Manuscript on paper of the writings of Christopher of Paris (pseudonym for a Venetian exile), including his major work, Lucidario, with its supplementary alphabet, plus three letters.
Description:
Binding: Original plain parchment wrapper without ties, back with three raised bands, soiled and worn. Plain edges., ff. 1r-167r correctly paginated 1-333 and the pagination used in the detailed description, the remainder unnumbered, of ff. 170 originally, single leaves apparently canceled originally and cut away by the copyist after ff. 162 and 164, as
noted in the detailed collation, but not noted in the description as the original pagination is consecutive., Mary Mellon, acquired from William Gannon (bookseller), New York, 1941; Mellon MS 145. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., Rubricated, headings often in red., and Script: Written by a single good italic hand, sometimes hasty toward the end of the codex.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Alphabet books, Italian letters, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of an alchemical compilation, apparently the holograph of the original compiler, not identified. Probably the laboratory notes of a practicing alchemist. Includes lists of Flemish names, apparently identifying fellow practitioners in early alchemy; and laboratory procedures, designed primarily to color metals and to carry out other operations with various substances. Leaves inserted and blank pages filled at later dates.
Description:
Binding: Probably original. Stiff parchment over paper boards, flaps over the fore-edge, probably dating from about 1525, conceivably later, as the manuscript contents do not appear to have been bound at the time of writing in any case; flat spine with modern inscription in brown ink, "Alchemical, Headings of procedures in red and blue alternating in the original section, and with some capitals stroked red; no color in the additions. No ornament., Recipes, original blue edges., Script: The original part of the codex (ff. 1-133) written in a very fine, neat, and clear humanistic hand, and using a considerable range of alchemical symbols; the later additions (ff. 134-145) consist of Latin sections written in a neat italic and German passages in flowing cursive, perhaps both by a single German hand of the 18th century., Though the whole of the manuscript has suffered some marginal water-staining since it was bound, it appears certain that other stains and damage occurred while the separated quires, or groups of them, remained unbound., and Watermark: Outstretched hand, the fingerjoints indicated, a four-leafed petal extending from the tip of the third finger, the wrist and cuff of a sleeve also depicted, comparable to Briquet 11423.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and Science, Medieval
Avicenna, 980-1037 Jābir ibn Ḥayyān Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā, 865?-925? Richard, de Fournival, fl. 1246-1260
Published / Created:
[ca. 1350]
Call Number:
Mellon MS 2
Image Count:
96
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment of a collection of practical alchemies and procedures, the earliest such manuscript in the Mellon collection. Contains texts transmitted from Arabic sources and what appear to be European additions to the literature and practice of alchemy. Includes the following identifiable texts: Rasis or Aristotle, Lumen luminum perfecti magisterii; Avicenna, Epistola ad Hasen; Geber, Liber deitatis sive divinitatis and Summa perfectionis magisterii; Rasis, De aluminibus et salibus, extracts; and Richard de Fournival, Opus Arturi, or De arte alchemica. and The codex is an important, early, and comprehensive collection of largely practical alchemies and procedures. It is also of special significance both because of its early copies of texts transmitted from Arabic sources and for what appear to be very early, independent, European additions to the literature and practice of alchemy.
Description:
Alternating red and blue capitals throughout, some headings in red, many capitals stroked red, slight filiform decoration to opening initial of the volume, the rubrics and decoration probably by one of the scribes or another closely related hand., Binding: Early, probably 15th century. Undecorated red-dyed hide over beveled wooden boards, four brass edgepieces on each cover attached with brass nails, two brass catches on upper cover, lightly chased brass and leather clasps on lower cover (all of the material of cut sheet-brass), back with six raised bands, repaired and rebacked, with modern leather title label. Used as pastedowns inside upper and lower cover are two leaves from a 14th-century Germanic (perhaps Netherlandish) manuscript on parchment containing plainsong written in Germanic neumes on five-line staves, the text in Gothica textualis formata, large gothic capitals in red or blue, one at top of lower pastedown in black and red slightly decorated. In all the staves but the last on the lower pastedown the center-line is stroked red and bears the clef sign; in the last, the fourth line from the bottom has these indications., Pastedowns inside both covers are two leaves from a 14th-century Germanic (perhaps Netherlandish) manuscript on parchment containing plainsong written in Germanic neumes on five-line staves, the text in Gothica textualis formata, large gothic capitals in red or blue, one at top of lower pastedown in black and red slightly decorated., Possibly written by Frater Bartholomaeus (of?) Ol-----, 1335, according to a later note at foot of f. 88v, Script: Written by three scribes all using similar, legible, and rather cursive forms of Gothica textualis; the first scribe wrote ff. 1r-64v, the second ff. 65r-77r1, 38, and the third the remainder., Written by three scribes all using closely similar, legible, and rather cursive forms of Gothica textualis, heavily abbreviated with standard forms., and Written space 184 x 116, 2 columns, 50-49-48 lines each.
Subject (Name):
Avicenna, 980-1037, Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294, Duveen, Denis I., bookplate, Geber, 13th cent. Summa perfectionis magisterii, Razi, Abu Bakr Muh ammad ibn Zakariya, 865?-925?, Richard, de Fournival, fl. 1246-1260, and Saumaise, Claude, 1588-1653, provenance
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of a group of shorter works by Christopher of Paris (pseudonym), probably a Venetian alchemist. With John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie.
Description:
Binding: Sixteenth century. Brown calf, the covers blind-ruled to a rectangular pattern, the large center rectangle diagonally ruled to a lozenge pattern, a single quatrefoil impressed in blind in each of the rectangles and lozenges so formed, edges partly renewed and rebacked in the style of the period of the binding with compartments formed by three double raised bands, a gold stamped title label in the second compartment from top reading: "CHRISTOPHE | DE PARIS | - | RUPESCISSA | MANUSCRIPTS | ITALY | 15TH C". The endpapers are modern insertions, though of old paper, and the binding, while of the period of the manuscript, probably had no original connection with this codex., Denis Duveen; Mellon MS 45, acquired with the Duveen collection. Gift of Paul and Mary Mellon, 1965., In Italian and Latin., No headlines, headings and some capitals in pale red., Script: Written by a single scribe in a late humanistic cursive hand sloping slightly to the right., and Watermarks: 1) anchor with ring atop the shank, all within a circle; 2) plain and ill-drawn anchor with thick flukes, the top of the shank forming a small, neat cross with the short stock. Both probably Italian papers, not directly comparable to the varieties illustrated by Briquet.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie, anonymously translated into German.
Description:
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., Headings and capitals (a few decorated) in red throughout., and Script: Written by a very fine and bold German gothic cursive hand.
Subject (Name):
Johannes,--de Rupescissa,--ca. 1300-ca. 1365
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Johannes, de Rupescissa, ca. 1300-ca. 1365 Křišt̕an z Prachatic, ca. 1366-1439 Wenceslas, Emperor of Germany, 1361-1419
Published / Created:
[ca. 1440]
Call Number:
Mellon MS 9
Image Count:
671
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
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:
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"., Headings, foliation, rubrics, and capital strokes in red., Pagination refers to openings, i.e. facing pages., and 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.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Handbooks, vade-mecums, etc, Herbs--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
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