Manuscript on paper of a collection of pseudo-Lullian alchemical writings, translated from the French and Catalan originals, with a little additional matter. The codex underwent a transformation in the early 16th century when considerable new matter was added by another English hand on different, thinner paper; leaves have been inserted throughout the original codex
Description:
In Latin., Watermarks: Original paper: 1) an extremely primitive-looking unicorn with very short horn and long tail somewhat like Briquet 9962 and 10176; 2) a less primitive unicorn rather similar to Briquet 9985; 3) bullshead with defined eyes and nostrils and with cross above, rather like Briquet 15054. Inserted leaves: a very elegant unicorn mark, more developed than Briquet 10104; and some leaves with a gothic "P" with cinquefoil above, rather like Briquet 8809., Script: The original portion written by a single English gothic cursive hand with heavy standard abbreviation. The inserted leaves (first 4 ff. now extant, ff. 88-96, 163-169, 268-274, and 307-319 [of which f. 167 is a blank and f. 315 is a parchment leaf]) written in another gothic cursive habitually employing writing of different sizes., Original text: Headings in red, rubricated. Some pages with diagrams or drawings. The illustrations include Lullian alphabets and tables in the form of wheels, an Arbor philosophorum, a group of flasks, and a good, large drawing of a furnace. Inserted leaves: Red headings, and capitals with slight decoration., and Binding: Eighteenth century, English. Dark calf, sides paneled in blind with a roll tool of vine pattern, leafy sprays at the corners, back with six plain compartments and five raised bands, probably original parchment label on second compartment from top bordered with ink rule and lettered in ink: "RAYM. LULLII | OPERA | MANUSCRIPTA". The binding considerably repaired and some leather renewed. Original plain edges, the top blackened.
Manuscript on paper of 1) John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie. 2) Arnold of Villanova, Epistola de sanguine humano ad magistrum Iacobum de Toleto. 3) Alchemical procedures. 4) Francesco Petrarca, Epistola ad Marcum Tullium Ciceronem. 5) Pier Paolo Vergerio, Epistola in nomine Ciceronis ad Franciscum Petrarcham. 6) Johannes Obrist, Super confectionem auri potabilis. 7) Nicolaus Claudii, Opus super aurum potabile
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe using a clear and regular gothic bookhand without strong nationalistic traits., Headings in red, rubricated., and Binding: Modern parchment over pasteboards, parchment pastedowns and guards, back gilt-lettered: "DE QVINTA ESSENTIA".
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Cicero, Marcus Tullius and Petrarca, Francesco, 1304-1374.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Latin letters, Medieval and modern, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of a collection of the works of Nicolaus, mostly related to medicine. In addition the codex has interesting lists of substances in Latin and German, as well as a tract on the distillation of brandy
Description:
In Latin and German., Watermarks: Two batches of unidentified paper watermarked with a gothic "P," the mark plain and smaller in one batch, larger and surmounted by a trefoil in the other., Script: Neatly written in a gothic cursive hand., Large capitals in red at text divisions, sometimes with slight pen ornament, other capitals stroked red throughout, fancy ascenders on top lines transgressing the upper rules and stroked red, similar descenders occasionally below the bottom bordering line, usually not colored., and Binding: Modern three-quarter binding of light brown buckram, plain brown niger back and corners, the back with five (false?) raised bands, gilt-lettered in the second compartment from the top, ANTIDOTARIUM NICOLAI, and at the foot of the spine, "AB. 1460". Plain edges.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Nicolaus, Salernitanus, active 12th century.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Brandy, Latin language, Glossaries, vocabularies, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Medicine, Medieval
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 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 collection of alchemical texts, including works by Rasis, Roger Bacon, and Hermes. Though the Bacon text and one other are early practical alchemies, the contents are mainly speculative in character
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by one scribe in a very neat and regular prehumanistic hand., Book and chapter headings in red, rubrication, capitals stroked yellow, larger initials painted in red or blue with tracery ornament in the contrasting color (all decoration probably by the scribe; red headings in the scribe's hand, all other red decoration with ink of apparently identical composition)., and Binding: Modern. Parchment, cut from a leaf of a very large manuscript, probably a lectionary, written in a Rotunda antiquior hand, Italian, 12th century; writing on outer surface erased, printed paper label on backstrip.
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 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
