Manuscript on paper of a pietistic, mystical text in prose and verse, illustrated by a great variety of illustrations cut from manuscripts of smaller dimensions (plus some prints), and pasted in. These illustrations include the "Python" illuminated drawing which has been reproduced in color, a series of "alchemical processes depicted symbolically taking place within flasks", as well as many other pictorial elements drawn from a variety of sources
Description:
In German, Low-German, Latin, and Hebrew., Script: Written by a single hand in dark brown and pale red inks in a loose and flowing cursive, often with Fraktur elements, frequently placing capital letters in the midst of words, sometimes in red; with some inserted leaves and additional matter by another, perhaps slightly later hand, and with pasted-in leaves, usually with illustrations, partly taken from older manuscripts, and partly (apparently) by the compiler., Watermarks: The inserted leaves of paper with a large fleur-de-lys watermark, unidentified; the thinner paper used for most of the volumes with unidentified watermark in folds., With additions in German and Dutch., Bound in 2 volumes., and Binding: Uniformly bound in eighteenth- or nineteenth-century marbled boards, red leather backs with three bands, each volume with modern brown calf title labels gold-stamped "ALCHYMICAL MANUSCRIPT," speckled edges.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Illumination of books and manuscripts, and Pietism
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:
In Latin, with later additions in Latin and German., 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., 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., 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., 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 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 | Recipes", original blue edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript on paper containing 1) Lapis philosophorum, seu tinctura phisica, in Latin, followed by an English version. 2) Alchemy, in English and Latin. 3) Astrology, including events predicted for the year 1655. 4) Walter Charleton, Notes extracted from his book. 5) Alchemy, medical recipes, and aphorisms. 6) George Rives, goldsmith, Account of the making of gold from lead at Bath by a certain Mervin in 1651. 7) Dr. Start, Notes taken from his experiments, and other matter. 8) Letter of a divine philosopher
Description:
In Latin and English., Script: Written by a single English hand writing a good cursive sloping slightly to the right., Watermarks: Paper watermarked with a flag with two pennants on a pole, no initials visible, similar but not identical to Heawood 1371-1372., and Binding: Original or possibly slightly later binding of brown calf rebacked, covers with double gold rule at edges, back divided into four compartments by five bands, old (but not original) red morocco label with double border of gold dots and gold rule in second compartment from top, stamped in gold, "ALCHEMY MSS." All edges gilt.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Transmutation (Chemistry), Formulas, recipes, etc, and Astrology
Manuscript on paper of a substantial sixteenth-century English alchemy attributed in the text to a certain Sir John Barkly, and some additional matter said to have been derived from conversation with him. Also containing abbreviated works by Samuel Norton, as well as a varitey of other texts, some of them not at all identified, others extracted from various English and continental sources noted in the description, including a discourse of the minerall stone, medical recipes, and an abstract from Polemann and Helmont on the sulphur of the philosophers
Description:
In English., Script: Written by one English hand writing a legible cursive with some secretary forms, sloping to the right., Watermarks: Paper with watermark of a hunting horn in a cartouche very like Churchill 315 (in use 1623-1695), but without countermark, not identified., and Binding: Modern binding of marbled boards, polished calf back with title label, original uncut edges.
Manuscript on paper in two parts. Part I (late 15th century): 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Aqua solempnissima, atque mirabilis. Part II (copied in 1775): 3) George Ripley (?), Touchant le grand magistere des sages, translated from English into French
Description:
In Latin and French., Script: Part I: Written by a single hand in a semigothic cursive. Part II: Written in a cursive hand sloping to the right., Part I: Headings in red., and Binding: Nineteenth century, English. Tan buckram boards, brown morocco back and corners, flat backstrip with gold-stamped title, plain edges.
