Manuscript, on vellum, incomplete, in a single hand, of John Lydgate's and Benedict Burgh's Middle English verse translation of the twelfth-century Latin treatise Secretum Secretorum, itself a translation of the Kitab sirr al-asrar. In addition to this text, the volume also contains several prose pieces in Middle English and Latin, including one with illustrated diagrams and a Latin tract on the interpretation of dreams
Description:
In Middle English and Latin., Several medical recipes added on blank leaves and portions of leaves in a sixteenth-century? cursive hand., Signature of John Bowen? in a seventeenth-century hand. Signature of Thomas Bowen in a seventeenth-century hand., Layout: various single-column., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: 15 illuminated borders; other decorated initials, some gilt., and Binding: disbound, but with some original sewing intact; modern case.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Astronomy, Astronomy, Medieval, Education of princes, English prose literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, Medicine, and Medicine, Medieval
Title and date supplied by curator., Place of publication derived from language of text., Three woodcuts, portion of text and border cuts: probably used as a bookbinding., and This electronic record is derived from historic data and may not reflect our current information. Review and updating of records is ongoing.
Publisher:
publisher not identified
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Phlebotomy, Human body, Zodiac, Surgery, and Sick persons
Manuscript, on paper, in a single hand, of a collection of astrological information and a treatise on the signs of the zodiac, including lists of activities appropriate for each sign, and descriptions of the characteristics of those born under the influence of different planets
Description:
In Middle English., Tipped in: astrological chart, on paper, for the years 1646-1664., Layout: single columns of 17-25 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: some capitals and words rubricated., and Binding: nineteenth-century half calf over marbled boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval, Astrology, and English prose literature
Manuscript on paper of Astrological tables for solar and lunar locations, probably for use in compiling calendars; tables of latitudes of cities; chronological tables for 1508-18. Most tables are accompanied by prose descriptions
Description:
In Italian., Watermarks: trimmed, in upper margins; unidentified eagle enclosed by a circle similar in design to Briquet Aigle 204., Script: Written in Italian notarial script by a single scribe., Yellow added to initials and to astrological signs, and some numbers., Stained throughout; final folio repaired., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Blind-tooled brown sheepskin.
Manuscript on parchment of astrological texts drawn largely from Arab astrology of the early Middle Ages, and transmitted in medieval Latin translations; in addition Ptolemy's Centiloquium is present, transmitted not in Greek but through the Arabic, along with a single contemporary component, the Astrolabium planum of Johann Engel
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a large and clear hand in Gothica textualis formata and Bastarda., Rubrics, and occasional headlines in red, diagrams in the text in brown and red inks. Full illuminated border, outlined in red, on f. 1r of leafy sprays in colors and gold, the white spaces filled up with black dots and small burnished gold circles each with three or four small tendrils; a large initial in burnished gold and colors at the beginning of the text in the first column, with gold band extending downward and then around three sides of the page forming an inner border, completed by a red line at top; a lozenge at the center of the lower band of the border containing a pattern of platelike discs, quatrefoils, and a leafy spray on a dull gold ground, this segment almost certainly a later replacement of an original coat of arms which has been erased. Elsewhere in the manuscript smaller illuminated initials in the style of the first frequently occur, and larger ones with descenders to partial borders at the foot of the page occur. Each of the ninety-six pages from f. 191r through 238v has four drawings in colors (six on those pages which open each of the signs of the Zodiac), placed within diagrams accompanied by slight text., and Binding: Nineteenth century, English. Marbled paper boards, green calf back with six heavy (false?) bands, the compartments with patterns of small tools impressed in gold and with gold-stamped titles, a small rectangular label with the printed number 1037 and a small round label with the inked number 894 glued to the bottommost compartment. All edges gilt. Preserved in a modern green cloth folding box, probably French, with leather label.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Ptolemy, active 2nd century.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Astrology, Arab, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of Joannes de Sacro Bosco, Sphaera, translated into English and supplemented by Anthony Ascham. With calendar for the years 1529-35; "The Complaynt Off Sanct Cipriane, The Grett Nigromancer," a poem by Anthony Ascham. Includes individual zodiac volvelles with descriptions in Latin (several volvelles attached to the incorrect month).
