Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, of Chaucer's Treatise on the astrolabe
Description:
In Middle English., Layout: single columns, mostly of 28 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: initials in blue with red penwork., Presentation inscription on verso of front flyleaf: Augustus W. Franks, the gift of Sir David Dundas., Ownership inscription on verso of front flyleaf: C. H. Read., Tipped in: autograph letter signed from D. D. to A. W. Franks, 1877 February 11., and Binding: nineteenth-century full calf; in case.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Chaucer, Geoffrey, -1400.
Subject (Topic):
Astrolabes, English literature, English prose literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript indenture, on parchment, detailing an agreement between the Prior and canons of the Augustinian priory of Bromehill on the one part and the Mayor, burgesses, merchants and residents of the town of Thetford on the other part. The indenture concerns the rights to income from the annual Prior's fair at Bromehill, including rights to the toll, stallage and pickage fees
Description:
In Latin., Docketed in a sixteenth-century? hand: the indentur of Bromehyll ffeyes., Annotated in a later hand, possibly that of the Norfolk antiquary Thomas Martin., Layout: single column of 26 lines. Head of document indented., Script: secretary script., and With: Seal of the Prior and Canons of Bromehill Priory, in green wax, containing a pyramid between a star, below, and a crescent moon, above.
Subject (Geographic):
England., England, Connecticut, New Haven., Norfolk (England), and Thetford (England)
Subject (Name):
Augustinians and Bromehill Priory (Norfolk, England)
Subject (Topic):
Fairs, Manuscripts, Medieval, Markets, and Monasteries and state
Manuscript on paper of an alchemical compilation, apparently the holograph of the original compiler, not identified. Probably the laboratory notes of a practicing alchemist. Includes lists of Flemish names, apparently identifying fellow practitioners in early alchemy; and laboratory procedures, designed primarily to color metals and to carry out other operations with various substances. Leaves inserted and blank pages filled at later dates
Description:
In Latin, with later additions in Latin and German., Watermark: Outstretched hand, the fingerjoints indicated, a four-leafed petal extending from the tip of the third finger, the wrist and cuff of a sleeve also depicted, comparable to Briquet 11423., Script: The original part of the codex (ff. 1-133) written in a very fine, neat, and clear humanistic hand, and using a considerable range of alchemical symbols; the later additions (ff. 134-145) consist of Latin sections written in a neat italic and German passages in flowing cursive, perhaps both by a single German hand of the 18th century., Headings of procedures in red and blue alternating in the original section, and with some capitals stroked red; no color in the additions. No ornament., Though the whole of the manuscript has suffered some marginal water-staining since it was bound, it appears certain that other stains and damage occurred while the separated quires, or groups of them, remained unbound., and Binding: Probably original. Stiff parchment over paper boards, flaps over the fore-edge, probably dating from about 1525, conceivably later, as the manuscript contents do not appear to have been bound at the time of writing in any case; flat spine with modern inscription in brown ink, "Alchemical | Recipes", original blue edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript on paper in two parts. Part I (late 15th century): 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Aqua solempnissima, atque mirabilis. Part II (copied in 1775): 3) George Ripley (?), Touchant le grand magistere des sages, translated from English into French
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Part I: Written by a single hand in a semigothic cursive. Part II: Written in a cursive hand sloping to the right., Part I: Headings in red., and Binding: Nineteenth century, English. Tan buckram boards, brown morocco back and corners, flat backstrip with gold-stamped title, plain edges.
Manuscript on paper of a private compilation. The two well known works entered into the codex deal with magical properties ascribed to certain gems and the supernatural significance of the carving of stones. Together with these formal texts are found other extremely varied materials: procedures for restoring wine which has suffered various accidents, for making glass of different colors, for the early ripening of grapes, for making an ass bray loudly, for frightening dogs, and so forth
Description:
In Latin and Italian., Watermark: unidentified flower-petal., Script: Probably written by a single hand, employing a Gothico antiqua on ff. 1-11r, with a less formal treatment of the same elsewhere, and more cursive writing for the passages in Italian; the writing relatively careful at the beginning, progressively less so until the end., Red ink for most headings, red capitals and paragraph marks, except on f. 11v-12r and 16v-17r, which are without color., Lower margins affected by damp throughout and partly repaired with blank paper., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Paper boards, more recent gilt-stamped label on backstrip.
