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 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.
Manuscript fragment, on parchment, from an antiphonal, containing parts of the offices for the first Tuesday and the second Sunday in Lent
Description:
In Latin., Script: late caroline minuscule with protogothic features., Decoration: rubricated. Large initials in red., and Musical notation (neumes) above the lines of text; no staves.
Manuscript fragment on parchment from a breviary or antiphonary, with musical notation above the texts without staves. The recto text is in late Caroline minuscule and the music is notated in Hufnagel neumes. The verso text is in transitional protogothic and music is in letter notation in the style of Saint Gall. Neither text has been identified
Description:
In Latin., Script: recto: late Caroline minuscule. Verso: transitional protogothic., and Decoration: recto: small capitals in red ink. Verso: Small capitals and letter musical notation in red ink.
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
Manuscript on paper of Astrological tables for solar and lunar locations, probably for use in compiling calendars; tables of latitudes of cities; chronological tables for 1508-18. Most tables are accompanied by prose descriptions
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: trimmed, in upper margins; unidentified eagle enclosed by a circle similar in design to Briquet Aigle 204., Script: Written in Italian notarial script by a single scribe., Yellow added to initials and to astrological signs, and some numbers., Stained throughout; final folio repaired., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Blind-tooled brown sheepskin.