Manuscript on paper containing 1) Propugnaculum alchymiae, the Defence of alchymy. 2) The first (second, third, fourth) booke of universall wisedome. 3) Hercules piochymicus. 4) Myrothecium spagyricum, or A chymicall dispensatory
Description:
In English., Script: Written in a clear cursive hand with some secretary elements., Watermarks: Paper with rather faint large watermark of a fleur-de-lys within a cartouche, surmounted by staff with cross and letter "M," not certainly identified., Very moderate abbreviation, headlines and marginalia throughout by the scribe., Anonymously translated into English., Accompanied by: By the King's letters patent. A machine on a new principle. Shelved as Mellon MSS 76a., and Binding: Early eighteenth-century English binding of parchment over pasteboards, somewhat unglued and with defects, the backstrip divided into eight compartments by raised bands, the compartments gold-tooled with floral motifs; binder's endpapers watermarked with a fleur-de-lys mark, countermarked "VI," closely related to Heawood 1544, 1552, and 1554.
Manuscript on paper containing 1) J. G. Toeltius, Coelum reseratum chymicum, translated into English by F.H. (?), together with fifty-four Secret Keys to the understanding of the work. 2) Concerning divine magic, or Cabbalistic mysteries, an anonymous translation from a German original
Description:
In English., Script: Written probably by a single hand in a clear copper-plate cursive larger and less formal from the beginning through p. 226, the remainder in a smaller, neater version of the same hand., Watermarks: On machine-made preruled paper with watermark "HAGAR & Co 1824." not recorded in the literature consulted., Illustrations in the text; some illustrations on inserted pieces of tracing paper, copied from an unidentified source and intended for insertion into the manuscript but left unfinished., and Binding: Rebound about 1900 in dark blue buckram with leather title label gold-stamped "COELUM RESERATUM CHYMICUM.," edges mottled red, with binder's ticket of George Redway, 15 York St., Covent Garden, London, on first pastedown.
Manuscript on paper of a substantial sixteenth-century English alchemy attributed in the text to a certain Sir John Barkly, and some additional matter said to have been derived from conversation with him. Also containing abbreviated works by Samuel Norton, as well as a varitey of other texts, some of them not at all identified, others extracted from various English and continental sources noted in the description, including a discourse of the minerall stone, medical recipes, and an abstract from Polemann and Helmont on the sulphur of the philosophers
Description:
In English., Script: Written by one English hand writing a legible cursive with some secretary forms, sloping to the right., Watermarks: Paper with watermark of a hunting horn in a cartouche very like Churchill 315 (in use 1623-1695), but without countermark, not identified., and Binding: Modern binding of marbled boards, polished calf back with title label, original uncut edges.
Manuscript on paper containing 1) Lapis philosophorum, seu tinctura phisica, in Latin, followed by an English version. 2) Alchemy, in English and Latin. 3) Astrology, including events predicted for the year 1655. 4) Walter Charleton, Notes extracted from his book. 5) Alchemy, medical recipes, and aphorisms. 6) George Rives, goldsmith, Account of the making of gold from lead at Bath by a certain Mervin in 1651. 7) Dr. Start, Notes taken from his experiments, and other matter. 8) Letter of a divine philosopher
Description:
In Latin and English., Script: Written by a single English hand writing a good cursive sloping slightly to the right., Watermarks: Paper watermarked with a flag with two pennants on a pole, no initials visible, similar but not identical to Heawood 1371-1372., and Binding: Original or possibly slightly later binding of brown calf rebacked, covers with double gold rule at edges, back divided into four compartments by five bands, old (but not original) red morocco label with double border of gold dots and gold rule in second compartment from top, stamped in gold, "ALCHEMY MSS." All edges gilt.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Transmutation (Chemistry), Formulas, recipes, etc, and Astrology
In English., Script: Written in a careful cursive hand sloping slightly to the right in a single column 170 x 110 mm without bordering lines or ruling. the text has been partly corrected by another hand and with significant marginalia throughout by this hand in inks of different hues., Watermarks: Paper watermarked with a crowned coat of arms, probably a Dutch paper not certainly identified., Binding: English binding of diced brown Russia leather, a border of gilt dots around the edges of the covers, inside and out, the backstrip in compartments similarly treated, original title label on second compartment from top gold-lettered: "Anonimo Manuscritto di un Vero Adepto." Plain edges. Hinges and corners repaired., Tome 1: 1 smaller leaf 220 x 140 mm inserted after first leaf of index., and Tome 2: 1 smaller leaf 190 x 112 mm inserted after page 157.
Manuscript on paper in English verse with a Latin verse prologue of Thomas Norton of Bristol's Ordinall of Alchemy, written in 1477
Description:
In English and Latin., Script: Written by a single English hand writing a very fine and regular italic sloping to the right., No color, no illustration., Watermark: arms of Austria with the golden fleece, similar to Briquet 2291., and Binding: Original English binding of white, limp parchment, the covers blocked in gold with the armorial stamp employed by Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland: the badge of the Percy house, the white or crescent moon, within the representation of the garter, surmounted by an earl's coronet; fore-edges of each cover with overhanging flaps and with remains of two original green linin ties; flat back with four thongs used in the sewing-in exposed at regular intervals on each side of the backstrip, with traces of original lettering at head of backstrip now illegible, later writing in old style below probably the work of a modern repairer, possibly covering an original inscription; plain edges; a strip of parchment, cut from a manuscript in Latin, ca. 1100, is visible surrounding the back of the quires of the manuscript, used in the sewing-in, with writing visible at the front of the volume only.