Manuscript on paper of the following mystical or speculative alchemies translated into French: Arnold of Villanova, Rosarius; Albertus Magnus, Compositum de compositis; and Ramon Lull, Clavicula. Alchemies in Latin by Raymundus Gaufridi, Roger Bacon (?), Nicholas, Johannes Pauper, John of Rupescissa, and the Duc de Berry (?). Also includes a long series of wholly practical procedures and recipes
Description:
In French and Latin., Script: Written by one scribe in a remarkably small and neat cursive gothic hand., No headlines, no color, no decoration, spaces left for some capitals with guide letters, a few drawings in the text or in margins., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Marbled paper boards with diced calf back, the backstrip in compartments with horizontal gilt fillets, lines of gilt small tools bordering the false bands, title label in the second compartment from the top gilt-lettered "REGNAULT". Early, probably original green edges. Hinges of the binding repaired.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Glass painting and staining, Technique, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a group of shorter works by Christopher of Paris (pseudonym), probably a Venetian alchemist. With John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. Also includes recipes for making blue pigments and a procedure for etching a design on an iron surface
Description:
In Italian and Latin., Watermarks: 1) anchor with ring atop the shank, all within a circle; 2) plain and ill-drawn anchor with thick flukes, the top of the shank forming a small, neat cross with the short stock. Both probably Italian papers, not directly comparable to the varieties illustrated by Briquet., Script: Written by a single scribe in a late humanistic cursive hand sloping slightly to the right., No headlines, headings and some capitals in pale red., and Binding: Sixteenth century. Brown calf, the covers blind-ruled to a rectangular pattern, the large center rectangle diagonally ruled to a lozenge pattern, a single quatrefoil impressed in blind in each of the rectangles and lozenges so formed, edges partly renewed and rebacked in the style of the period of the binding with compartments formed by three double raised bands, a gold stamped title label in the second compartment from top reading: "CHRISTOPHE | DE PARIS | - | RUPESCISSA | MANUSCRIPTS | ITALY | 15TH C". The endpapers are modern insertions, though of old paper, and the binding, while of the period of the manuscript, probably had no original connection with this codex.
Manuscript on parchment (trimmed) of a fragment of De Arithmetica by Boethius
Description:
In Latin., Script: copied by one hand in Carolina. The glosses in a different, small handwriting. Headings in Capitalis. The words following an initial in a mixture of Capitalis and Uncialis. Headings and plain initials (in Capitalis) in red. The table on f. 2v is traced in double red ink lines, the space between the double lines coloured yellow., Boethius, De arithmetica, 1.10.87-1.11.52, with interlinear glosses. One bifolio, the two leaves not in succession. Loss of text caused by holes and the rubbing on ff. 1r and 2v., and Binding: the bifolium was used for the binding of a book, ff. 1r and 2v being the outer side of the covers; because of the wide inner margins, relatively little text was lost in the process.
Manuscript on paper (thick) of methods and examples of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and the rule of three
Description:
In Italian., Watermark: shield with kneeling man holding cross?. Similar to Briquet 7629?., Script: Copied by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva Libraria/Formata., A few geometrical figures., Pages slightly damaged by the acidity of the ink., and Binding: Original limp parchment, a large circle traced with a sharp pencil on the front cover, a group of small circles in the form of a cross on the rear cover. At the top left corner of the front cover a paper label with the 16th-17th century inscription in Humanistica Cursiva: "Mathematicorum. Anonymi arithmetica manu scripta linguae Italicae". On the spine is written in the same type of script "Aritmetica" and, at the top, the letter "A".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Arithmetic, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Mathematics, Medieval