Highly detailed accounts of both receipts and expenses (written from opposite ends of the volume) kept by the London merchant Abraham Chitty, brother of Alderman Thomas Chitty. Receipts include records for rents on his properties in London, Westminster and Surrey, as well as income from an interest in a brewhouse and insurance records for warehoused goods such as wine. The record of Chitty’s personal expenses is particularly complete and includes 6s. "for Pamila. 2 Vollums;" "about L1.4s.6d to see The Conscious Lovers" at Covent Garden Playhouse in 1739; and 14s. for "Chockolate, Mackoroons, carraways and oysters." Also included are regular payments for housekeeping expenses "For Mrs. Chitty;" purchases at auctions and sales, such as "a barometer;" and frequent carriage repairs.
Description:
Both pastedowns contain notes on birth and death dates for family members., Related material: Abraham Chitty, Letters (Osborn c608)., and Volume contains unnumbered pages, blank pages (not digitized), and text written in both directions; both sections of text paginated separately.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain --Economic conditions --18th century and Great Britain --Social life and customs --18th century
Subject (Name):
Chitty, Thomas
Subject (Topic):
Amusements --England, Chitty family, Cost and standard of living --England --18th century, Family --England --Domestic relations, Home economics --Accounting, Luxury, and Middle class --England --London --18th century
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
American fiction--20th century, American literature--20th century, Americans--France--History--20th century, and Authors, American--20th century--Archives
Manuscript, in a single hand, of a travel diary of the author's tour of Germany, Switzerland and Italy while first chamberlain for Caroline Amelia Elizabeth, queen consort of George IV. Sailing from Worthing in Sussex in attendance on her, Gell describes the topography of the countries he visits and illustrates it with maps and pen sketches, including mountain ranges in Geneva; an outline of the mountains of the Vosges and the different rock formations there; and a sketch of the Rhone. He discusses the effects on the countryside of the campaigns of Napoleon Bonaparte; describes Mont Blanc and the attempts to reach its summit; mentions the people he meets, in particular members of the Italian nobility as well as scientists and mathematicians; and visits museums and works of art. He also includes observations on rocks, mines, minerals, fossils, an insane asylum, a school for deaf mutes, and an epidemic of pellagra. and Sir William Gell (1777-1836) was a classical archaeologist and topographer. From 1804 to 1806 he traveled in Greece and the neighboring islands. In 1807, he was elected a member of the Society of Dilettanti and a fellow of the Royal Society. In 1811 the Society of Dilettanti commissioned him to explore Greece and Asia Minor, resulting in several publications on topography, including Geography and Antiquities of Ithaca and Itinerary of Greece. He was knighted in 1814, and died at Naples in 1836.
Alternative Title:
Journal in Germany, Switzerland & Italy.
Description:
At beginning of volume: itinerary of cities visited and distance in miles., At end of volume: list of notable Italians; and a list of English travelers at Naples in the winter of 1814-15., Binding: half calf over marbled boards. In gilt on cover: Journal in Germany. Switzerland. & Italy., Imperfect: pagination in volume after p. 125 excludes blank pages., and Pasted inside front cover: bookplate of Robert Edward Way.
Subject (Geographic):
Blanc, Mont (France and Italy), Germany--Description and travel, Italy--Description and travel, and Switzerland--description and travel
Subject (Name):
Caroline, Queen, consort of George IV, King of Great Britain, 1768-1821, Gell, William, Sir, 1777-1836, and Napoleon I, Emperor of the French, 1769-1821
Subject (Topic):
Geology--Europe, Nobility--Italy, Topography, and Travelers' writings, English
Complete version of the earliest German translation of the Legenda aurea., Teil I: Sommerteil, and Teil II: Winterteil
Description:
2 volumes bound together with discreet foliation., On paper, and Teil II wanting ff. 4, 292.
Subject (Name):
Oelrichs, Johann Carl Conrad, 1722-1798, provenance
Subject (Topic):
Christian saints --Biography --Early works to 1800, Christian saints --Calendar --Early works to 1800, Christian saints --Legends --Early works to 1800, Church calendar --Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, German--Germany, and Manuscripts, Medieval--Germany