Manuscript on paper of a collection of pseudo-Lullian alchemical writings, translated from the French and Catalan originals, with a little additional matter. The codex underwent a transformation in the early 16th century when considerable new matter was added by another English hand on different, thinner paper; leaves have been inserted throughout the original codex
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: Original paper: 1) an extremely primitive-looking unicorn with very short horn and long tail somewhat like Briquet 9962 and 10176; 2) a less primitive unicorn rather similar to Briquet 9985; 3) bullshead with defined eyes and nostrils and with cross above, rather like Briquet 15054. Inserted leaves: a very elegant unicorn mark, more developed than Briquet 10104; and some leaves with a gothic "P" with cinquefoil above, rather like Briquet 8809., Script: The original portion written by a single English gothic cursive hand with heavy standard abbreviation. The inserted leaves (first 4 ff. now extant, ff. 88-96, 163-169, 268-274, and 307-319 [of which f. 167 is a blank and f. 315 is a parchment leaf]) written in another gothic cursive habitually employing writing of different sizes., Original text: Headings in red, rubricated. Some pages with diagrams or drawings. The illustrations include Lullian alphabets and tables in the form of wheels, an Arbor philosophorum, a group of flasks, and a good, large drawing of a furnace. Inserted leaves: Red headings, and capitals with slight decoration., and Binding: Eighteenth century, English. Dark calf, sides paneled in blind with a roll tool of vine pattern, leafy sprays at the corners, back with six plain compartments and five raised bands, probably original parchment label on second compartment from top bordered with ink rule and lettered in ink: "RAYM. LULLII | OPERA | MANUSCRIPTA". The binding considerably repaired and some leather renewed. Original plain edges, the top blackened.
Manuscript on paper containing 1) Propugnaculum alchymiae, the Defence of alchymy. 2) The first (second, third, fourth) booke of universall wisedome. 3) Hercules piochymicus. 4) Myrothecium spagyricum, or A chymicall dispensatory
Description:
In English., Script: Written in a clear cursive hand with some secretary elements., Watermarks: Paper with rather faint large watermark of a fleur-de-lys within a cartouche, surmounted by staff with cross and letter "M," not certainly identified., Very moderate abbreviation, headlines and marginalia throughout by the scribe., Anonymously translated into English., Accompanied by: By the King's letters patent. A machine on a new principle. Shelved as Mellon MSS 76a., and Binding: Early eighteenth-century English binding of parchment over pasteboards, somewhat unglued and with defects, the backstrip divided into eight compartments by raised bands, the compartments gold-tooled with floral motifs; binder's endpapers watermarked with a fleur-de-lys mark, countermarked "VI," closely related to Heawood 1544, 1552, and 1554.
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:
In Italian and Latin., Script: Written by a single good italic hand, sometimes hasty toward the end of the codex., Rubricated, headings often in red., and Binding: Original plain parchment wrapper without ties, back with three raised bands, soiled and worn. Plain edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Christopher, of Paris.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Alphabet books, Italian letters, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a collection of texts by Nicolas de Locques, in which practical laboratory procedures are mingled with speculative and mystical alchemy
Description:
In French., Script: Written in a practiced scribal hand in a flowing cursive sloping to the right with infrequent standard abbreviation; a second similar, but finer hand on p. 358 only., Watermarks: Paper with unidentified watermark of a griffin rampant (?), the hind paws on a staff incorporating letters and numbers "Y49" (?), countermarked with 2 lines of capitals, the first word perhaps "JUVIMAL" (sic)., and Binding: Original French binding of mottled calf, the sides plain, the edges of the covers gilt-stamped a la grotesque, back (repaired and restored at foot) with seven bands, the compartments gilt-stamped to a rectangular pattern, a lozenge of leafy sprays in the center of each, with triangular elements of the same at the corners, original title label in the second compartment from the top, marbled endpapers, edges speckled red.
Manuscript on paper containing 1) J. G. Toeltius, Coelum reseratum chymicum, translated into English by F.H. (?), together with fifty-four Secret Keys to the understanding of the work. 2) Concerning divine magic, or Cabbalistic mysteries, an anonymous translation from a German original
Description:
In English., Script: Written probably by a single hand in a clear copper-plate cursive larger and less formal from the beginning through p. 226, the remainder in a smaller, neater version of the same hand., Watermarks: On machine-made preruled paper with watermark "HAGAR & Co 1824." not recorded in the literature consulted., Illustrations in the text; some illustrations on inserted pieces of tracing paper, copied from an unidentified source and intended for insertion into the manuscript but left unfinished., and Binding: Rebound about 1900 in dark blue buckram with leather title label gold-stamped "COELUM RESERATUM CHYMICUM.," edges mottled red, with binder's ticket of George Redway, 15 York St., Covent Garden, London, on first pastedown.
Manuscript on paper of 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Arnold of Villanova, Epistola de sanguine humano ad magistrum Iacobum de Toleto. 3) Alchemical procedures. 4) Francesco Petrarca, Epistola ad Marcum Tullium Ciceronem. 5) Pier Paolo Vergerio, Epistola in nomine Ciceronis ad Franciscum Petrarcham. 6) Johannes Obrist, Super confectionem auri potabilis. 7) Nicolaus Claudii, Opus super aurum potabile
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe using a clear and regular gothic bookhand without strong nationalistic traits., Headings in red, rubricated., and Binding: Modern parchment over pasteboards, parchment pastedowns and guards, back gilt-lettered: "DE QVINTA ESSENTIA".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Cicero, Marcus Tullius and Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Latin letters, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
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
Description:
In Latin and German., 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., Script: Neatly written in a gothic cursive hand., 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., and 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.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Nicolaus, Salernitanus, active 12th century.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Brandy, Latin language, Glossaries, vocabularies, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Medicine, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a variety of alchemical writings, partly with considerable literary pretension, including two at the beginning largely or wholly in verse. Including several works ascribed to Jean Saunier and Johann Isaac, as well as two anonymous verse alchemies at the beginning, of which the second has not been identified. Also including a group of texts extracted from ancient and Renaissance writers concerning beekeeping and the medicinal properties of honey
Description:
In French, Italian, and Latin., Script: Written by a single copyist in a French secretarial cursive., Watermarks: Paper of two batches with possibly related watermarks: a squarish glove surmounted by a short-stemmed, six-petaled flower; and an outstretched palm surmounted by a coronet., In pale brown ink, with additions in darker ink by an eighteenth-century hand. Sparse, standard abbreviation, some correction by the original copyist and notes by the later hand., With additions, ca. 1730., and Binding: Modern stiff parchment over boards, spine with title written horizontally in black ink: "Traites d' Alchimie," and at base: "1625."
