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 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 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 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 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 (thick) of methods and examples of addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and the rule of three
Description:
In Italian., Watermark: shield with kneeling man holding cross?. Similar to Briquet 7629?., Script: Copied by one hand in Humanistica Cursiva Libraria/Formata., A few geometrical figures., Pages slightly damaged by the acidity of the ink., and Binding: Original limp parchment, a large circle traced with a sharp pencil on the front cover, a group of small circles in the form of a cross on the rear cover. At the top left corner of the front cover a paper label with the 16th-17th century inscription in Humanistica Cursiva: "Mathematicorum. Anonymi arithmetica manu scripta linguae Italicae". On the spine is written in the same type of script "Aritmetica" and, at the top, the letter "A".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Arithmetic, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Mathematics, Medieval
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 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 paper made by an unknown Venetian mathematician, astronomer and cartographer. This manuscript is highly interesting for the excellent drawings of contemporary Mediterranean sailing-ships
Description:
In Italian., Script: Written by one hand in Gothico-Humanistic Cursive, which in the maps alternates with Capitalis. Headings in Capitalis inscribed on scrolls or tablets., Maps, borders and decorations in colours. Clumsily drawn human and animal figures., and Binding: Original limp vellum. On the spine is written "G***ctrica MSS". On the rear cover are a pen-drawing, upside-down, of the same decorative device as on f. 2r, and a sketch of city gates.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Islands of the Mediterranean.
Subject (Topic):
Atlases, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscript maps, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Sailing ships
In Greek., Same watermark as Harlfinger Croix 41, from a manuscript signed by Andreas Darmarius and dated 5 April 1582., Script: Written by the scribe Andreas Darmarius, who signed the completed manuscript., Headpiece in black ink, on f. 1r. Headings and chapter notations, in red. 3-line initial, with decoration above and below letter, in red on f. 4r; other small initials in red throughout codex at beginning of each section., and Binding: Nineteenth century (?). Limp green vellum case, blue-green edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Africanus, Sextus Julius.
Subject (Topic):
Geography, Ancient, Encyclopedias and dictionaries, and Manuscripts, Medieval
