Manuscript on parchment and paper, written in two parts. Part I (parchment, written ca. 1490): 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Descriptions of various herbs. Part II (paper, added ca. 1800): 3) Alchemy. 4) Recipes for making Prussian Blue, in Italian.
Description:
Binding: Late eighteenth century, probably French. Speckled calf, the sides undecorated, the repaired back in compartments with gilt tooling, the original title-stamping defective, speckled edges; restored by Carolyn Horton, November 1955., Part I: Headings in red throughout, that on f. 1r overwritten in an intense red ink covering earlier writing in pale red ink, the intense ink then used for the remainder of the headings in this portion of the codex, and the overwriting probably by the original scribe. Plain, small, roman capitals at beginnings of sections of the text in blue or green; a large initial "D" and a full border no f. 1r, as well as a smaller initial "L" at the beginning of the second book of text, foot of f. 25r, all finely illuminated in gold and colors in the "white-vine" style, the lower part of the border on f. 1r with a coat of arms consisting of a shield azure, a bear rampant or. Part II: Undecorated., and Script: Part I (ff. 1-40): Written by one hand in a neat, minute humanistic cursive. Part II (ff. 41-52): In an Italian hand.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Formulas, recipes, etc, Herbs--Early works to 1800, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Prussian blue
[Anonymous] Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280 Khālid ibn Yazīd al-Umawī, 7th cent Martin Roesel of Rosenthal Wolfgang the Organist
Published / Created:
1536, ca. 1520, and ca. 1586
Call Number:
Mellon MS 27
Image Count:
141
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on paper, composed in three parts, of a large number of practical procedures, chiefly alchemical but sometimes medical, with a few standard medieval alchemical texts by Khalid ibn Yazid, Theodoric, and Albertus Magnus. Occasionally there are passages in cipher, added by Martin Roesel of Rosenthal ca. 1586, long after the principal contents were written; the cipher seems to be of a simple number-substitution type.
Description:
Binding: Probably ca. 1586 for Martin Roesel. Red-stained limp parchment (most of the stain now lost), single central clasp and catch now missing from center of fore-edges, two slits on each fore-edge for thong or ribbon ties, also missing., In Latin and German, partly in cipher., Script: Part I (ff. 1-29): Written in 1536 in red and black in a gothic cursive by Wolfgang the Organist. Part II (ff. 30-65): Written in a well-controlled gothic cursive without color. Part III (ff. 66-132): Written in one or possibly two scrawling gothic cursives, with red headings on ff. 109-124., Several initials illuminated in trick have been cut from a late 15th-century MS and pasted into the present MS at ff. 2v, 4v, 5, 10r, and 16r. Marginal drawings of alchemical apparatus are cropped, as also marginalia., and Watermarks: 1) unidentified eagle watermark somewhat resembling Briquet 104; 2) a crown pattern resembling Briquet 4921 and 1922; 3) the Paschal lamb resembling Briquet 61.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medicine, Medieval, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (goatskin) of 1) Raymundus Martini OP (c. 1215-after 1285), Capistrum Iudaeorum, composed c. 1267. 2) Nicolaus de Lyra (c. 1270-1349), Probatio adventus Christi, 2nd redaction, written 1331-1334. 3) Odo Biagi of Ancona (Odo Blasii de Ancona), Quaestiones de vera fide. A treatise addressed to the Jew A., a physician from Piceno, whom the author had met in Ancona the same year.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. De luxe binding (loose) in Neo-Renaissance style: red morocco over cardboard, both covers richly gold-tooled; the turn-ins gold-tooled; the flat spine gold-tooled in five compartments, the second one bearing the inscription “NICOLAI / de / LYRA.” Grey marbled paper endleaves; gilt edges. A repair at the middle of the top of the front parchment flyleaf may indicate that the original binding was chained, the staple being fixed at the top of the front cover., Script: Copied by one hand writing Southern Gothica Textualis Libraria. In art. 1 the handwriting is larger and more careful, with fewer abbreviations, than in artt. 2-3., and Uniform decoration. Headings in red. Red stroking of majuscules. Numerous paragraph marks alternately red and blue. Alternately red and blue 2-line (rarely 3-line) flourished initials with penwork and more or less developed marginal extensions in the contrasting colour; up to f. 41v they have mostly a more developed pattern of penwork; towards the end of art. 3 they are only 1 line high; blue penwork of the initial on f. 31r is extremely pale. 2-3-line painted decorated initials with acanth extensions in the margins in art. 3 only. A 4-line historiated initial with acanths and gold balls in the margin at the opening of each art. At the top of the Genealogy of Christ on f. 94r two roundels containing the portraits of Abraham (“Abraam”) and David (“Davit”). There is a large drawing of a running bird in blue ink in the lower margin of f. 19r.