Manuscript on paper of a pietistic, mystical text in prose and verse, illustrated by a great variety of illustrations cut from manuscripts of smaller dimensions (plus some prints), and pasted in. These illustrations include the "Python" illuminated drawing which has been reproduced in color, a series of "alchemical processes depicted symbolically taking place within flasks", as well as many other pictorial elements drawn from a variety of sources
Description:
In German, Low-German, Latin, and Hebrew., Script: Written by a single hand in dark brown and pale red inks in a loose and flowing cursive, often with Fraktur elements, frequently placing capital letters in the midst of words, sometimes in red; with some inserted leaves and additional matter by another, perhaps slightly later hand, and with pasted-in leaves, usually with illustrations, partly taken from older manuscripts, and partly (apparently) by the compiler., Watermarks: The inserted leaves of paper with a large fleur-de-lys watermark, unidentified; the thinner paper used for most of the volumes with unidentified watermark in folds., With additions in German and Dutch., Bound in 2 volumes., and Binding: Uniformly bound in eighteenth- or nineteenth-century marbled boards, red leather backs with three bands, each volume with modern brown calf title labels gold-stamped "ALCHYMICAL MANUSCRIPT," speckled edges.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Illumination of books and manuscripts, and Pietism
Manuscript on paper of a pietistic, mystical text in prose and verse, illustrated by a great variety of illustrations cut from manuscripts of smaller dimensions (plus some prints), and pasted in. These illustrations include the "Python" illuminated drawing which has been reproduced in color, a series of "alchemical processes depicted symbolically taking place within flasks", as well as many other pictorial elements drawn from a variety of sources
Description:
In German, Low-German, Latin, and Hebrew., Script: Written by a single hand in dark brown and pale red inks in a loose and flowing cursive, often with Fraktur elements, frequently placing capital letters in the midst of words, sometimes in red; with some inserted leaves and additional matter by another, perhaps slightly later hand, and with pasted-in leaves, usually with illustrations, partly taken from older manuscripts, and partly (apparently) by the compiler., Watermarks: The inserted leaves of paper with a large fleur-de-lys watermark, unidentified; the thinner paper used for most of the volumes with unidentified watermark in folds., With additions in German and Dutch., Bound in 2 volumes., and Binding: Uniformly bound in eighteenth- or nineteenth-century marbled boards, red leather backs with three bands, each volume with modern brown calf title labels gold-stamped "ALCHYMICAL MANUSCRIPT," speckled edges.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Illumination of books and manuscripts, and Pietism
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:
In Latin, with later additions in Latin and German., 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., 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., 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., 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 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 | Recipes", original blue edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of the following mystical or speculative alchemies translated into French: Arnold of Villanova, Rosarius; Albertus Magnus, Compositum de compositis; and Ramon Lull, Clavicula. Alchemies in Latin by Raymundus Gaufridi, Roger Bacon (?), Nicholas, Johannes Pauper, John of Rupescissa, and the Duc de Berry (?). Also includes a long series of wholly practical procedures and recipes
Description:
In French and Latin., Script: Written by one scribe in a remarkably small and neat cursive gothic hand., No headlines, no color, no decoration, spaces left for some capitals with guide letters, a few drawings in the text or in margins., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Marbled paper boards with diced calf back, the backstrip in compartments with horizontal gilt fillets, lines of gilt small tools bordering the false bands, title label in the second compartment from the top gilt-lettered "REGNAULT". Early, probably original green edges. Hinges of the binding repaired.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Glass painting and staining, Technique, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper in two parts. Part I (late 15th century): 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Aqua solempnissima, atque mirabilis. Part II (copied in 1775): 3) George Ripley (?), Touchant le grand magistere des sages, translated from English into French
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Part I: Written by a single hand in a semigothic cursive. Part II: Written in a cursive hand sloping to the right., Part I: Headings in red., and Binding: Nineteenth century, English. Tan buckram boards, brown morocco back and corners, flat backstrip with gold-stamped title, plain edges.
Manuscript fragment on paper of extracts from Laudabile sanctum. There follows on ff. 1r-7v an extended series of longer and shorter alchemical recipes and procedures, probably including excerpts from standard sources, a passage on transmutation, a brief account of the planets, etc., often with marginal captions. With a poem in English
Description:
In Latin and English., Watermark: an extended hand with a five-pointed star extending on a stem from the middle finger, a quatrefoil (?) at the wrist, which is sharply cut off, the fingers partly articulated, of the type of Briquet 11341 and following, but more refined., Script: Written by a single hand, very small (sometimes minute) and mostly very neat, using a good cursive italic for the Latin passages, and a secretary hand for the English, both sloping somewhat to the right., and Binding: Parchment wrapper made from a bifolium of a late 13th-century French (or possibly English?) canon law manuscript written by two hands, one of them using a classical Littera parisiensis, the other slightly more rounded, the writing partly scraped away on what is now the front cover of the wrapper, the outer side of the lower cover with an inscription in a very large hand which has not been read.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, English poetry, Formulas, recipes, etc, Latin poetry, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper, composed in three parts, of a large number of practical procedures, chiefly alchemical but sometimes medical, with a few standard medieval alchemical texts by Khalid ibn Yazid, Theodoric, and Albertus Magnus. Occasionally there are passages in cipher, added by Martin Roesel of Rosenthal ca. 1586, long after the principal contents were written; the cipher seems to be of a simple number-substitution type
Description:
In Latin and German, partly in cipher., Watermarks: 1) unidentified eagle watermark somewhat resembling Briquet 104; 2) a crown pattern resembling Briquet 4921 and 1922; 3) the Paschal lamb resembling Briquet 61., Script: Part I (ff. 1-29): Written in 1536 in red and black in a gothic cursive by Wolfgang the Organist. Part II (ff. 30-65): Written in a well-controlled gothic cursive without color. Part III (ff. 66-132): Written in one or possibly two scrawling gothic cursives, with red headings on ff. 109-124., Several initials illuminated in trick have been cut from a late 15th-century MS and pasted into the present MS at ff. 2v, 4v, 5, 10r, and 16r. Marginal drawings of alchemical apparatus are cropped, as also marginalia., and Binding: Probably ca. 1586 for Martin Roesel. Red-stained limp parchment (most of the stain now lost), single central clasp and catch now missing from center of fore-edges, two slits on each fore-edge for thong or ribbon ties, also missing.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Medicine, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a miscellany of alchemical texts including corrupt copies (which are typical of the compiler) of traditional Latin alchemies with practical procedures and vernacular poems on alchemy. Compiled by one Johannes Baptista F., along with Mellon MSS 34 and 35.
Description:
In Latin, Italian, and Spanish., Script: Written by one, perhaps two, hands in mid-16th-century italic, sometimes of excellent, professional quality, but often ranging from fairly good to extremely bad and careless., Extensive series of small ink drawings of alchemical vessels and equipment on the front flyleaves, mostly flasks and other glasswork on the left page, with similar equipment, as well as a "Bain-Marie" and a large furnace on the facing right page, each drawing labeled., and Binding: Original parchment over pasteboards with remains of thong ties; probably a home-made binding utilizing used parchment (show-through of writing and earlier folding visible) from a document; plain edges. Labeled in ink in the hand of the compiler on the backstrip: "Lapis philosophalis". Loose in cover and badly wormed.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Drawing, Italian poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment (palimpsest) of a large collection of medieval alchemies, both speculative and practical. Includes an important group of writings by Johannes of Teschen, notably his Antiphona with musical notation. Also contains works by Arnold of Villanova, Alanus, Geber, Khalid ibn Yazid, and Albertus Magnus
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in Gothica textualis by a careful but ill-formed hand in which differing letter forms are often not discrete, with annotations by a later 15th-century cursive hand and occasional notes by other hands of the same period., Important capitals painted in red and blue with occasional filiform decoration, rubricated, and capitals frequently stroked red, but without other ornament or illustration., and Binding: Fifteenth century, German. Presumably original, of oaken boards covered with red-dyed hide, sides framed by triple blind fillets, additional fillets drawn diagonally to form a pattern of lozenges; the original back laid down on a new backstrip preserving the four original raised bands, plus head and foot bands, which are drawn into the boards, fastened with wooden wedges, and reinforced with strips of parchment (cut from a 13th-century manuscript with faint writing in a very small gothic hand) which are glued down to the inside boards. On both covers single nailholes near the corners and two such holes in the center of each cover indicate the removal of brass cornerpieces and centerpieces; a single brass catch with iron bar, fastened by three brass nails, is preserved in the upper cover, the clasp missing from the lower cover indicated only by a mark. Modern leather label on backstrip, stamped in silver between rules top and bottom: "ALCHEMICAL | MISCELLANY | MANUSCRIPT | FRANCE 15TH C.".
