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
A metallurgical experiment book of the type circulated among those interested in alchemy, mining, and metallurgy in the sixteenth century ...
Description:
Binding: Original stiff parchment over paper boards, remnants of two thong ties on the upper cover, slits for similar ties, now missing, on the lower cover; front cover lettered in very faded gothic script, apparently by the scribe: "PROBIER BUCH | ANDREAS OBERLENDER | 1532 |". A title has also been supplied by a modern hand in old style on the backstrip. Plain edges., Denis Duveen, acquired from Dr. Ernst Weil (bookseller), London, 1949; Mellon MS 104, acquired with the Duveen collection. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., Red inks used for tabular data and infrequent sketches of alchemical apparatus in the text., and Script: Written by a single copyist writing a practiced German secretary hand, partly in a modified Fraktur, partly in a more italic cursive, and occasionally (as in the title page) in a formal gothic script; a few additions at the end in a later hand.
Subject (Name):
Oberlender, Andreas
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, German literature--Early modern, 1500-1700, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Marcasite, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Metallurgy--Early works to 1800
Manuscript on parchment of Biondo Flavio, Italia Illustrata with the dedicatory preface to Pope Nicolas V (d. 1455).
Description:
Binding: Eighteenth century, England. Red goatskin gold-tooled, with the crest of Charles Chauncy on the sides. Gilt edges. Rebacked. The fine quality of the endleaves and leather, and the tool used on the edges of the boards and the turn-ins are similar to those in Marston MS 102 and Beinecke MS 497, both probably bound by Richard Wier, active in London and France in the 1770s; d. 1792)., Elaborately illuminated title page with historiated initial, 10-line, mauve with silver filigree against gold ground, edged in black, with a portrait of the author, seated and holding a book, against a hilly landscape and blue sky. Partial border of white vine-stem ornament against a predominantly gold ground with blue, green, and red patches with white and pale yellow dots in inner and upper margins, terminating in dense penwork scrolls with gold dots. In outer and lower margin, border of stylized flowers and foliage in red, purple, green, and blue, surrounded by dense penwork scrolls punctuated by gold dots. In center of lower margin, wreathed medallion with unidentified arms, supported by two purple winged putti outlined in blue and wearing red necklaces. 14 illuminated initials, 9- to 6-line, gold, on blue, green, and red ground with white vine-stem ornament, sometimes extending into the margins. Headings, running titles, and marginalia in red., and Script: Written in fine humanistic bookhand, below top line, by a single scribe who also wrote the running titles (epigraphic majuscules) and marginalia, in red.
Subject (Geographic):
Italy--Description and travel
Subject (Topic):
Geography, Medieval, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of a collection of the works of Nicolaus, mostly related to medicine. In addition the codex has interesting lists of substances in Latin and German, as well as a tract on the distillation of brandy.
Alternative Title:
[Antidotarium]
Description:
Binding: Modern three-quarter binding of light brown buckram, plain brown niger back and corners, the back with five (false?) raised bands, gilt-lettered in the second compartment from the top, ANTIDOTARIUM NICOLAI, and at the foot of the spine, "AB. 1460". Plain edges., Blank binder's leaves not scanned., Large capitals in red at text divisions, sometimes with slight pen ornament, other capitals stroked red throughout, fancy ascenders on top lines transgressing the upper rules and stroked red, similar descenders occasionally below the bottom bordering line, usually not colored., Modern pencil foliation., On paper., Script: Neatly written in a gothic cursive hand., and Watermarks: Two batches of unidentified paper watermarked with a gothic "P," the mark plain and smaller in one batch, larger and surmounted by a trefoil in the other.
Subject (Name):
Duveen, Denis I., bookplate, Nicolaus, Salernitanus, 12th cent., and Nicolaus,--Salernitanus,--12th cent
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Brandy, Distilling--Early works to 1800, Latin language--Glossaries, vocabularies, etc.--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medicine, Medieval, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library