Avicenna, 980-1037 Jābir ibn Ḥayyān Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā, 865?-925? Richard, de Fournival, fl. 1246-1260
Published / Created:
[ca. 1350]
Call Number:
Mellon MS 2
Image Count:
96
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment of a collection of practical alchemies and procedures, the earliest such manuscript in the Mellon collection. Contains texts transmitted from Arabic sources and what appear to be European additions to the literature and practice of alchemy. Includes the following identifiable texts: Rasis or Aristotle, Lumen luminum perfecti magisterii; Avicenna, Epistola ad Hasen; Geber, Liber deitatis sive divinitatis and Summa perfectionis magisterii; Rasis, De aluminibus et salibus, extracts; and Richard de Fournival, Opus Arturi, or De arte alchemica. and The codex is an important, early, and comprehensive collection of largely practical alchemies and procedures. It is also of special significance both because of its early copies of texts transmitted from Arabic sources and for what appear to be very early, independent, European additions to the literature and practice of alchemy.
Description:
Alternating red and blue capitals throughout, some headings in red, many capitals stroked red, slight filiform decoration to opening initial of the volume, the rubrics and decoration probably by one of the scribes or another closely related hand., Binding: Early, probably 15th century. Undecorated red-dyed hide over beveled wooden boards, four brass edgepieces on each cover attached with brass nails, two brass catches on upper cover, lightly chased brass and leather clasps on lower cover (all of the material of cut sheet-brass), back with six raised bands, repaired and rebacked, with modern leather title label. Used as pastedowns inside upper and lower cover are two leaves from a 14th-century Germanic (perhaps Netherlandish) manuscript on parchment containing plainsong written in Germanic neumes on five-line staves, the text in Gothica textualis formata, large gothic capitals in red or blue, one at top of lower pastedown in black and red slightly decorated. In all the staves but the last on the lower pastedown the center-line is stroked red and bears the clef sign; in the last, the fourth line from the bottom has these indications., Pastedowns inside both covers are two leaves from a 14th-century Germanic (perhaps Netherlandish) manuscript on parchment containing plainsong written in Germanic neumes on five-line staves, the text in Gothica textualis formata, large gothic capitals in red or blue, one at top of lower pastedown in black and red slightly decorated., Possibly written by Frater Bartholomaeus (of?) Ol-----, 1335, according to a later note at foot of f. 88v, Script: Written by three scribes all using similar, legible, and rather cursive forms of Gothica textualis; the first scribe wrote ff. 1r-64v, the second ff. 65r-77r1, 38, and the third the remainder., Written by three scribes all using closely similar, legible, and rather cursive forms of Gothica textualis, heavily abbreviated with standard forms., and Written space 184 x 116, 2 columns, 50-49-48 lines each.
Subject (Name):
Avicenna, 980-1037, Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294, Duveen, Denis I., bookplate, Geber, 13th cent. Summa perfectionis magisterii, Razi, Abu Bakr Muh ammad ibn Zakariya, 865?-925?, Richard, de Fournival, fl. 1246-1260, and Saumaise, Claude, 1588-1653, provenance
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, 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
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Bible--Paraphrases, Christian poetry, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of an illuminated Bible, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome, and interpretations of the Hebrew names.
Description:
Binding: 19th century: calf over cardboard; both covers and spine, in six compartments, gold-tooled. Purple silk doublures., Manuscript on parchment of an illuminated Bible, with the prologues attributed to St. Jerome; interpretations of the Hebrew names: Interpretationes nominum Hebraicorum, with additions in the margins and at the end; an alphabetical list of words with explanations and/or ethymologies; a table of Epistles, Gospels and other readings for the ecclesiastical year: Temporale, Sanctorale and Common of the Saints; and a list, in two columns, of the kings of Juda and Israel., and Script: probably copied by one hand in extremely small Gothica Textualis Libraria (Perlschrift). Article 3 is by a contemporary hand. Numerous historiated initials of various sizes with long vertical extensions.
Subject (Name):
Jerome,--Saint,--d. 419 or 20
Subject (Topic):
Bible.--Latin--Versions, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment of Durand of Huesca (ca. 1160-1224?), Biblical Distinctiones, an early 13th-century revision of Peter of Capua's (d. 1214) Alphabetum in artem sermocinandi. Marston MS 266 is apparently the only known witness to Durand's revision. With Rhymed life of Peter of Capua , in quatrains, composed by Durand of Huesca.