Manuscript on paper of a private compilation. The two well known works entered into the codex deal with magical properties ascribed to certain gems and the supernatural significance of the carving of stones. Together with these formal texts are found other extremely varied materials: procedures for restoring wine which has suffered various accidents, for making glass of different colors, for the early ripening of grapes, for making an ass bray loudly, for frightening dogs, and so forth
Description:
In Latin and Italian., Watermark: unidentified flower-petal., Script: Probably written by a single hand, employing a Gothico antiqua on ff. 1-11r, with a less formal treatment of the same elsewhere, and more cursive writing for the passages in Italian; the writing relatively careful at the beginning, progressively less so until the end., Red ink for most headings, red capitals and paragraph marks, except on f. 11v-12r and 16v-17r, which are without color., Lower margins affected by damp throughout and partly repaired with blank paper., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Paper boards, more recent gilt-stamped label on backstrip.
Manuscript on paper of a substantial sixteenth-century English alchemy attributed in the text to a certain Sir John Barkly, and some additional matter said to have been derived from conversation with him. Also containing abbreviated works by Samuel Norton, as well as a varitey of other texts, some of them not at all identified, others extracted from various English and continental sources noted in the description, including a discourse of the minerall stone, medical recipes, and an abstract from Polemann and Helmont on the sulphur of the philosophers
Description:
In English., Script: Written by one English hand writing a legible cursive with some secretary forms, sloping to the right., Watermarks: Paper with watermark of a hunting horn in a cartouche very like Churchill 315 (in use 1623-1695), but without countermark, not identified., and Binding: Modern binding of marbled boards, polished calf back with title label, original uncut edges.
Manuscript on paper containing 1) Lapis philosophorum, seu tinctura phisica, in Latin, followed by an English version. 2) Alchemy, in English and Latin. 3) Astrology, including events predicted for the year 1655. 4) Walter Charleton, Notes extracted from his book. 5) Alchemy, medical recipes, and aphorisms. 6) George Rives, goldsmith, Account of the making of gold from lead at Bath by a certain Mervin in 1651. 7) Dr. Start, Notes taken from his experiments, and other matter. 8) Letter of a divine philosopher
Description:
In Latin and English., Script: Written by a single English hand writing a good cursive sloping slightly to the right., Watermarks: Paper watermarked with a flag with two pennants on a pole, no initials visible, similar but not identical to Heawood 1371-1372., and Binding: Original or possibly slightly later binding of brown calf rebacked, covers with double gold rule at edges, back divided into four compartments by five bands, old (but not original) red morocco label with double border of gold dots and gold rule in second compartment from top, stamped in gold, "ALCHEMY MSS." All edges gilt.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Transmutation (Chemistry), Formulas, recipes, etc, and Astrology
Manuscript on paper of a collection of alchemical texts, including works by Rasis, Roger Bacon, and Hermes. Though the Bacon text and one other are early practical alchemies, the contents are mainly speculative in character
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by one scribe in a very neat and regular prehumanistic hand., Book and chapter headings in red, rubrication, capitals stroked yellow, larger initials painted in red or blue with tracery ornament in the contrasting color (all decoration probably by the scribe; red headings in the scribe's hand, all other red decoration with ink of apparently identical composition)., and Binding: Modern. Parchment, cut from a leaf of a very large manuscript, probably a lectionary, written in a Rotunda antiquior hand, Italian, 12th century; writing on outer surface erased, printed paper label on backstrip.
Manuscript on paper of a collection of extracts from various alchemical and medical writers. Includes John of Rupescissa, Liber de confectione veri lapidis; and Arnold of Villanova, De perfectione operis alkimie. Compiled by one Johannes Baptista F., along with Mellon MSS 34 and 36.
Description:
In Latin, Italian, and Spanish., Script: Written by one or perhaps two hands in mid-16th-century italic, sometimes of excellent, professional quality, but often ranging from fairly good to extremely bad and careless., and Binding: Original parchment over pasteboards with remains of thong ties; probably a home-made binding utilizing used parchment (show-through of writing visible) from a document, plain edges. Labeled in ink in the hand of the compiler on the backstrip: "Medicina | astrologia." Loose in cover and wormed.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Italian poetry, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a large quantity of alchemical recipes and procedures, relating above all to metallurgy and transmutation. With Alchimie und Bergwerck; and German translations of John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie; and Ramon Lull, Extracts from Experimenta and Testamentum novissimum
Description:
In German and Latin., 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., 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 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.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, Metallurgy, and Transmutation (Chemistry)
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. Also includes recipes for making blue pigments and a procedure for etching a design on an iron surface
Description:
In Italian and Latin., 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., Script: Written by a single scribe in a late humanistic cursive hand sloping slightly to the right., No headlines, headings and some capitals in pale red., and 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.
