Manuscript on paper of a large quantity of alchemical recipes and procedures, relating above all to metallurgy and transmutation. With Alchimie und Bergwerck; and German translations of John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie; and Ramon Lull, Extracts from Experimenta and Testamentum novissimum
Description:
In German and Latin., Watermarks: 1) a long-stemmed cross above a bull's head; 2) a six-lobed arc above and each lobe surmounted by a three-lobed cross; 3) a crown. All with vertical chain marks, trimmed, not identified., Script: Very neat and clear gothic cursives, captions by the same hand, written in two parts, the second beginning at f. 201r., Some red sentence-strokes and underlining; red captions and chapter headings with minimal elaboration, carefully laid out on the page, also pen line-fillers at end of each section, as needed for text spacing. A penned brown and red crown as folk symbol at left margin of f. 135r. Infrequent sketches of alchemical vessels in brown or red at side margins, some very slightly trimmed., and Binding: Original blind-stamped brown calf over beveled wooden boards, the sides paneled in vertical patterns of roll tools, two brass catches on upper cover, remains of brass attachments for clasps on the lower; the original backstrip with three raised bands laid down; plain edges; restored by Carolyn Horton, New York, and with a leather title label on the backstrip supplied by her.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, Metallurgy, and Transmutation (Chemistry)
Manuscript on paper, composed in three parts, of a large number of practical procedures, chiefly alchemical but sometimes medical, with a few standard medieval alchemical texts by Khalid ibn Yazid, Theodoric, and Albertus Magnus. Occasionally there are passages in cipher, added by Martin Roesel of Rosenthal ca. 1586, long after the principal contents were written; the cipher seems to be of a simple number-substitution type
Description:
In Latin and German, partly in cipher., Watermarks: 1) unidentified eagle watermark somewhat resembling Briquet 104; 2) a crown pattern resembling Briquet 4921 and 1922; 3) the Paschal lamb resembling Briquet 61., Script: Part I (ff. 1-29): Written in 1536 in red and black in a gothic cursive by Wolfgang the Organist. Part II (ff. 30-65): Written in a well-controlled gothic cursive without color. Part III (ff. 66-132): Written in one or possibly two scrawling gothic cursives, with red headings on ff. 109-124., Several initials illuminated in trick have been cut from a late 15th-century MS and pasted into the present MS at ff. 2v, 4v, 5, 10r, and 16r. Marginal drawings of alchemical apparatus are cropped, as also marginalia., and Binding: Probably ca. 1586 for Martin Roesel. Red-stained limp parchment (most of the stain now lost), single central clasp and catch now missing from center of fore-edges, two slits on each fore-edge for thong or ribbon ties, also missing.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Medicine, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of an untitled Kunstbuechlein containing hundreds of recipes for a variety of alchemical processes, chiefly metallurgical
Description:
In German and Latin., Script: Calligraphically written by a highly skilled hand using a variety of Fraktur, secretary cursive, and italic scripts., Three-column table of alchemical symbols on last leaf. No color, but progressively frequent use of alchemical symbols; full-page drawing of a double coat of arms with inscriptions on first front flyleaf recto, and a small drawing at foot of f. 53v, of a woman apparently scratching herself with the legend "The flea bites me," both probably by the same skilled hand, possibly the copyist of the codex., Somewhat damaged, especially at beginning, by water-staining and fraying, with some leaves wanting, but the remainder entirely legible and without substantial losses., and Binding: Original limp parchment stained olive green, now worn and with most of the spine, originally with three bands, missing; plain edges. Preserved in a modern box of boards with linen back, modern leather title label added.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy, Formulas, recipes, etc, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Metallurgy
In Latin., Script: copied by two hands, both writing Gothica Textualis Formata. Hand A copied ff. 1r-8v in bold script with little angularity and long ascenders and descenders; hand B copied all the other pages in Textus Semiquadratus in two sizes, with conspicable forking at the top of the ascenders, spurs, hairlines, a very short d and Southern German or Central European features such as the shape of the -orum and -arum abbreviations, the use of y for ii, etc. The texts on the inserted leaflets and some corrections are in Gothica Hybrida (Fractura)., Slips of parchment with additional texts have been inserted between ff. 18-19, 33-34, 35-36., Red rubrics and red stroking of majuscules. Red initials: 1-line versals, 2-line plain initials; art. 1 opens with a 4-line initial and features several 3-line initials, all of the same type as the other ones in the manuscript., and Binding: original, yellowish pigskin over bevelled wooden boards; both covers blind-tooled with frames of fillets and rolls. Spine blind-tooled with three raised bands. Remnants of two clasps attached to the rear board, with engraved brass catches (one partly preserved) on the front board. Yellow spine.