Manuscript on paper of a private compilation. The two well known works entered into the codex deal with magical properties ascribed to certain gems and the supernatural significance of the carving of stones. Together with these formal texts are found other extremely varied materials: procedures for restoring wine which has suffered various accidents, for making glass of different colors, for the early ripening of grapes, for making an ass bray loudly, for frightening dogs, and so forth
Description:
In Latin and Italian., Watermark: unidentified flower-petal., Script: Probably written by a single hand, employing a Gothico antiqua on ff. 1-11r, with a less formal treatment of the same elsewhere, and more cursive writing for the passages in Italian; the writing relatively careful at the beginning, progressively less so until the end., Red ink for most headings, red capitals and paragraph marks, except on f. 11v-12r and 16v-17r, which are without color., Lower margins affected by damp throughout and partly repaired with blank paper., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Paper boards, more recent gilt-stamped label on backstrip.
Manuscript on paper of the following mystical or speculative alchemies translated into French: Arnold of Villanova, Rosarius; Albertus Magnus, Compositum de compositis; and Ramon Lull, Clavicula. Alchemies in Latin by Raymundus Gaufridi, Roger Bacon (?), Nicholas, Johannes Pauper, John of Rupescissa, and the Duc de Berry (?). Also includes a long series of wholly practical procedures and recipes
Description:
In French and Latin., Script: Written by one scribe in a remarkably small and neat cursive gothic hand., No headlines, no color, no decoration, spaces left for some capitals with guide letters, a few drawings in the text or in margins., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Marbled paper boards with diced calf back, the backstrip in compartments with horizontal gilt fillets, lines of gilt small tools bordering the false bands, title label in the second compartment from the top gilt-lettered "REGNAULT". Early, probably original green edges. Hinges of the binding repaired.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Glass painting and staining, Technique, 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 parchment and paper, written in two parts. Part I (parchment, written ca. 1490): 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Descriptions of various herbs. Part II (paper, added ca. 1800): 3) Alchemy. 4) Recipes for making Prussian Blue, in Italian
Description:
In Latin and Italian., Script: Part I (ff. 1-40): Written by one hand in a neat, minute humanistic cursive. Part II (ff. 41-52): In an Italian hand., Part I: Headings in red throughout, that on f. 1r overwritten in an intense red ink covering earlier writing in pale red ink, the intense ink then used for the remainder of the headings in this portion of the codex, and the overwriting probably by the original scribe. Plain, small, roman capitals at beginnings of sections of the text in blue or green; a large initial "D" and a full border no f. 1r, as well as a smaller initial "L" at the beginning of the second book of text, foot of f. 25r, all finely illuminated in gold and colors in the "white-vine" style, the lower part of the border on f. 1r with a coat of arms consisting of a shield azure, a bear rampant or. Part II: Undecorated., and Binding: Late eighteenth century, probably French. Speckled calf, the sides undecorated, the repaired back in compartments with gilt tooling, the original title-stamping defective, speckled edges; restored by Carolyn Horton, November 1955.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Herbs, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Prussian blue
Manuscript on parchment (palimpsest) of a large collection of medieval alchemies, both speculative and practical. Includes an important group of writings by Johannes of Teschen, notably his Antiphona with musical notation. Also contains works by Arnold of Villanova, Alanus, Geber, Khalid ibn Yazid, and Albertus Magnus
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written in Gothica textualis by a careful but ill-formed hand in which differing letter forms are often not discrete, with annotations by a later 15th-century cursive hand and occasional notes by other hands of the same period., Important capitals painted in red and blue with occasional filiform decoration, rubricated, and capitals frequently stroked red, but without other ornament or illustration., and Binding: Fifteenth century, German. Presumably original, of oaken boards covered with red-dyed hide, sides framed by triple blind fillets, additional fillets drawn diagonally to form a pattern of lozenges; the original back laid down on a new backstrip preserving the four original raised bands, plus head and foot bands, which are drawn into the boards, fastened with wooden wedges, and reinforced with strips of parchment (cut from a 13th-century manuscript with faint writing in a very small gothic hand) which are glued down to the inside boards. On both covers single nailholes near the corners and two such holes in the center of each cover indicate the removal of brass cornerpieces and centerpieces; a single brass catch with iron bar, fastened by three brass nails, is preserved in the upper cover, the clasp missing from the lower cover indicated only by a mark. Modern leather label on backstrip, stamped in silver between rules top and bottom: "ALCHEMICAL | MISCELLANY | MANUSCRIPT | FRANCE 15TH C.".
