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
Parchment and paper codex, ff. 87 of which f. 1-3 and 6-19 are of paper, the remainder of parchment, with modern pencil foliation throughout. and Personal commonplace book combining skillful drawings of apparatus, alchemical texts in German vernacular with noteworthy literary character--some of them in verse--and numerous practical procedures.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. Straight-grained black morocco, gilt single-line perimetric border for each cover and spine, gilt dentelles, and border of the same tools at head and foot of spine, modern tan leather spine label, with legend: HARTUNG V. HOFF VADE MECUM MANUSCRIPT AUSTRIA 1557, Denis Duveen, acquired from Thomas Heller (bookseller), New York, 1949; Mellon MS 71, acquired with the Duveen collection. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., and Script: Written in a small, neat gothic cursive, additions in a neat italic hand and a rather irregular and sometimes scrawling cursive gothic, both perhaps about 1625.
Inserted folding leaf : ""Effigies tabvlae smaragdinae."" : 2 representations of the emerald tablet of Hermes. In Hebrew on the left and an exotic tongue (representing Chaldean?) on the right.
Description:
Engraved plate, 185 x 235 mm., tipped in inside front cover., MS consists of 3 loose quires in cover., On paper., and Single columns 175 x 120 mm. bordered in pencil, without ruling.
Subject (Name):
Hermes, Trismegistus. Tabula smaragdina
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy and Ancient and Mystical Order Rosae Crucis
f. 45v, 46r : Geometric symbols containing luna crests., f. 50r : ""Philosophisch balneum,"" distillation apparatus and furnace., f. 50v : ""Der Faule Heintze,"" a multilevel furnace, and f. 51r : ""Der Philosophische Offen,"" a cylindrical furnace, with chimney.
Description:
3 oversize folding pages with drawings and diagrams inserted after f. 227., On paper, Twelve illustrations., and Written by a single scribe in gothic, Fraktur and roman scripts.
Manuscript on paper of an untitled Kunstbuechlein containing hundreds of recipes for a variety of alchemical processes, chiefly metallurgical.
Description:
Foliation in first section almost entirely illegible, Foliation of volume is difficult due to both mutilated and missing leaves., On first flyleaf recto: an elaborate pen-drawing of a double coat of arms, probably of a husband and wife of minor German noble families, which may be seen in the photographic reproduction. Above the left coat are the letters ""I.W.G.W."" and above the right, ""I.W.D.G.,"" while the date ""1.5.6.2."" is written below and between the letters., On the first end flyleaf recto (numbered f. 155) is a table of alchemical symbols possibly by the original copyist., Paper codex., and Standing in a slight landscape with ruined buildings below and between the two coats of arms is a female figure seen in left profile wearing a long dress; in her lowered right hand she holds a banner which bears an inscription: ""Mich beisst der Floch"" [sic], apparently for ""Floh"", i.e., ""The flea bites me""; her left hand has raised the skirt of her dress and is concealed beneath it.