Manuscript, on parchment, incomplete, of a Carthusian psalter with the Canticles and the Creed, with musical notation
Description:
In Latin., Incomplete. Text ends with Psalm 77., Layout: single columns of 24 lines., Script: large gothic script., Decoration: smaller initial in alternate red and blue; 12 historiated initials; full illuminated border to one page with figures of Carthusian monks and an abbot., and Binding: contemporary pigskin over wooden boards; metal clasps, corner pieces and central bosses.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut, New Haven., and Germany
Subject (Name):
Catholic Church and Carthusians.
Subject (Topic):
Liturgy, Prayers and devotions, Manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Renaissance, and Psalters
Manuscript on paper (unidentified watermarks along upper edge) of Ps.-Dionysius the Aereopagite, De ecclesiastica hierarchia, translated into Latin by John the Scot
Description:
In Latin., Script: Written by a single scribe in a stylized gothic script., Spaces for decorative initials left unfilled. Headings, paragraph marks and running headlines in red., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Quarter bound in brown leather with olive green paper sides. Parts of edges daubed bluish-green.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Erigena, Johannes Scotus, approximately 810-approximately 877. and Pseudo-Dionysius, the Areopagite.
Subject (Topic):
Mysticism, Literature, Medieval, and Manuscripts, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of Sebastian Brant (1457-1521), De praestantia artis impressoriae elogium, a 52-verse poem in praise of the art of printing, addressed to the German priest, humanist, printer and publisher Johann Bergmann von Olpe (ca. 1460-1532).
Description:
In Latin., Script: written in a small vertical Humanistica Cursiva., and Undecorated.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Bergmann, Johann, fl. 1494-1499. and Brant, Sebastian, 1458-1521.
Subject (Topic):
Laudatory poetry, Latin (Medieval and modern), Manuscripts, Medieval, and Printing
Manuscript, on paper, of Walter (Gualterus) de Wervia, Expositio in Isagogen Porphyrii cum quaestionibus Iohannis Duns Scoti. Authorities quoted include Thomas Aquinas, Henry of Ghent, John Duns Scotus, the Moderni, and Giles of Rome
Description:
Walter (Gualterus) de Wervia was born at Rijswijk in the Netherlands and died after 1472., In Latin., Script: Small Gothica Semihybrida Currens, in a single hand, with many abbreviations., Layout: Double columns of approximately 47 lines., Decoration: Undecorated. Drawing of a bearded bishop's (?) head, with the caption "Albertus" (i.e. Albertus Magnus), in the margin of f. 27v., Binding: Brown pigskin over pasteboard, the covers framed with a gold-tooled fillet. Rebacked. Spine with five raised bands and 19th-century red leather label with gold-tooled inscription in Gothic letters "Gualt. Burley 1481"., The acid ink has on many pages faded and damaged the paper and made reading difficult., and Number 2 of 2 items bound together. Item extent: 1 item (ii + 119 + 48 + ii leaves).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Porphyry, approximately 234-approximately 305. and Premonstratensians.
Subject (Topic):
Criticism and interpretation, Latin literature, Medieval and modern, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Scholasticism
Manuscript on paper of Hesiod in Latin translation, with printed editions of Silius Italicus, Juvenal, and Persius
Description:
In Latin., Script: Throughout the book the gloss is written in extremely small Gothica Cursiva Libraria, but the lemmata or opening words of the marginal glosses are executed in a large calligraphic form of the same script. Art. 4 copied by one hand in bold Gothica Cursiva Libraria/Formata., Binding: original quarter leather binding: blind-tooled pigskin and wooden boards, spine with three raised bands. One brass clasp attached to the rear board. The binding is strengthened with strips of parchment cut from a manuscript containing Eberhardus Bethuniensis (Everard of Béthune, d. 1212), Graecismus., and Bound with 3 other titles.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Hesiod., Juvenal., Persius., and Silius Italicus, Tiberius Catius.