Manuscript on paper of 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Rhemigius Burgensis, Quaestio de medio demonstrationis termino. 3) Simone Porzio, De animae immortalitate quaestio. 4) Francesco Petrarca, Dialogus de coniugii claritate. 5) Alchemy and recipes, in Latin. 6) Properties of various fruits and nuts, in Italian verse, and Seasons for planting, in Italian prose. 7) Notes on logic, provenance of elements of this manuscript, and a game of divination
Description:
In Latin, Greek, and Italian., Watermarks: 1) crossed arrows surmounted by a six-pointed star; 2) crossed keys in a cartouche, neither identified with certainty., Script: Written in several different italic cursive hands., and Binding: Original, north Italian. Black leather, the sides outlined in blind rules, a rectangular panel on each cover ruled in gold with a square Arab knot tool gold-stamped outside each corner of the panel, traces of holes for four thong ties on each cover, the backstrip divided into five compartments by raised bands, a gold-stamped cinquefoil in each compartment, the back and sides repaired, edges stained black. Front and back pastedowns: parchment fragments of a 12th-century Italian codex, probably a Gospel Lectionary, containing an extract from the Gospel of St. John written in Latin in a Rotunda antiquior hand.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Divination, Italian poetry, Logic, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper (watermarks hidden in gutter) of alchemical texts including works by Albertus Magnus, Johannes Andreae, and Paracelsus. With treatises on the Philosopher's Stone and alchemical recipes
Description:
In Latin and German., Script: Written by 10 or more hands, all of the 17th and 18th centuries; most are cursive, but the one on ff. 176r-183r is gothic textura., Drawings in watercolor, of mediocre quality, including various symbolic depictions of alchemical processes taking place within flasks. Table of Hermes Trismegistus, f. 175r. Diagrams scattered throughout., and Binding: 18th century (?). Brown calf blind-tooled, edges gilt. Arms (unidentified) stamped on binding: on front, quarterly 1 and 4, barry of 6, 2 and 3, a lion rampant; inescutcheon, a bar fess impaled with barry of 6; the whole held by a two-headed eagle, displayed, below a crown. Back cover: barry of 8 impaled with a patriarchal cross on a hillock.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280., Giovanni d'Andrea, approximately 1270-1348., and Paracelsus, 1493-1541.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, German poetry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of an untitled Kunstbuechlein containing hundreds of recipes for a variety of alchemical processes, chiefly metallurgical
Description:
In German and Latin., Script: Calligraphically written by a highly skilled hand using a variety of Fraktur, secretary cursive, and italic scripts., Three-column table of alchemical symbols on last leaf. No color, but progressively frequent use of alchemical symbols; full-page drawing of a double coat of arms with inscriptions on first front flyleaf recto, and a small drawing at foot of f. 53v, of a woman apparently scratching herself with the legend "The flea bites me," both probably by the same skilled hand, possibly the copyist of the codex., Somewhat damaged, especially at beginning, by water-staining and fraying, with some leaves wanting, but the remainder entirely legible and without substantial losses., and Binding: Original limp parchment stained olive green, now worn and with most of the spine, originally with three bands, missing; plain edges. Preserved in a modern box of boards with linen back, modern leather title label added.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Metallurgy
Manuscript on paper of an experimental alchemical compilation, devoted to laboratory procedures
Description:
In German and Latin., Script: Partly written by F.F. Weichenhaan in a clear, sometimes hasty cursive sloping to the right, in Fraktur for the passages in German; the remainder written by Anna Susanna Lieber in a rather loose and pointed Fraktur sloping to the right., Watermarks: Watermarks of the smaller papers at edges and cut, not identified; the paper folded in quarto with a decidely brownish tint and a large, faint watermark in the folds, not identified., Light to very dark brown inks, no color, a few sketches of apparatus in the text. No catchwords, no signatures., Compiled about 1743 by F.F. Weichenhaan, partly from materials written about 1705 by Anna Susanna Lieber., and Binding: Old paper boards with parchment back, a title lettered in brown ink by a modern hand in gothic letters on the backstrip, plain edges.
Manuscript on parchment containing emblematical drawings related to horology and astrology, and astrological tables, each section opening with an elaborate title page
Description:
In Latin, Hebrew, and Greek., Script: Written epigraphically and always with great calligraphic skill in a variety of styles by a single practiced hand, possibly the same which executed the drawings., Each page of the manuscript has a pen-drawn border on the recto side, containing an emblematical drawing, or complex calendrical or horological drawing, executed in pen and heightened with gold and silver., and Binding: Original calf binding, now rather deteriorated, the sides very elaborately gold-tooled in a multiple rectangle pattern, the large innermost rectangle with a series of circles containing floral ornaments, similar half-circles at the edges, the back in compartments with floral decoration; marbled endpapers, plain edges.
In English., Script: Written in a careful cursive hand sloping slightly to the right in a single column 170 x 110 mm without bordering lines or ruling. the text has been partly corrected by another hand and with significant marginalia throughout by this hand in inks of different hues., Watermarks: Paper watermarked with a crowned coat of arms, probably a Dutch paper not certainly identified., Binding: English binding of diced brown Russia leather, a border of gilt dots around the edges of the covers, inside and out, the backstrip in compartments similarly treated, original title label on second compartment from top gold-lettered: "Anonimo Manuscritto di un Vero Adepto." Plain edges. Hinges and corners repaired., Tome 1: 1 smaller leaf 220 x 140 mm inserted after first leaf of index., and Tome 2: 1 smaller leaf 190 x 112 mm inserted after page 157.
"Copy of a room in the Fleet Prison; Tom sits at a table, to left, on which is a rejection letter from John Rich to whom he has submitted a play; his wife clenches her fists, the gaoler asks for garnish money and a boy asks payment for a tankard of ale; to left, Sarah Young has fainted and is being administered smelling salts by one woman while another slaps her hand, her child clings to her skirt; she is supported by an older man with a beard who has dropped a sheet containing a scheme for paying the national debt (a reference to such a scheme put forward by Hogarth's father); in the background an alchemist works at a forge."--British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
Rake's progress. Plate 7
Description:
Title from text engraved above image., Verses, attributed to John Hoadly, below image in three columns, four lines each: His hours of joy are fled with rapid speed, And scenes of anguish in a jail succeed ... Can his person from restraint enlarge., The seventh of eight prints in a series; all are copies of the first states of Hogarth's plates with new verses in the columns below the image; copies were made with Hogarth's consent in 1735. See Paulson, R. Hogarth's graphic works (3rd ed.), page 90., and "Plate 7."--Lower right below design.
Publisher:
Published with the consent of Mr. William Hogarth by Tho. Bakewell
"Copy of a room in the Fleet Prison; Tom sits at a table, to left, on which is a rejection letter from John Rich to whom he has submitted a play; his wife clenches her fists, the gaoler asks for garnish money and a boy asks payment for a tankard of ale; to left, Sarah Young has fainted and is being administered smelling salts by one woman while another slaps her hand, her child clings to her skirt; she is supported by an older man with a beard who has dropped a sheet containing a scheme for paying the national debt (a reference to such a scheme put forward by Hogarth's father); in the background an alchemist works at a forge; with decorative border on either side; after Hogarth.--From another edition, British Museum online catalogue
Alternative Title:
[Rake's progress]. Plate 7 and His Hours of Joy are fled with raipd speed, ...
Description:
Added title from Paulson., "Plate 7."--Lower right below design., Date range for publication based on form of publisher's name in imprint. "Robt. Sayer & Co." is found on prints published during Robert Sayer's final business period (1785-1794), following the Sayer & Bennett partnership (1774-1784) and preceding his death in 1794. See British Museum online catalogue., See: Paulson, R. Hogarth's graphic works (3rd rev. ed.), no. 138., and Matted to: 34 x 46 cm.
Publisher:
Printed for Robt. Sayer & Co., Fleet Street, London
Manuscript on paper of an alchemical text containing an excellent copy of the poem beginning "Unter den sieben Planeten bin ich Sol genannt ..." with associated prose commentaries, as first seen in MS 94. Decorated with a fine frontispiece and elegant head- and tailpieces all drawn in a copperplate style, as well as a series of pen-and-wash drawings depicting alchemical processes emblematically within circles, often surmounted by crosses
Description:
In German and Latin., Script: Calligraphically written in brown inks in a delicate Fraktur with some words or passages in cursive and with title pages in red and brown in elaborate gothic scripts., Watermarks: Written throughout on paper with a "PRO PATRIA" watermark, similar to Heawood 3696-3718, but countermarked with letters "CMH" (? in folds and uncertain)., and Binding: Original or contemporary binding of brown calf, the sides with a blind-impressed border of small tools, partly covered by a single gold rule, the back in six compartments decorated with gold-stamped small tools in a floral pattern, the second compartment from the top stamped directly with "BUCH DER WEISH" and the next compartment below with "MS." Edges peckled red over gilding.
