least three scribes writing English cursive vernacular hands; the first, whose initials were probably "T.R." as written on f. 18r, 20, wrote ff. 1-18; the second wrote ff. 19-53, 67-94, and perhaps ff. 115-128; the third wrote ff. 54-65., and Watermarks: 1) a pot similar to Briquet 12801; 2) a similar one with a gothic "3" on the pot; 3) a hand with flower like Briquet 11347, all datable about 1550.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Woodblock depicting scene of the miracle of Christ stilling the wind and waves.
Description:
Accompanied by: Christmas card from "the Wilsons," dated 1930, containing a print made from the woodblock and attributing the block to a craftsman in the Netherlands, circa 1480., Binding: modern cloth case., Bookplate: Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow., Collection of Elmer Adler. Ex libris Arthur and Charlotte Vershbow., and Date uncertain.
Subject (Name):
Jesus Christ--Miracles--Art, Vershbow, Arthur--Bookplate, and Vershbow, Charlotte--Bookplate
Subject (Topic):
Christian art and symbolism, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Drawings and plans for various implements and instruments, including printing presses. and Manuscript, on paper, in italic script, produced in England after 1591.
Description:
Author possibly an English military adventurer who traveled through the Netherlands, Germany, and Italy., Binding: contemporary brown calf, with gold tooling of Lyonese style with semis of eaglets., Descriptions of military machines are accompanied by colored illustrations., Ex libris Rhys Jenkins. Bequest of James M. Osborn, 1976., In the preface to "The Compound of Alchemy" (Osborn fa16), Rabbards notes that he has "these fortie yeares amongst manie other most commendable exercises and inventions of so warlike Engines, founde out divers devices of rare service, both for Sea and land" and expresses his intention to "impart some other rare experiments of Distillations and Fire-Workes of great service, not hitherto committed in writing or put in practise by any of our nation." This apparently refers to Osborn a8, the only known copy of the work., Raphe (or Ralph) Rabbards, born slightly before 1531, published "The Compound of Alchemy" by George Ripley (see Osborn fa16) in 1591., and Signature on f. 1 of W. Bayntun, Gray's Inn.
Subject (Name):
Jenkins, Rhys--Ownership and Rabbards, Raphe
Subject (Topic):
Measuring instruments, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, Military art and science--Early works to 1800, Military art and science--Great Britain--History--16th century, and Military art and science--Technological innovations--History
Manuscript on paper of the inventory of the archives kept at Whitehall palace.
Description:
Binding: paper cover., Manuscript on paper of the inventory of the archives kept at Whitehall palace, the principal royal residence in London from 1530-1698., Many leaves blank; modern foliation does not include blanks., and Script: copied by various hands in Gothica Cursiva (Secretary). Many blank pages.
Subject (Name):
Whitehall Palace (London, England)
Subject (Topic):
Archives, Manuscripts, Renaissance--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library