Description:
In English and Latin., Watermarks: similar to Briquet Lettres et Monogrammes 9890 and Pot 12863., Script: Text written in English secretary script., Numerous explanatory drawings and tables appear throughout the manuscript, including 40 drawings of constellations; nineteen maps, accompanied by tables of longitude and latitude; nine devices that explain the movement of the heavenly bodies. All drawings are carefully drawn in brown ink, tinted with washes of green, yellow, black, brown, pink, and labelled in red or brown ink., Many leaves pasted together, some of which have become unglued. Cropped, resulting in loss of some marginalia., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Brown sheepskin, blind-tooled with central panel and outer border colored dark brown. Pink spattered edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Sacro Bosco, Joannes de, fl. 1230.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Astronomy, Medieval, Calendars, English poetry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Early maps
Manuscript on parchment and paper of a multitude of texts. The principal author or collector of the present manuscript is Thomas Butler from Harlow in Essex, born in 1528. He gives the horoscopes of himself and several members of his family. Other contemporary scientists quoted are Johann Stoeffler (1452-1531), Humphrey Llwyd ("Loyde", 1527-1568) and Leonard Digges (c. 1515-c. 1559).
Description:
In English., Script: Written by 5 hands: A (ff. 1r-46v and 75r-84v) writes a bold Gothica Cursiva Formata (Secretary), with headings in Gothica Textualis; B (ff. 47r-62r and 63v-65v): Gothica Cursiva Currens (Secretary), perhaps Butler's hand; C (f. 67r-v): Gothica Cursiva Antiquior Libraria (Anglicana); D (ff. 68r-72v line 2): Gothica Cursiva Libraria (Secretary); E (ff. 72v line 3-74r): Gothica Cursiva Formata (Secretary)., Pen drawings throughout., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown leather over cardboard, rebacked. The covers decorated with gilt frames and five gilt stars (4 in the corners and one in the center); spine gilt with inscription "ASTROLOG.". Red edges. Marbled endleaves.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Digges, Leonard, d. ca. 1559., Llwyd, Humphrey, 1527-1568., and Stoeffler, Johann, 1452-1531.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, English literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, Science, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript, in unidentified hand, on paper, containing a collection of texts on astronomy and medicine: contains a treatise on uroscopy (ff. 1-48r), an index of the significations of the colors of urine (ff. 48v-50v), a table of astrological symbols and their explanations (f. 51r), an astrological figure "The circle of 16 angles" (ff. 51v-52r), a table of the days of the moon (f. 52v), a series of astronomical tables from Aries to Pisces (ff. 53v-57r), a medical treatise describing illnesses and medical recipes (ff. 58r-85v), an stronomical treatise (ff. 87r-119v), a text on the twelve astrological signs (ff. 122v-123r), a number of tables and figures on the planets, the aspects of the moon, and uroscopy (ff. 123v-126r), a series of astrological prognostic texts related to theft (ff. 129v-132v), a weather prognostication (ff. 133r-134r), a series of electionary texts (ff. 134v-137v), a treatise on bloodletting (f. 137v), a series of questionary texts (ff. 138r-146r), a collection of brief astrological proverbs (147r-147v), a series of explanations about astrology (148r-148v), and a questionary text on finding a thief (f. 149r).
Alternative Title:
Commonplace book in English: on miscellaneous subjects, chiefly astrology
Description:
In English., Title devised by cataloger., Script: English secretary hand., Layout: single column of between 36 and 45 lines., Binding: 18th- or 19th-century binding in marbled boards with brown leather spine. Spinal note "M.S 1551" in gold-tooling., Decoration: rubrication throughout., Date of creation from f. 122: "Wryten anno domini 1551.", and Also available on microfilm.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Medicine, Manuscripts, and Medicine, Medieval
Manuscript, in unidentified hand, on parchment, including a collection of texts on medical and astrological topics, calendars and horoscopes
Alternative Title:
Medical and astrological texts : in English
Description:
In English., Title devised by cataloger., Script: Gothic cursiva., Decoration: 4 anatomical figures, 12 colored drawings of occupations of the months, 7 colored drawings of signs of the planets, 4 of the temperaments, 12 of the signs of the zodiac, 12 of their astrological abbreviations, and 12 large paintings of the signs of the zodiac. Also included: base of an astrolabe cut from a musical ms., ca. 1500 (f. 36r). Copious rubrication throughout., Layout: 1 column of around 40 lines., Binding: modern white leather binding over pasteboards., and Date of creation must be after 1552 and before 1554; the table on f. 6r runs from 1553 to 1590 and the chronicle notes on f.25r run to the beheading of the Duke of Somerset in 1552.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, Medicine, Medieval, Medicine, and Manuscripts