Manuscript on paper of an alchemy in verse with an extended prose commentary
Description:
In German and Latin., Script: Calligraphically written by a single hand in an elegant German Fraktur, the Latin passages in cursive, both sloping to the right., Watermarks: Fine Dutch paper watermarked with a cartouche with the inscription "C. & [?] HONIG" below, comparable to Heawood 3347 (1724-1726), but judged to be somewhat later., and Binding: Original German binding of mottled dark brown calf, sides plain, back in compartments with gold tooling imitative of French work, citron morocco title label with gold lettering in gothic characters, "Das geheime Buch der Weisheit," and blind impression in the compartment below of a second label now missing, lettered "1. 2. 3. 4." Red edges: pastedown and facing side of flyleaves at front and back marbled in red.
Holograph manuscript on parchment and paper of Caspar Harttung vom Hoff of Gastein, Das Vade mecum, a commonplace book of alchemical and medicinal materials, consisting of mostly shorter prose and verse sections, often with excellent drawings, thirty-one in all, of alchemical equipment, written in 1557, and with additions written about fifty years later
Description:
In German and Latin., 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., and 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 |".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Harttung vom Hoff.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Drawing, Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Medicine
Manuscript on paper of John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie, anonymously translated into German
Description:
In German., Script: Written by a very fine and bold German gothic cursive hand., Headings and capitals (a few decorated) in red throughout., and Binding: Original reddish brown polished leather over finely beveled wooden boards, troughs for two clasps and two spikes on front cover, each cover with five nipplelike wrought brass bosses, one at each corner and one in the center, the lower cover with two large brass roundels used to fasten the now-missing strap ties which emerged from the lower fore-edge; sides ruled to a simple geometric pattern, back with raised bands, the clasps now missing and the hinges cracked, but the binding sound.
Manuscript on paper of Andreas Oberlender, Probter Buechleln, 1532, an unsigned later copy executed about 1600, with a few additions. A metallurgical experiment book of the type circulated among those interested in alchemy, mining, and metallurgy in the 16th century, this text treats at length several minerals with a metallic luster such as marcasite, especially crystallized iron pyrites, which were often used ornamentally, in costume jewelry
Description:
In German., 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., Red inks used for tabular data and infrequent sketches of alchemical apparatus in the text., and 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.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Oberlender, Andreas.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, German literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, Marcasite, and Metallurgy
Manuscript on paper roll of George Ripley (?), Alchemy, in English verse, with additional verses attributed to Richard Carpenter. With Arnold of Villanova, Visio mystica, anonymously translated into English
Alternative Title:
Ripley Scroll
Description:
In English., Watermark: coat of arms (a bend) surmounted by a large fleur-de-lys, the type of Briquet 995 and Heawood 58-118, but not identical with any of these., Script: Written by an accomplished secretary hand using various forms and sizes of letter, some headings in roman capitals in epigraphic style., Large drawings in ink and watercolor. One large and fine drawing of an alchemist who holds a vessel, in which are eight roundels with brief Latin inscriptions and containing drawings symbolizing alchemical processes, all joined together by chain-links and surrounding a larger roundel to which they are connected by chains emanating from the bosses of a large book in the central roundel, the book being held by two individuals, the one on the left in monk's dress, the one on the right in richer (kingly?) garb. A toad, feathers, and drops of blood arise from the vessel. Another drawing of a tree growing from a well, its leafy top extending upward into the text, its leaves with the legend "Spiritus Anima"; against the tree trunk are a female anthropomorphic figure with the toes of a toad, labeled "Spiritus", and below, a male child labeled "Anima"; vines with grapes twine around the tree trunk, and two nude human figures, male and female, standing in the water grasp the vines and eat the grapes. Around the well are seven towers, in each of which is a robed alchemist holding a flask; the towers have the legend "Prima (-Septima) Imbibissio". In a third large drawing, the sun breaks through clouds and droplets of water fall on an anthropomorphic, crowned human-headed bird (the Phoenix?) which reposes on a brownish ball with a pattern of waves (the sea, as the verses below state); feathers surround the ball. Below is a sort of sunburst with a sphere at center inside of which are three smaller spheres, red, blue, and gray, linked together by chains. Below this is a triple crescent moon of the same colors, with the inscription "Luna cressens" (sic). Below, the snout of a very large dragon intrudes on (bites?) the crescent moon; the dragon is flanked by the legend at the foot of f. 11: The Serpent of Arrabia. The dragon occupies all of f. 12 and reposes on an orb divided into three parts onto which its blood drips. At left of the final folio, there is an excellent drawing of a man, his mouth agape, his left hand raised in a gesture of astonishment. He appears to be dressed in humble attire; he carries a bag over his shoulder, and a sack over his right arm; under the same arm is a curious pole with a shod horse's hoof at one end, a scroll at the pointed upper end, a portion of the scroll streaming out behind him., Paper roll consisted originally of thirteen folio sheets and half-sheets of differing lengths glued together, averaging 540 mm. in width (lateral margins and broad bordering line in black ink partly trimmed away); now cut into thirteen sections measuring about 435 x 540 each, except for the last which measures 625 x 540, each of the sections glued down to a linen backing and the whole folded in-leporello., and Binding: Modern brown suede leather, back and corners of brown niger, gold rules setting off the two leathers on each cover, the upper cover with title lettered in gold, "ASTROLOGICAL SCROLL", probably English, early 20th century.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Ripley, George, d. 1490?
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, English poetry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, English, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, containing Middle English versions of several works by Rolle, including Emendatio vitae; Ego dormio; The Commandment; and Form of Living. Also contains a Middle English version of Walter Hilton's Mixed Life and The volume also contains Johannes de Rupescissa, Tractatus de Quinta Essentia (ca. 1470). 84 l. Manuscript on paper, in a single gothic bookhand. In Latin. Preceded by a title page dated 1650
Description:
In Middle English., Layout: single columns of 25-31 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: some rubrication., and Binding: seventeenth-century limp vellum.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Rolle, Richard, 1290?-1349.
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, English (Middle), English literature, English prose literature, Alchemy, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment of 1) Ps.-Raymundus Lullus, Figurae instrumentales Testamenti: Diagrams and tables related to the Testamentum, a treatise of the Lullian alchemical corpus. 2) Recipes for obtaining the philosophical stone and the magisterium
Description:
In Latin., Script: Art. 1 is written by one scribe in Southern Gothica Semitextualis Libraria, with cursive x and cursive final s. Art. 2 was added by two scribes writing Humanistica Cursiva Libraria., The tables and diagrams are traced in brown or red ink. Except in the tables there is no ruling for the text. The text is written in brown and red ink., and The parchment is stained and worn due to folding and manipulation.
