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
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
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 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 (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
Manuscript on paper containing 1) Ps.-Augustinus Hipponensis (Pseudo-Augustine), Manuale (preface and chapters 1-24). 2) Pseudo-Augustine, Soliloquia animae ad Deum, large final part of chapter 2. 3) Arnulphus de Boeriis (ca. 1200 (?), Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis), Speculum monachorum. 4) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis, Sermo de vita et passione Domini. 5) Vita S. Iohannis Calybitae or Vita S. Iohannis monachi. 6) Flores ex operibus S. Bernardi de dignitate et excellentia beatae virginis Mariae. 7) Bernardus Claraevallensis (Bernard of Clairvaux, 1090-1153), Epistola 111, written in the name of the monk Elias to the latter's parents. 8) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis, Contemplationes de passione Domini secundum septem horas canonicas. 9) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis, Formula honestae vitae. 10) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis, Octo puncta perfectionis assequendae. 11) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis, Varia et brevia documenta pie seu religiose vivendi. 12) Bonaventura OFM (1221-1274), Regula novitiorum, 3. 13) Bonaventura, Regula novitiorum, 4.1-3. 14) Matthaeus de Cracovia (c. 1335-1410; Ps.-Thomas de Aquino, Ps.-Bonaventura; here ascribed to Iohannes de Capistrano OFM, 1386-1456), De modo confitendi et de puritate conscientiae (Speculum munditiae). 15) F. Carboni, Incipitario della lirica italiana dei secoli XIII e XIV, v. 1, Studi e Testi, v. 277 (Vatican City, 1977), 863. 16) Carboni 212. 17) Carboni 96. 18) Religious poems in Venetian dialect. 19) Lamentatio Virginis Mariae ad Crucem, attributed to Philippus de Grevia (Philippus Cancellarius, Philippe de Grève, d. 1236). 20) Zeno Veronensis (d. before 380), Tractatus, 1.1.7.20-21. 21) Moral sentences and quotations by or ascribed to St. Bernard of Clairvaux. 22) Ps.-Bernardus Claraevallensis, Sermo 12.
Description:
Binding: the two covers and the spine are covered with a fragment from a large Italian choirbook in Southern Gothica Textualis Formata; parts of two 4-line red staves with notation in Nota Quadrata and two lines of text are preserved., Red headings and paragraph marks. 2-line red and blue plain initials, with guide letters., Script: Copied by two similar hands: A, writing a rapid Southern Gothica Textualis Libraria, copied ff. 2r-56v and 69r-104v; B, writing a more formal version of the same script, under slight Humanistic influence, copied ff. 57r-68v. The Latin of both scribes is very defective., and Second preliminary leaf included in foliation.
Subject (Name):
Mary, Blessed Virgin, Saint--Devotion to
Subject (Topic):
Asceticism, Christian hagiography, Christian poetry, Italian, Devotional literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Manuscripts, Medieval--Italy--15th century
Manuscript on parchment of astrological texts drawn largely from Arab astrology of the early Middle Ages, and transmitted in medieval Latin translations; in addition Ptolemy's Centiloquium is present, transmitted not in Greek but through the Arabic, along with a single contemporary component, the Astrolabium planum of Johann Engel.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century, English. Marbled paper boards, green calf back with six heavy (false?) bands, the compartments with patterns of small tools impressed in gold and with gold-stamped titles, a small rectangular label with the printed number 1037 and a small round label with the inked number 894 glued to the bottommost compartment. All edges gilt. Preserved in a modern green cloth folding box, probably French, with leather label., Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Mellon MS 155, acquired from C. A. Stonehill, Inc. (bookseller), New Haven. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., Rubrics, and occasional headlines in red, diagrams in the text in brown and red inks. Full illuminated border, outlined in red, on f. 1r of leafy sprays in colors and gold, the white spaces filled up with black dots and small burnished gold circles each with three or four small tendrils; a large initial in burnished gold and colors at the beginning of the text in the first column, with gold band extending downward and then around three sides of the page forming an inner border, completed by a red line at top; a lozenge at the center of the lower band of the border containing a pattern of platelike discs, quatrefoils, and a leafy spray on a dull gold ground, this segment almost certainly a later replacement of an original coat of arms which has been erased. Elsewhere in the manuscript smaller illuminated initials in the style of the first frequently occur, and larger ones with descenders to partial borders at the foot of the page occur. Each of the ninety-six pages from f. 191r through 238v has four drawings in colors (six on those pages which open each of the signs of the Zodiac), placed within diagrams accompanied by slight text., and Script: Written by a single scribe in a large and clear hand in Gothica textualis formata and Bastarda.
Subject (Name):
Ptolemy,--2nd cent
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Arab, Astrology--Early works to 1800, 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