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
Johannes, de Rupescissa, ca. 1300-ca. 1365 Llull, Ramon, 1232?-1316
Published / Created:
1528
Call Number:
Mellon MS 30
Image Count:
327
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Alchemical miscellany, compiled in 1528, perhaps by Niclaus of Sweden, who appears to have signed the last procedure in the volume on f. cclxxxxviiij verso
Description:
Binding: Original blind-stamped brown calf over beveled wooden boards, the sides paneled in vertical patterns of roll tools, two brass catches on upper cover, remains of brass attachments for clasps on the lower; the original backstrip with three raised bands laid down; plain edges; restored by Carolyn Horton, New York, and with a leather title label on the backstrip supplied by her., ff. 322v-346r blank and not scanned. Signatures 2R, 2S, 2T, 2V noted at 329r, 335r, 339r, and 341r, respectively., ff. 348, of which ff. 1-18 are unnumbered, ff. 19- 317 are correctly numbered i-cclxxxxviiij by the scribe, the remaining ff. 318-348 originally blank and unnumbered now partly with later additions, ff. 18 and 322-346 blank, the last leaf serving as the end pastedown., On paper., Script: Very neat and clear gothic cursives, captions by the same hand, written in two parts, the second beginning at f. 201r., Some red sentence-strokes and underlining; red captions and chapter headings with minimal elaboration, carefully laid out on the page, also pen line-fillers at end of each section, as needed for text spacing. A penned brown and red crown as folk symbol at left margin of f. 135r. Infrequent sketches of alchemical vessels in brown or red at side margins, some very slightly trimmed., and Watermarks: 1) a long-stemmed cross above a bull's head; 2) a six-lobed arc above and each lobe surmounted by a three-lobed cross; 3) a crown. All with vertical chain marks, trimmed, not identified.
Subject (Name):
Duveen, Denis I., bookplate, Johannes, de Rupescissa, ca. 1300-ca. 1365. Liber de consideratione quintae essentiae omnium rerum. German, and Llull, Ramon, 1232?-1316
Manuscript on paper of a group of shorter works by Christopher of Paris (pseudonym), probably a Venetian alchemist. With John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie.
Description:
Binding: Sixteenth century. Brown calf, the covers blind-ruled to a rectangular pattern, the large center rectangle diagonally ruled to a lozenge pattern, a single quatrefoil impressed in blind in each of the rectangles and lozenges so formed, edges partly renewed and rebacked in the style of the period of the binding with compartments formed by three double raised bands, a gold stamped title label in the second compartment from top reading: "CHRISTOPHE | DE PARIS | - | RUPESCISSA | MANUSCRIPTS | ITALY | 15TH C". The endpapers are modern insertions, though of old paper, and the binding, while of the period of the manuscript, probably had no original connection with this codex., Denis Duveen; Mellon MS 45, acquired with the Duveen collection. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., In Italian and Latin., No headlines, headings and some capitals in pale red., Script: Written by a single scribe in a late humanistic cursive hand sloping slightly to the right., and Watermarks: 1) anchor with ring atop the shank, all within a circle; 2) plain and ill-drawn anchor with thick flukes, the top of the shank forming a small, neat cross with the short stock. Both probably Italian papers, not directly comparable to the varieties illustrated by Briquet.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment containing 1) Bonaventura OFM (1221-1274), Breviloquium. 2) Bonaventura, Lignum vitae. 3) Four short texts, the last one by a different hand.
Description:
Binding: Contemporary parchment. On the flat spine and partly on the covers, a label with the handwritten 18th century inscription "Ancien / Manuscrit / sur **** / pr**** / Lo*****.", Headings, paragraph marks and heightening of the majuscules in red. Numerous 2-line (rarely 3-line) flourished initials in red with black penwork; in art. 4 the seven parts of the text in principle open with a similar initial with diagonal penwork spreads in the margin: ff. 23v (II), 49r (IV), 64v (V), 81v (VI), 103v (VII). The two principal texts open with a littera duplex in red and blue, with black penwork and marginal extension: ff. 4r (art. 2), 5 lines, and 120r (art. 5), 3 lines with diagonal penwork spreads., Running headlines in artt. 2-4 only: up to f.29r they consist of an indication of the page's content and, at right on the recto pages, also in the upper margin, the number of the part dealt with ("I", "II"); thereafter the number only is given., and Script: Copied by two hands: the main part (artt. 2-5) is by hand A (the Celestine monk Jean Gerson, colophon on f. 119v) , who writes a small Gothica Cursiva Libraria, the evolution of which during the copying of the present book and especially its second section (art. 5) has been studied by Ouy ("Le Célestin", pp. 287-288); hand B, who uses a small Gothica Semitextualis Libraria (rarely adopting Textualis "a"), copied art. 1, the note on f. 119v (see below), most of the headings in art. 5, and the final texts on ff. 140v-141v (artt 6-7); he also made a few corrections in the text copied by hand A. The very last text (art. 7.4) has been added by a third hand in tiny Gothica Cursiva Libraria.
