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 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 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 an herbal in prose and verse. The volume opens with two Middle English poems, showing traces of East Anglian dialect, describing a variety of herbs and their medicinal properties, as well as accepted cures and prescriptions for a number of ailments. These are followed by Middle English and Latin prose texts also concerning herbal medicine
Description:
In Middle English and Latin., Laid in: parchment fragment probably recovered from earlier binding., Layout: single columns of 33 lines., Script: English bookhand., Decoration: some initials, headings and words in red ink., and Binding: modern vellum boards.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
English poetry, English prose literature, Herbals, Herbs, Therapeutic use, Manuscripts, Medieval, Medicine, and Medicine, Medieval
Manuscript, on parchment, in a single hand, of Richard de Caistre's popular hymn
Description:
In Middle English., Bound with Fifteen Joys of Our Lady., Layout: single columns of 20 lines., Script: gothic liturgical script., Decoration: red and blue penwork., and Binding: modern full red morocco.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Richard, of Caistre.
Subject (Topic):
Devotional literature, English (Middle), English literature, English poetry, Hymns, English, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript, on parchment, of Peter Idley's Instructions to his son, an adaptation (ca. 1445-50) of Albertano of Brescia's treatises addressed to his own sons. The manuscript was produced in England at the end of the fifteenth century and is written in anglicana and secretary script
Description:
In Middle English and Latin., Idley's Liber Secundus, a separate poem, follows the Instructions on f. 31v., Fragments of late thirteenth-century graded calendar used as pastedowns., Numerous sixteenth-century ownership inscriptions of Thomas Dowse on flyleaves., Verses from William Warner, Erasmus, and Shakespeare copied on flyleaves in sixteenth-century hands., and Binding: contemporary white leather over wooden boards; spine sewn on five double tawed leather thongs; remnants of clasp (three foliate metal pins) on upper cover.
Subject (Name):
Idley, Peter, d. 1474?
Subject (Topic):
Conduct of life, Didactic poetry, English, English poetry, and Youth
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
In Middle English., Layout: single columns of 17 lines., Script: gothic bookhand., Decoration: some initials, line fillers, underlining, in red ink., and Binding: nineteenth-century full brown morocco, gilt.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Christian life, Devotional literature, English (Middle), English literature, English poetry, Manuscripts, Medieval, Salvation, and Typology (Theology)
Manuscript, on vellum, in a single hand, of a version of this fourteenth-century pastoral manual. The text is in eight sections, or Tabulae, in Latin, with extensive passages in Middle English prose and interpolated Middle English verse
Description:
In Latin and Middle English., Layout: single columns of 32 lines., Script: written in an English bookhand., Decoration: red and blue initials with contrasting penwork., and Binding: nineteenth-century morocco.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church
Subject (Topic):
Clergy, Christian life, English poetry, English prose literature, and Manuscripts, Medieval
