Correspondence, autograph manuscripts, and one printed broadside song documenting aspects of the social and creative life of the poet John Hall-Stevenson. Contents include manuscripts of verses by John Hall-Stevenson and Robert Lascelles; letters by members of his club and social circle, including a lengthy letter by Jean-Baptiste Tollot discussing Laurence Sterne's character and good nature (1762 April 4) and another describing events in Geneva immediately after the expulsion of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1764 January 8); and related correspondence, including a letter of advice from Hall-Stevenson to his grandson John Wharton and several business letters received by Wharton. The printed broadside song, "Trout Hall," is extensively annotated in Hall-Stevenson's hand.
Description:
Formerly owned by William Durrant Cooper. Purchased from Paul Grinke on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 1972., John Hall-Stevenson (1718-1785), was a poet, a country gentleman, and a close friend of Laurence Sterne, whom he met at Cambridge and who based the character of Eugenius in Tristram Shandy on him. Hall-Stevenson founded a club of "Demoniacks," which met at "Crazy Castle," his country seat, and was loosely modeled on Sir Francis Dashwood's Monks of Medmenham. His published works included Crazy Tales and Fables for Grown Gentlemen, both of which were reprinted several times during his lifetime. He died at home in March, 1785., and The collection also contains a photocopy of W. Durrant Cooper's "Seven Letters Written by Sterne and His Friends;" a copy of the bookseller's catalogue; and a handwritten finding aid for the collection.
Subject (Topic):
Authors, English--18th century and English literature--18th century
Correspondence, autograph manuscripts, and one printed broadside song documenting aspects of the social and creative life of the poet John Hall-Stevenson. Contents include manuscripts of verses by John Hall-Stevenson and Robert Lascelles; letters by members of his club and social circle, including a lengthy letter by Jean-Baptiste Tollot discussing Laurence Sterne's character and good nature (1762 April 4) and another describing events in Geneva immediately after the expulsion of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1764 January 8); and related correspondence, including a letter of advice from Hall-Stevenson to his grandson John Wharton and several business letters received by Wharton. The printed broadside song, "Trout Hall," is extensively annotated in Hall-Stevenson's hand.
Description:
Formerly owned by William Durrant Cooper. Purchased from Paul Grinke on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 1972., John Hall-Stevenson (1718-1785), was a poet, a country gentleman, and a close friend of Laurence Sterne, whom he met at Cambridge and who based the character of Eugenius in Tristram Shandy on him. Hall-Stevenson founded a club of "Demoniacks," which met at "Crazy Castle," his country seat, and was loosely modeled on Sir Francis Dashwood's Monks of Medmenham. His published works included Crazy Tales and Fables for Grown Gentlemen, both of which were reprinted several times during his lifetime. He died at home in March, 1785., and The collection also contains a photocopy of W. Durrant Cooper's "Seven Letters Written by Sterne and His Friends;" a copy of the bookseller's catalogue; and a handwritten finding aid for the collection.
Subject (Topic):
Authors, English--18th century and English literature--18th century
Correspondence, autograph manuscripts, and one printed broadside song documenting aspects of the social and creative life of the poet John Hall-Stevenson. Contents include manuscripts of verses by John Hall-Stevenson and Robert Lascelles; letters by members of his club and social circle, including a lengthy letter by Jean-Baptiste Tollot discussing Laurence Sterne's character and good nature (1762 April 4) and another describing events in Geneva immediately after the expulsion of Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1764 January 8); and related correspondence, including a letter of advice from Hall-Stevenson to his grandson John Wharton and several business letters received by Wharton. The printed broadside song, "Trout Hall," is extensively annotated in Hall-Stevenson's hand.