Manuscript, on paper, in several hands, containing a collection of texts related to geomancy, divination, alchemy, and astrology. The principal work is a Latin translation of the Geomancia of Alkardianus, usually attributed to Bernard Silvester. This text is heavily annotated and surrounded by other notes and shorter works
Description:
In Latin. and Binding: contemporary limp parchment wallet-style wrapper binding, cockled and damaged. Effaced lettering on upper cover.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Alkardianus. and Bernard Silvestris, active 1136.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Astrology, Divination, Geomancy, and Manuscripts, Medieval
"The artist introduces us to the laboratory of a so-called alchemist. A roguish Jew and his familiar are busily engaged in the transmutation of metals; the servant, with a pair of long- nozzled bellows, is engaged in kindling the furnace, in which is a crucible; various retorts, alembics, and other paraphernalia of the 'black arts,' are scattered about, as well as a formula for 'changing lead into gold'; although the alchemists at best could only contrive to accomplish the reverse transmutation. Suggestive prints are hung on the walls of this chamber of mystery, such as the portrait of the notorious 'Count Cagliostro, discoverer of the Philosopher's Stone,' and the figure of the spurious 'Bottle Conjurer.' A military officer, in the next apartment, is turning his opportunities to more practical advantage by embracing, with a certain display of ardour, a pretty maiden who is nothing loth, the daughter, it appears, of the philosophically minded investigator."--Grego, J. Rowlandson the caricaturist
Alternative Title:
Searching for the philosophers stone
Description:
Title etched below image., Signed in image, lower left., Traces of burnished lettering in lower right corner of design., Not in the Catalogue of prints and drawings in the British Museum. Division I, political and personal satires., Temporary local subject terms: Hoaxes: allusion to bottle conjurer -- Male costume -- Furniture: chest -- Philosopher's stone., Temporary local Medical Library subject terms: Sex behavior., 1 print : etching and aquatint on wove paper, hand-colored ; plate mark 30 x 35 cm, on sheet 30.7 x 36.1 cm., and Mounted on leaf 33 of volume 7 of 14 volumes.
Publisher:
Pub. March 12, 1800, at R. Ackermans Repository of the Arts, N. 101 Strand
Manuscript on paper and parchment of a version in French of the German text, Das Buch von der Heiligen Dreifaltigkeit, with close copies of the illuminations in two fifteenth-century manuscripts. Contains illustrations that mix Christian symbolism, especially the Passion of Christ, with alchemical symbolism, and also depict some apparatus
Description:
In French., Script: Calligraphically written in brown ink in a very clear, large cursive hand., Watermarks: Paper watermarked with large fleur-de-lys with a cartouche, surmounted by a crown, the letter "W" below, perhaps identical to Heawood 1845., With illustrations added about 1875., and Binding: Nineteenth-century French citron polished calf, sides bordered with triple gold rules, gold-stamped fleurons at the corners, back in compartments gold-stamped with small tools, red morocco title label, marbled pastedowns and flyleaves, the latter glued to parchment flyleaves which appear to have come from an earlier binding of this volume; mottled edges.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Religious aspects, Christianity, and Trinity
Manuscript on paper of Elias Cortonensis O.F.M., Lumen luminum, said according to this copy to have been composed in 1315, an erroneous date, and drawn from Saracen and Hebrew sources, translated into Latin. With a cryptic text, ascribed to a church figure, with a cipher code; and miscellaneous recipes in Italian
Description:
In Latin, with Italian prologue., Watermark: a circle containing an unidentified design element, with a six-pointed star on a shaft above, not identified., Script: Written in an italic hand and partly in cipher., and Binding: Original, North Italian. Dark leather, the sides ruled with triple bordering lines to form a rectangle within a rectangle, the smaller rectangle with a roll tool of vinelike foliage impressed in blind, a smaller interior rectangle formed by the panel of roll tooling with gold-stamped ivy leaves at the corners and a circular stamp incorporating the "yhs" monogram in the center framed by a lozenge of tooling with the same roll already mentioned; back with five raised bands; modern gold-stamped title label pasted onto second compartment from top. Backstrip and corners extensively repaired; gilt edges stamped with a herringbone knotwork pattern.
Manuscript, on paper, in several cursive hands, containing a variety of alchemical, medical, and other "scientific" texts in Latin, Middle English, and Anglo-Norman French. Contents include two Middle English poems, one on the four temperments, and the other the alchemical Secrets of the philosophers, attributed to George Ripley. Other contents include a dialogue between Dives and Lazarus; a copy of the Computus manualis; verious medical and alchemical recipes and formulae; and a treatise on snakeskin
Description:
In Latin, Middle English, and Anglo-Norman French. and Binding: contemporary limp vellum.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, English literature, English poetry, English prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, Medicine, and Science
Manuscript on paper of the compilation of a physician interested in medicine, alchemy, and herbs. Includes three texts by Krisean z Prachatic, a physician, herbalist, and teacher of Prague University; Albicus, De regimine sanitatis, a treatise on the treatment of paralysis and the plague; Albicus, Regimen for King Wenceslaus of Bohemia (1361-1419); several alphabets of general scientific terms in Latin with Czech and/or German equivalents; Latin names of herbs with Czech and sometimes Polish equivalents; John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie; and hundreds of medical and alchemical recipes
Description:
In Latin, Czech, German, transliterated Arabic, and Polish., Script: The greater part of the manuscript (except the unnumbered quires 15-19) written by a single hand in a clear, round, and steady Gothica cursiva. Quires 15-19 written in a similar but more pointed and flowing hand, sometimes more condensed, similarly decorated., Headings, foliation, rubrics, and capital strokes in red., and Binding: Probably original. Brown calf, the covers ruled with triple parallel lines to a pattern of four rectangles within a rectangle, the larger rectangle crossed with similar ruling; indications of five center and corner pieces on each cover, possibly of iron and certainly fastened with iron nails, now lost; indications of two missing clasps and catches at the fore-edges of the covers; heavily repaired at fore-edges, hinges, and backstrip, the original back divided into four compartments by five heavy double bands, a modern morocco label in the second compartment from the top gold-stamped between double gold rules top and bottom: "ALCHEMICAL-MEDICAL | MISCELLANY | - | MANUSCRIPT | MIDDLE EUROPE | XVTH CENTURY".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc, Herbs, Latin language, Glossaries, vocabularies, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Medicine, Medieval
Manuscript, in unidentified hand, on paper, containing a description of several alchemical and medical ingredients and processes. Includes a table of contents, using alchemical symbols, on f. 1: Aurum potabile (ff. 1-4), Lapis animalis (ff. 4-14), Lapis Vegetabilis (ff. 14-19), Lapis mineralis (ff. 19-26), Aurum potabile (ff. 26-30), Tinctura cum mercurio (ff. 30-33), Tinctura magna (ff. 33-36), Das war Auz[] pota[]le (ff. 36-41), Testamentum Raimundi Lulii (ff. 41-58), [mercuriis?] corporibus, Sequitur solutiones, Tinctura animalis, Tinctura albedinis (ff. 77-80), Coagulatio Mercurii (ff. 80-82), De oro argento (ff. 82-83), Verus elixir (ff. 83-86), Secreta Antionii (ff. 86-92), Proiectio (ff. 92-99).
Description:
In Latin and German., Title devised by cataloger., Script: gothic cursiva., Decoration: headings in red ink. Spare rubrication., Layout: single column of around 17 lines., Binding: red vellum binding., and Foliation in later hand.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Manuscripts, Materia medica, Medicine, Medicine, Medieval, and Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric
Manuscript on paper (thick) containing 1) Basilius Valentinus, Porta sophica, sive duodecim claves. 2) Marcellus Palingenius, Alchemical invocation. 3) George Ripley, Liber duodecim portarum, the prologue only. 4) Hermes, Tabula smaragdina. 5) Basilius Valentinus, Practica cum duodecim clavibus. 6) Lambsprinck, De lapide philosophico libellus. 7) Michael Maier, and others, Emblematical alchemical paintings, without text. 8) Riginio Danielli, Canzone
Description:
In Latin and Italian., Script: Painstakingly but not very skillfully written by a single hand imitating different typefaces., In brown ink with some red headings and capitals., and Binding: Probably original binding of plain brown calf, back with four raised bands, remains of early paper title label at top of backstrip on which the compiler's name is written partly defectively, "Gregori ... [sic] ... llmri ..." Badly wormed and repaired in modern times, with modern leather title label on backstrip.