Subject (Name):
Martí, Ramón,--d. ca. 1286 and Nicholas,--of Lyra,--ca. 1270-1349
Subject (Topic):
Antisemitism, Christian literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Binding: Eighteenth century. Rebound in brown cowhide (?), blind-tooled, with numerous metal bosses. Pastedowns from the same 17th-century antiphonary used as flyleaves., Script: Written in two sizes of round liturgical gothic script by several scribes: Scribe 1, ff. 1r-235r; Scribe 2, f. 235r-v, and Scribe 3, ff. 236r-245v., and Three fine historiated initials, 4- to 2-line, shaded pink and/or green, with blue, yellow, green and orange foliage and knots, with gold dots and orange frame; figures against blue ground. 3- to 2-line calligraphic initials, divided, red and blue with red penwork, with blue and red penwork flourishes. 1-line initials red or blue with blue or red penwork, sometimes with black and green; some initials with guide-letters in outer margin. 1-line initials with yellow. Square notes on 4-line red staves. Rubrics throughout, with notes to rubricator in margins. One very crude 4-line initial (s. xvii) on f. 1r, in red, yellow, blue, green and purple.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Antiphonaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript fragment on parchment of an illuminated leaf from an Antiphonary.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Antiphonaries, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (goatskin) of Andrea Vendramin, Doge of Venice (1476-1478), Commission (dogale) to Girolamo Michiel as governor of Asolo, near Treviso.
Description:
On f. 1r white vinestem initial (6 lines) with long extensions in the upper and left margins; in the lower margin partial border in white vinestem, containing three medallions: the two outer ones feature the initials “I” and “M” in gold on a blue background; the larger, central one contains the coat of arms of Girolamo Michiel on a purplish red background in a green wreath., Script: Art. 1 is copied by one hand in a narrow Humanistica Cursiva Libraria, art. 2 by a hand writing Humanistica Cursiva Currens., and Unbound.
Subject (Geographic):
Asolo (Italy) and Venice (Italy)--Politics and government
Subject (Name):
Vendramin, Andrea,--1392-1478
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript roll, on parchment, in a single hand, illuminated, containing the "Arma Christi" poem and other prayers, in Dutch, including prayers ascribed to Popes Sixtus IV and Alexander VI. The prayers are preceded by a rubric instructing readers to kneel as they recite the prayers in order to obtain an indulgence.
Description:
Binding: section of leather sewn to top of scroll. Accompanied by seventeenth-century? fabric case with fabric and metal appliqués., Decoration: Rubricated. Initials in red or blue. Large miniature at head of roll containing a bust of Christ wearing a crown of thorns, displaying his stigmata, and surrounded by the "arma Christi" (also known as the Instruments of the Passion). On a blue ground in gold frame. One large decorated initial immediately below miniature. Text accompanied by decorated borders on both sides., Layout: single column of text., Purchased from Richard Linenthal (Sotheby's London sale, 2014 July 8, lot 48) on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 2014., and Script: gothic.