Description:
Formerly owned by William Durrant Cooper. Purchased from Paul Grinke on the Edwin J. Beinecke Book Fund, 1972., John Hall-Stevenson (1718-1785), was a poet, a country gentleman, and a close friend of Laurence Sterne, whom he met at Cambridge and who based the character of Eugenius in Tristram Shandy on him. Hall-Stevenson founded a club of "Demoniacks," which met at "Crazy Castle," his country seat, and was loosely modeled on Sir Francis Dashwood's Monks of Medmenham. His published works included Crazy Tales and Fables for Grown Gentlemen, both of which were reprinted several times during his lifetime. He died at home in March, 1785., and The collection also contains a photocopy of W. Durrant Cooper's "Seven Letters Written by Sterne and His Friends;" a copy of the bookseller's catalogue; and a handwritten finding aid for the collection.
Subject (Topic):
Authors, English--18th century and English literature--18th century
It also includes a charter granting lands from William I to Deorman., It includes a copy of the charter in Old English presented by William the Conqueror affirming the rights held by the citizens of London under Edward the Confessor., Manuscript, on parchment, in chancery script, produced in London at the beginning of the sixteenth century (during the reign of Henry VII)., and The text is an affirmation by King Henry VII of the rights given to the city of London by previous kings.
Description:
Binding: vellum wrapper., On the wrapper is written "Thomas Binkheued who sold it to Raph Wilbraham.", Purchased for the James Marshall and Marie-Louise Osborn Collection., and The manuscript was originally a roll, as can be seen by the sewing holes extending across the bottom of each page.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain--Kings and rulers, London (England)--Charters, grants, privileges, and London (England)--History
Subject (Name):
Henry--VII,--King of England,--1457-1509
Subject (Topic):
Charters--England--London, Laws--England, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of a collection of pseudo-Lullian alchemical writings, translated from the French and Catalan originals, with a little additional matter. The codex underwent a transformation in the early 16th century when considerable new matter was added by another English hand on different, thinner paper; leaves have been inserted throughout the original codex.
Description:
Binding: Eighteenth century, English. Dark calf, sides paneled in blind with a roll tool of vine pattern, leafy sprays at the corners, back with six plain compartments and five raised bands, probably original parchment label on second compartment from top bordered with ink rule and lettered in ink: "RAYM. LULLII | OPERA | MANUSCRIPTA". The binding considerably repaired and some leather renewed. Original plain edges, the top blackened., Original text: Headings in red, rubricated. Some pages with diagrams or drawings. The illustrations include Lullian alphabets and tables in the form of wheels, an Arbor philosophorum, a group of flasks, and a good, large drawing of a furnace. Inserted leaves: Red headings, and capitals with slight decoration., Script: The original portion written by a single English gothic cursive hand with heavy standard abbreviation. The inserted leaves (first 4 ff. now extant, ff. 88-96, 163-169, 268-274, and 307-319 [of which f. 167 is a blank and f. 315 is a parchment leaf]) written in another gothic cursive habitually employing writing of different sizes., and Watermarks: Original paper: 1) an extremely primitive-looking unicorn with very short horn and long tail somewhat like Briquet 9962 and 10176; 2) a less primitive unicorn rather similar to Briquet 9985; 3) bullshead with defined eyes and nostrils and with cross above, rather like Briquet 15054. Inserted leaves: a very elegant unicorn mark, more developed than Briquet 10104; and some leaves with a gothic "P" with cinquefoil above, rather like Briquet 8809.
Subject (Name):
Llull, Ramon,--1232?-1316
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of the writings of Christopher of Paris (pseudonym for a Venetian exile), including his major work, Lucidario, with its supplementary alphabet, plus three letters.
Description:
Binding: Original plain parchment wrapper without ties, back with three raised bands, soiled and worn. Plain edges., ff. 1r-167r correctly paginated 1-333 and the pagination used in the detailed description, the remainder unnumbered, of ff. 170 originally, single leaves apparently canceled originally and cut away by the copyist after ff. 162 and 164, as
noted in the detailed collation, but not noted in the description as the original pagination is consecutive., Mary Mellon, acquired from William Gannon (bookseller), New York, 1941; Mellon MS 145. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., Rubricated, headings often in red., and Script: Written by a single good italic hand, sometimes hasty toward the end of the codex.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Alphabet books, Italian letters, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
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:
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, 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., Recipes, original blue edges., 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., 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 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.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Science, Medieval
[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