Manuscript on paper containing 1) Michael Sendivogius, Novum lumen chymicum & Parabola, translated into German. 2) De lapide philosophico et eius praeparatione, in German. 3) Alchemical recipes, in German, beginning with a brief description of alchemical implements and vessels in Latin. 4) Via veritatis, in German
Description:
In German and Latin., Script: Written in a rather upright Fraktur, with Latin words and passages in italic cursive., Six pen-drawn illustrations on ff. 107v-108v., Watermark: an armorial shield at margins and cut, not identified., and Binding: Original limp parchment fashioned from a leaf taken from a French (?) manuscript, ca. 1300, containing canon law fragments written in two columns in a formal Littera parisiensis, with glossae in a less formal hand, with section marks in red and blue, rather worn; pale red edges. Preserved in a modern marbled board solander case with tan oasis back by Carolyn Horton.
Subject (Name):
Sendivogius, Michael, 1566-1636.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Natural history, Pre-Linnaen works, and German literature
Manuscript on paper of a miscellany. The manuscript seems to be a compilation organized, corrected and expanded by a single person specialized in pharmacology and medicine and interested in natural history, encyclopedical knowledge and history
Description:
In Latin with some Czech (?), German, and Hebrew., Watermarks: crown (var. Briquet 4616?), circles (var. Briquet 3194?), bull's head (?)., Script: Copied by various scribes, writing Gothica Cursiva Libraria or Currens in various sizes, often very small; ff. 127r-143r, 7 are in a markedly different, larger form of Gothica Cursiva Libraria., The decoration is unevenly spread: heightening of majuscules and plain initials in red. On ff. 162-170 alternance of red and green initials, on f. 162r flourished initial in the same colours. Artt. 21 and 22 are not illustrated, although the text mentions figurae., At many places the paper is deteriorated by the acidity of the ink., and Binding: Original limp parchment. A bifolium from a German manuscript in Gothica Cursiva, worn and stained, lined with a German document on parchment in Gothica Cursiva Antiquior/Recentior. Leather spine stiffener with ornamental stitching.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Christian literature, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval, Medicine, Medieval, Natural history, and Pharmacology
Vol. 2 has title: Donum Dei Samuelis Baruch ... welcher erlernet das grosse Geheimniss des grossen Meisters Tubalkains aus dessen Tabell, gefunden von Abrahamo Eliazare, dem Juden. I. N. U. CXI.
Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225 بوني، أحمد بن علي، -1225
Published / Created:
1874.
Call Number:
Arabic MSS suppl. 759
Image Count:
528
Resource Type:
text
Abstract:
Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá (Larger Sun of knowledge), by Abū al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī al-Būnī (died 1225), a well-known Ṣufī scholar from the city of Būnah (Bône), now ʻAnnābah (Annaba, Algeria), who died in Cairo. This work is designated "al-kubrá" (the larger) to distinguish it from the author's two other treatises: "al-wusṭá"́ (the middle) and "al-ṣughrá" (the smaller). It is also listed in the text under the title "Shams al-maʻārif wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif" (Sun of knowledge and intricacies of diviners), a treatise on magic, alchemy, astrology, divination, Islamic occultism, the name of God (including 'al-Asmāʼ al-Ḥusná', the 99 beautiful names of God), the magical use of the Arabic Alphabet, and talismans. The present work is a lithographed edition, printed from an original copy from India, in four parts, as follows: al-Juzʼ al-awwal (Part one: Pages 1-132), al-Juzʼ al-thānī (Part two: pages 1-116), al-Juzʼ al-thālith (Part three: pages 1-124), al-Juzʼ al-rābiʻ (Part four: Pages 1-148), followed by an index of contents for the four parts (Pages 1-7). The work was printed on 20 Shawwāl, 1291 of the Hijrah (30 November, 1874). Place and name of the printer not mentioned
Alternative Title:
Shams al-maʻārif wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif and شمس المعارف ولطائف العوارف
Description:
In Arabic., Title from cover., Romanization supplied by cataloger., Incipit: "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm. Shahādat azal, fa-min nūr hādhihi al-shahādah ightarafa al-muṣannifūn ʻilman. Fa-ifham dhālik. Wa-al-tartīb al-abadī fī al-shahādatayn al-muttaṣilatayn bi-al-malāʼikah al-kirām. Wa-awwal al-ʻilm fa-hādhihi shahādat al-abad. Fa-man fahima sirr hātayn al-shahādatayn shāhad al-malakūtayn wa-mā awdaʻāhu bi-sirr al-ittiṣāl bi-al-kashfīyāt ...", Secundo folio: Ammā baʻd, fa-lil-ḥaqq aʻlām., 16.5 x 23.5 cm; written surface: 12 x 20 cm; 31 lines per page., Binding: In green cardboard cover and dark brown paper on the spine., In naskh script, in black ink, on white paper; many illustrations and magic squares; text within double frames; catchwords. At the head of the opening page of each of the four parts is a decorative design., On cover: "Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá", printed in silver., On page 1 of al-Juzʼ al-awwal: "Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif, fī arbaʻat ajzāʼ, lil-Quṭb al-Imām Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī al-Būnī, wa-bi-nihāyat al-arbaʻat kutub, [al-kutub] al-ātiyah: 1. Kitāb Mīzān al-ʻadl fī maqāṣid aḥkām al-raml. 2. Kitāb Fawātiḥ al-raghāʼib fī khuṣūṣīyāt awqāt al-kawākib. 3. Kitāb Zahr al-murūj fī dalāʼil al-burūj. 4. Kitāb Laṭāʼif al-ishārah fī khaṣāʼiṣ al-kawākib al-sayyārah." "Maṭbūʻ ʻalá al-nuskhah al-Hindīyah al-aṣlīyah." These four books are not included in this codex and seem to serve as an advertisement for works to follow., al-Juzʼ al-thānī (Part two), starts with: "al-Faṣl al-khāmis ʻashar. Fī al-shurūṭ al-lāzimah li-baʻḍ dūna baʻḍ fī al-bidāyāt wa-al-nihāyāt.", al-Juzʼ al-thālith (Part three), starts, after al-Basmalah, with: "al-Faṣl al-ḥādī wa-al-ʻishrūn. Fī Asmāʼ Allāh al-Ḥusná, wa-anmāṭihā, wa-mā li-kull namaṭ min al-daʻawāt.", al-Juzʼ al-rābiʻ (Part four), starts, after al-Basmalah, with: "al-Faṣl al-thāmin wa-al-thalāthūn. Fī istikhdāmāt al-ḥurūf wa-khalawātihā.", Colophon: "Tamma Kitāb Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá lil-Imām al-Būnī fī ʻishrīn min Shawwāl, sanat 1291 Hijrīyah. Wa-lammā kādat shams ṭabʻihā tabzughu lil-ṭulūʻ arrakhahā baʻḍ al-madmīyīn [al-mādiḥīn] bi-qawlihi, shiʻr [in Ḥisāb al-jummal (Alphabetical reckoninig)]: ... Wa-fīhā ará al-tārīkh jāda bi-qawlihi // yufīdu al-amānī ṭabʻu Shams al-maʻārif. Sanat 1291.", and Translation of the colophon: "The book 'Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá' of al-Imām al-Būnī was completed on 20 Shawwal, 1291 of the Hijrah [30 November, 1874]. When the sun of its printing started to rise, someone praised it and mentioned the date of printing, in verse [using Ḥisāb al-jummal "Alphabetical reckoning"], saying: ... In it I see the date, saying generously: The printing of Shams al-maʻarif satisfies the wishes. The year 1291."