Subject (Geographic):
Netherlands--Religious life and customs--Early works to 1800
Subject (Name):
Alexander VI, Pope, 1431-1503, Catholic Church--Prayers and devotions--Dutch, Jesus Christ--Passion--Art, Jesus Christ--Passion--Prayers and devotions, Jesus Christ--Passion--Prayers and devotions--Early works to 1800, and Sixtus IV, Pope, 1414-1484
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Indulgences--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of astrological texts drawn largely from Arab astrology of the early Middle Ages, and transmitted in medieval Latin translations; in addition Ptolemy's Centiloquium is present, transmitted not in Greek but through the Arabic, along with a single contemporary component, the Astrolabium planum of Johann Engel.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, English. Marbled paper boards, green calf back with six heavy (false?) bands, the compartments with patterns of small tools impressed in gold and with gold-stamped titles, a small rectangular label with the printed number 1037 and a small round label with the inked number 894 glued to the bottommost compartment. All edges gilt. Preserved in a modern green cloth folding box, probably French, with leather label., Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Mellon MS 155, acquired from C. A. Stonehill, Inc. (bookseller), New Haven. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., Rubrics, and occasional headlines in red, diagrams in the text in brown and red inks. Full illuminated border, outlined in red, on f. 1r of leafy sprays in colors and gold, the white spaces filled up with black dots and small burnished gold circles each with three or four small tendrils; a large initial in burnished gold and colors at the beginning of the text in the first column, with gold band extending downward and then around three sides of the page forming an inner border, completed by a red line at top; a lozenge at the center of the lower band of the border containing a pattern of platelike discs, quatrefoils, and a leafy spray on a dull gold ground, this segment almost certainly a later replacement of an original coat of arms which has been erased. Elsewhere in the manuscript smaller illuminated initials in the style of the first frequently occur, and larger ones with descenders to partial borders at the foot of the page occur. Each of the ninety-six pages from f. 191r through 238v has four drawings in colors (six on those pages which open each of the signs of the Zodiac), placed within diagrams accompanied by slight text., and Script: Written by a single scribe in a large and clear hand in Gothica textualis formata and Bastarda.
Subject (Name):
Ptolemy,--2nd cent
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Arab, Astrology--Early works to 1800, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Caesar, Bellum Gallicum, translated into Italian by Pier Candido Decembrio in 1438. With Dedication of the translation to Filippo Maria Visconti, Duke of Milan.
Description:
Binding: Date? Italy. Vellum case with title in ink on spine: "Cesare Comment". Gilt, gauffered edges and gold and cream silk endbands. Fragments of a printed service book with musical notation partially visible under pastedowns., Elegant illuminated title page (f. 2v) with the title, written in blue over an erasure, in a circular wreath, green with gold flowers, and framed by narrow gold bands with fillets and inkspray issuing from the top and bottom with blue and deep red flowers, green leaves and gold balls. Full border, f. 1r, white vine-stem ornament on blue, green, deep red and gold ground between thin gold frames. In lower border, medallion, blank, framed by wreath, green with yellow highlights and narrow deep red frame. Partial border, f. 3r, white vine-stem ornament on blue, green and deep red ground between narrow gold frames, enlarged to elongated dots at terminals; white vine-stem ornament extends into upper (trimmed) and lower margins, with single gold balls with hair-line strokes. 8 large initials, 11- to 3-line, gold on blue, green, gold and deep red ground with white vine-stem ornament shaded with pale pink. First few words of each book in gold; incipits, explicits and marginalia in red., and Script: Written below top line in a bold round humanistic hand by a single scribe who added extra rulings in outer margins for headings, annotations, etc., in red. Additional annotations in humanistic cursive, in a brighter shade of red.
Subject (Geographic):
Rome--History, Military--265-30 B.C
Subject (Name):
Caesar, Julius
Subject (Topic):
Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval--Translations, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library