Subject (Topic):
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 paper of a Cartulary of the abbey of Sant Cugat del Vallés. The manuscript also contains documents pertaining to a lawsuit between the monastery and the town of Sant Cugat.
Description:
Binding: no covers., Copy of the charter of Lothaire, King of the Franks (954-986), for the abbey of Sant Cugat, dated Compiègne, 986 January-February. The copy was made by Bernard of Caderita, notary at Barcelona, 1044 January 17. The manuscript contains confirmations of this charter by James I, King of Aragon (1213-1276), dated 1233 January 23, and Pedro IV, King of Aragon (1336-1387), dated 1338 April 20. The manuscript also contains documents about a lawsuit before the court of the bishop of Barcelona between the monastery of Sant Cugat del Vallés and the town of Sant Cugat at the occasion of a fight between two inhabitants of the town and the wounds they received, 1273-1380. The Latin language of these documents is very ungrammatical., Script: probably copied by a single hand writing Gothica Cursiva Libraria/Currens with Spanish features. Paragraph marks and headings in pale red ink. Red initials with reserved interior shapes, of various heights., and Wanting f. 30.
Subject (Topic):
Cartularies, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on parchment containing 1) Ceremonial for the vestment of a nun. 2) Ceremonial for the communion of a sick nun. 3) Ceremonial for administering the extreme unction. 4) Ceremonial at the death of a nun. 5) Commendations for the dead nun. 6) Ceremonial for the burial of a nun. 7) Seven Penitential Psalms. 8) Antiphons, Responses and Hymns for the aspersions with holy water and the processions, with musical notation and rubrics in Latin, for the feast of Purification of the Virgin (2 Febr., f. 52v), Palm Sunday (ff. 54r and 59r), Maundy Thursday (f. 61r), Easter, Ascension, Pentecost (ff. 66r and 68r), the Rogation Days (f. 69r), the Vigil of Pentecost, Corpus Christi (f. 73r), the Assumption of the Virgin (15 August, f. 74v), the Dedication of the Church (f. 76r), Trinity Sunday (f. 78r) and again Purification (f. 79v). These are followed by the various melodies, with Dutch rubrics, for three liturgical formulas. 9) Text of Versicles for various periods and feasts of the ecclesiastical year. 10) Versicles for the Common of the Saints. 11) Dutch prayers for a dying nun. 12) Ceremonial for the consecration of candles at Purification, the consecration of ashes on Ash Wednesday, the consecration of palms on Palm Sunday, the washing of the altar on Maundy Thursday, partly with musical notation. 13) Fragment of the Antiphons for Pentecost, with musical notation. and Manuscript on parchment.
Alternative Title:
Ceremonial and processional and Liturgy and ritual
Description:
Binding: ca. 1500. Blind-tooled brown calf over wooden boards, both covers decorated with twice a panel containing two rows of four animals in tendrils in a frame of 16 dragons in tendrils (the so-called 24 Animals panel), separated by a frieze with the Peasants' Dance. Spine with three raised bands. Remnants of two clasps.The pastedowns are two parts of a document in Dutch on parchment (a large section between the two is missing) datable 25 August 1443. It is a chirograph in documentary cursive script, stating that before the court of Geraardsbergen ("Gheerondsberghe", Fr. Grammont, East Flanders) parties have promised to pay a debt of £ 200 in eight instalments over the next four years, 1443-1446. Among the persons mentioned are Heinrik den Haec (?), the lady de Tiennes, the aldermen of Edingen (Enghien, Hainaut?), Collaert van den Foreeste, alderman of Geraardsbergen and Coppenole, counciller of the same city. The design and letters appearing at the top and at the bottom of the document prove that it was made in three copies., Rubrics, underlining and paragraph marks in red; red stroking of majuscules. 1-line versals and 2-line plain initials in red. 2-line flourished initials alternately red and blue ; cadels with red heightening on the pages with musical notation; 3- or 4-line litterae duplices with penwork extensions in red, blue and green on ff. 1r (art. 1), 18r (art. 5), 40r (art. 6), 46v (art. 7) and 86r (art. 11)., and Script: The main scribe (A) wrote Gothica Textualis Formata on ff. 1r-46v, l. 4 (with the exception of f. 39, where another hand wrote a smaller Gothica Textualis Formata). Hand B wrote Gothica Hybrida Formata (Bastarda) on ff. 46v, l. 6 - 87v, l. 4 (artt. 7-11). Hand C copied ff. 88r-94v (art. 12) in Gothica Textualis Formata. F. 95 is 16th century addition copied in a clumsy Gothica Semitextualis. The musical notation is a variant of the Hoefnagel type. There are several later additions of music and text.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church--Liturgy
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Processionals (Liturgical books)