Subject (Name):
Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Arabic alphabet, Astrology, Divination, God (Islam), Name, Islamic magic, Islamic occultism, Lithographed books, Magic, and Talismans
Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225 بوني، أحمد بن علي، -1225
Call Number:
Hartford Seminary Arabic MSS 93
Image Count:
700
Abstract:
Shams al-maʻārif wa-laṭāʼif al-ʻawārif (also called "Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá" to distinguish it from the author's two other smaller treatises: al-wusṭa "the middle one" and al-ṣughrá "the little one"), a treatise on magic, alchemy, astrology, devination, Islamic occultism, the name of God and the magical use of the Arabic alphabet by Abū al-ʻAbbās Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī al-Būnī (d. 1225), a famous sufi scholar from the city of Būnah (Bône) now ʻAnnābah (Annaba, Algeria), died in Cairo, Egypt. Name of copyist and place of copying are not mentioned; the date of copying is mentioned enigmatically in the 12th century H (18th century M).
Alternative Title:
Shams al-maʻārif al-kubrá and شمس المعارف الكبرى
Description:
In Arabic., Incipit: "Bismillāh al-Raḥmān al-Raḥīm wa-ṣallá Allāh ʻalá Sayyidinā wa-Mawlānā Muḥammad wa-ṣaḥbihi wa-sallam. al-Ḥamdu lillāh alladhī aḥāṭa bi-kull shayʼ ʻilman wa-ʻallam al-insān mā lam yaʻlam wa-ashhadu an lā ilāh illā Allāh waḥdah lā sharīka lah wa-ashhadu anna Muḥammadan rasūl Allāh ṣallá Allāh ʻalayhi wa-sallam, shahida Allāh an lā ilāh illā huwa shahādat azal, fa-min nūr hādhihi al-shahādah ightaraf al-muṣṭafūn ʻilman, fa-ifham dhālika. Wa-al-tartīb al-abadī fī al-shahādatayn al-muttaṣilatayn bi-al-malāʼikah al-kirām wa-ulī al-ʻilm fa-hādhihi shahādat al-abad, fa-man fahima sirra hātayn al-shahādatayn shāhada al-malakūtayn ...", 20 x 29 cm; written surface: 14 x 22 cm, ca. 30 lines per page., Bound., In fair naskh script, on yellowish paper; keywords and markings in red; some notes and corrections on the margins; magic squares and illustrations; text within double red frames; catchwords., Includes table of contents at the beginning of the manuscript: "al-Faṣl al-awwal fī al-ḥurūf al-muʻjamah wa-mā yatarattabu fīhā min al-asrār wa-al-iḍmārāt. al-Faṣl al-thānī fī al-kasr wa-al-basṭ wa-tartīb al-aʻmāl min al-awqāt wa-al-sāʻāt. al-Faṣl al-thālith fī aḥkām manāzil al-qamar al-thamāniyah wa-ʻishrīn al-falakīyah ...", and Colophon: "... Wa-Allāh asʼalu an yulhima li-fahm mā ramaznāh wa-kashf mā satarnāh akh ṣadīq wa-khill ḥaqq [i.e. akhan ṣadīqan wa-khillan ḥaqqan]. Wa-fī hādhā al-qadr kifāyah li-man waffaqahu Allāh taʻālá wa-lā ḥawla wa-lā qūwata illā billāh al-ʻAlī al-ʻAẓīm wa-ṣallá Allāh ʻalá Sayyidinā Muḥammad wa-ṣaḥbihi ajmaʻīn wa-jamīʻ al-anbiyāʼ wa-al-mursalīn wa-al-ḥamdu lillāh Rabb al-ʻĀlamīn. al-Tārīkh: Fī niṣf awwal min khums thālith min thulth awwal min niṣf thānī min suds thālith min niṣf awwal min khums thānī min ʻushr awwal min qarn thānī ʻashar min hijrat khayr al-bashar ṣallá Allāh ʻalayhi wa-sallama taslīman kathīran. Tamma wa-kamula."
Subject (Name):
Būnī, Aḥmad ibn ʻAlī, -1225.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Arabic alphabet, Astrology, Divination, God (Islam), Name, Islamic magic, Islamic occultism, and Magic
Manuscript on paper in English verse with a Latin verse prologue of Thomas Norton of Bristol's Ordinall of Alchemy, written in 1477
Description:
In English and Latin., Script: Written by a single English hand writing a very fine and regular italic sloping to the right., No color, no illustration., Watermark: arms of Austria with the golden fleece, similar to Briquet 2291., and Binding: Original English binding of white, limp parchment, the covers blocked in gold with the armorial stamp employed by Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland: the badge of the Percy house, the white or crescent moon, within the representation of the garter, surmounted by an earl's coronet; fore-edges of each cover with overhanging flaps and with remains of two original green linin ties; flat back with four thongs used in the sewing-in exposed at regular intervals on each side of the backstrip, with traces of original lettering at head of backstrip now illegible, later writing in old style below probably the work of a modern repairer, possibly covering an original inscription; plain edges; a strip of parchment, cut from a manuscript in Latin, ca. 1100, is visible surrounding the back of the quires of the manuscript, used in the sewing-in, with writing visible at the front of the volume only.
Manuscript on parchment (rather thick) of a codex containing alchemical verses and other works by Samuel Norton and illustrated with skillful drawings of the arcane figures associated with Norton's work
Description:
In French., Script: Written by a single hand which has also annotated and captioned the drawings in a neat cursive sloping to the right, with the addition of passages in italic and chancery scripts., and Binding: Early, perhaps original, French binding of black morocco, the sides with triple gold fillet around the edges, a similar triple fillet forming a rectangular panel in the center of each cover with fleurons at the corners, the inside edges with a border of small tools stamped in gold, the back gilt compartments formed by five raised bands, modern title label on second compartment from top, some modern repairs with brown leather, including filling up the four holes on each cover which originally held ties, now missing; original gilt edges.
Two diverse cryptic alchemies written by one copyist and linked by two series of alchemical emblems. The first text, Philosophia hermetica, in Italian verse, is linked to Federicl Gualdi. The second text, Compendiolum de praeparatione auri potabilis veri, is attributed to M[arcus] E[ugenius] Bonacina.
Alternative Title:
Compendiolum de praeparatione auri potabilis veri and Philosophia hermetica
Binders leaves : ff. 4-16, 18, 20, 22, 24-25, 27, 29, 31, 33, 35, 38, 39-40, 43, 45, 47, 49, 51-83 mostly blank with several modern annotations in pencil., ff. 42 : anonymous additions written in England, ca. 1700 (missing from volume)., and On paper with modern foliation in pencil including binder's blanks.