Description:
Beginning and end of codex worm and rodent damaged., Binding: Date? Fragmentary binding. Resewn with a chain stitch and the spine lined with coarse cloth. Plain, wound endbands and paste boards (composed of paper and parchment fragments of manuscripts), that once were covered with brick red tawed skin. Traces of two ties. Outline of rectangular label, now missing, on upper cover., Nice penwork initials, 7- to 3-line, for each letter of the alphabet, blue with red or vice versa. Smaller initials, 2-line, in similar but less intricate designs for chapter divisions. Chapter numbers, some initials, plain line fillers, and text divisions in red. Ornamental border, in red, encloses common ending for verses on f. 1r-v. Spaces for rubrics left unfilled. Majuscules in text stroked with pale yellow., and Script: Written in a fine early gothic bookhand by several scribes, above top line.
Subject (Name):
Durand ,--of Huesca
Subject (Topic):
Bible--Commentaries, Biography--Middle Ages, 500-1500, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Scholasticism
Manuscript on parchment. Includes computistical mnemonic verses for finding the date of Septuagesima for all the years of the 19-Years Cycle (Septuagesima interval prayer).
Description:
Binding: Eighteenth century (?). Plain leather over ... On the flat spine and partly on the covers, a label with the handwritten title "Heures / manuscrites / Sur Vélin. / d'une belle / Conservation". and Script: Copied by one hand, writing Gothica Textualis Formata in two sizes. The scribe Pierre Berger, priest of the church of Our Lady in Bourg-en-Bresse (France, dépt. de l'Ain), is unrecorded.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Breviaries, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment (thick), composed of two distinct parts, of 1) Calendar-obituary giving the names of nuns, lay sisters, and benefactors of the Benedictine abbey of Notre-Dame de Saintes in Charente Inferieure in Southwestern France. The main body of this section dates from the fourteenth century, but was still being supplemented in the sixteenth century. 2) A version of the Usuard Martyrology; the body of the text written in the 12th century. 3) Rule of St. Benedict, feminine version.
Description:
Binding: Fifteenth century (?), France. An early resewing on three double, twisted, tawed skin supports laced into wide grooves in oak boards and pegged with rectangular or square pegs. Covered in brown sheepskin with corner tongues, blind-tooled with diagonals in an outer frame. Spine leather wanting. Leather on boards much worn., ff. 3, 46 excised., First part of the manuscript has been extensively patched and repaired., Part I: Initials, dates and headings in red. Part II: Two decorated initials, ff. 47r and 129r, 6-line, in red, green and blue. Decorative headings in brown ink touched with red and green, or red touched with blue. Small initials, 4- to 1-line in red, some with foliage scrolls in red or contrasting color. Headings in red., and Script: Part I (ff. 1-46): Written in a variety of scripts ranging from gothic bookhand to batarde. Part II (ff. 47-168): Written in elegant late caroline/early gothic bookhand.
Subject (Name):
Benedictines
Subject (Topic):
Benedictine nuns, Christian martyrs, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Monasticism and religious orders
Manuscript on parchment containing 1) Benedictus XII papa (1334-1342), Constitutio pro reformatione Ordinis Cisterciensis (1335), c. 1, first part. 2) Benedictus XII papa, Constitutio pro reformatione Ordinis Cisterciensis (1335), cc. 1 (second part) - 42. 3) Statutes of the General Chapter of Cîteaux of 1335. 4) Benedictus XII papa, Bulla "Regularem vitam professis", 4 July 1335. 5) Benedictus XII papa, Bulla "Pastor bonus diligens", 17 June 1335. 6) Statute of the General Chapter of 1422, c. 24. 7) Part of the statute of the General Chapter of 1422, c. 23. 8) Carta caritatis, a later version of the original constitution of the Cistercian Order. 9) Statutes of the General Chapter of 1317, incomplete at the end: cc. 1-13.
Description:
Binding: Blind-tooled white parchment over wooden boards, decorated with fillets in a frame and lozenges pattern. Spine with two raised bands., Foliation s. XVII in ink 2-109, but ff. 37-39 are missing., Script: The original text (artt. 2-5, 8, 9) is probably copied by a single hand (A) writing a small Gothica Textualis/Semitextualis Libraria. The additional texts are copied in 16th century hands: artt. 1 and 6 in Gothica Hybrida Libraria by hand B, who wrote also the majority of the marginal notes and additions; art. 7 by hand C, who used a bold Humanistica Cursiva., and The additional texts are not decorated. The original parts have red headings, red paragraph marks, and red 2- or 3-line plain initials. Art. 2 opens f. 2r with a 7-line littera duplex with extensive penwork and extension in the inner margin in red and blue; art. 8 opens f. 42v with a 3-line flourished initial (Prologue) and a 4-line littera duplex with penwork, as in art. 2 (text). All initials are half inset and have guide letters in the margin.
Subject (Name):
Cistercians
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Monasticism and religious orders