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
Petrus Rochabonella, ed.; Prosdocimus Mutius, corr., "Libellus Avicene de viribus cordis translatus ab Arnaldo de villa nova": 6 leaves next to end., and Med: Later German binding. Described by Scott Husby, 2010.
Publisher:
Dionysius Bertochus
Subject (Topic):
Medicine, Medieval, Medicine, Arab, Materia medica, and Heart
Manuscript fragment on parchment of book two of Avicenna's Canon medicinae as translated from Arabic into Latin by Gerard of Cremona; the section contained in the fragment details a variety of herbs and their medicinal qualities
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in a heavily abbreviated, Gothic hand., Decoration: each medicinal entry begins with a 3-line initial, alternating red and blue with penwork in the contrasting color. Headings at the top of each page in red and blue. Each column contains decorative borderwork consisting of elongated strokes alternating in red and blue with red penwork., Layout: in two columns of 68 lines each., and Damage: the fragment has been removed from a binding, where it possibly served as a wrapper. Glue and binding material are still attached to one side of the leaf; the other side is discolored with offsetting from the later book. A piece from the spine remains attached and reads "Bbb" [?].
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Avicenna, 980-1037 and Gherardo, da Cremona, 1113 or 1114-1187
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval, Medicine, Medieval, and Medicine, Arab
Translated by Gerardus Cremonensis (or rather Gerardus Sablonetanus), with commentary by Jacobus de Partibus and additions by Johannes Lascaris; edited by Jacques Ponceau., Yale Med has volumes I and III, part 1, as described in Goff 1438., and Yale Med has a contemporary German binding. Described by Scott Husby, 2010.
Includes color illustrations on leaf 6 (Liber III), red and blue lettering throughout. and Yale Med copy includes Libri III and V, as described in Goff 1419.
His canon of medicine, followed (with separate half-title and individual paging) by his Kitab al-naja (an abridgment of his philosophical work entitled Kitab al-shifa)., Title transliterated. Text and title page, except for imprint, are in Arabic., and Includes the author's Kitāb al-Najāt, an abridgement of his larger work, Kitāb al-Shifā.
His canon of medicine, followed (with separate half-title and individual paging) by his Kitab al-naja (an abridgment of his philosophical work entitled Kitab al-shifa)., Title transliterated. Text and title page, except for imprint, are in Arabic., and Includes the author's Kitāb al-Najāt, an abridgement of his larger work, Kitāb al-Shifā.
Qānūn fī al-ṭibb. 1597 880-02 and قانون في الطب. 1597 240-02/(3/r
Description:
"Istaktabahu al-faqīr ilá mawlāhu ʻAbd al-Karīm al-Quṭbī [?] al-Ḥanafī ghafar [...] sanat 1006"--T.p., "Tamma al-juzʼ al-thānī min Kitāb al-Qānūn. Wa-bi-tamāmihi tammat al-kutub al-khamsah al-mushtamilah ʻalá al-Qānūn wa-dhalika fī al-ʻishr al-awsaṭ min Ṣafar min sanat sanat ithnayn wa-tisʻīn wa-sitimiʼah [25 January 1293] ... Wa-kāna al-farāgh min kitābat hādhihi al-naskhah al-mubārakah fī awāʼil shahr Rabīʻ al-Awwal sanat sitt baʻda al-alf [13 October 1597] ..."--Colophon., Two leaves of notes in Arabic and Persian at end., Copied in medium sized naskhi script, 21.5 x 31 cm. Writing surface 14.7 x 22.5 cm. Text is gilt ruled 39 lines to page. Catchwords and headings in red, blue and gold. The leather binding is gilt stamped., and Gift of Harvey Cushing, July 30 1929. Purchased from Dr. Saʻīd Kurdustānī.
