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 parchment and paper of a multitude of texts. The principal author or collector of the present manuscript is Thomas Butler from Harlow in Essex, born in 1528. He gives the horoscopes of himself and several members of his family. Other contemporary scientists quoted are Johann Stoeffler (1452-1531), Humphrey Llwyd ("Loyde", 1527-1568) and Leonard Digges (c. 1515-c. 1559).
Description:
In English., Script: Written by 5 hands: A (ff. 1r-46v and 75r-84v) writes a bold Gothica Cursiva Formata (Secretary), with headings in Gothica Textualis; B (ff. 47r-62r and 63v-65v): Gothica Cursiva Currens (Secretary), perhaps Butler's hand; C (f. 67r-v): Gothica Cursiva Antiquior Libraria (Anglicana); D (ff. 68r-72v line 2): Gothica Cursiva Libraria (Secretary); E (ff. 72v line 3-74r): Gothica Cursiva Formata (Secretary)., Pen drawings throughout., and Binding: Nineteenth century. Brown leather over cardboard, rebacked. The covers decorated with gilt frames and five gilt stars (4 in the corners and one in the center); spine gilt with inscription "ASTROLOG.". Red edges. Marbled endleaves.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Digges, Leonard, d. ca. 1559., Llwyd, Humphrey, 1527-1568., and Stoeffler, Johann, 1452-1531.
Subject (Topic):
Astrology, English literature, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, Science, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript on paper of commentaries on the Sunday Epistles and other theological and moral texts
Description:
In Latin., Script: copied by several similar hands in Gothica Cursiva or Semihybrida Currens; Libraria in art. 5. The headings and the commented texts are in a large, bold and more careful form of the same script; Gothica Textualis Formata at the opening of art. 1, the first section of art. 2 and the opening of art. 3., Red underlining, stroking of majuscules and plain initials of various sizes. A littera duplex (black and red) on ff. 1r and 38r. The decoration is missing at the end of art. 1 (starting f. 32r)., The manuscript contains: 1) Epistles for the Sundays, from Easter to the 16th Sunday after Pentecost, with commentary. 2) Epistles for the Sundays, from Easter to Palm Sunday, with commentary. 3) Summa poenitentiariorum, a commentary on the poem Poeniteas cito. 4) Short instructions for confession, followed by an extensive list in tabular form of sins, the Ten Commandments, the Seven Sacraments, the Works of Bodily Charity, the Works of Spiritual Charity, the Beatitudes, the Cardinal Virtues, the Gifts of the Holy Spirit. 5) Lumen animae. Theological and moral treatise in alphabetical form based on hundreds of quotations, mostly from texts of a scientific nature (medicine, natural history, astrology, alchemy, philosophy, etc.). 6) Jean Gerson, Donatus spiritualis. 7) Note on sexual perversities., and Binding: 19th century. Quarter binding, dark brown flat leather spine, the cardboard covers covered with dark brown paper paper.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Gerson, Jean, 1363-1429.
Subject (Topic):
Confession, Catholic Church, Manuscripts, Medieval, Repentance, Christianity, Science, Medieval, Theology, and History
Manuscript on paper of Konrad von Megenberg (1309-1374), Die deutsche Sphaera, an adaptation in German of Iohannes de Sacrobosco, De sphaera. With 23 verses dealing with the numerical value of the letters of the alphabet, excerpted from Hugutio of Pisa (d. 1212), Liber derivationum
Description:
In German., Script: Copied by one hand in Gothica Cursiva Libraria/Currens., The initials are not executed. Coarsely drawn diagrams; the principal ones are on ff. 2r (Earth in the middle of the circles of the elements, the planets and the heavens), 9v (a quadripartite circular map of the world, three quarters covered with sea and inhabited by fish), 10v (a circular diagram and another with "cauda Draconis" and "caput Draconis"), 11r (two diagrams showing eclipses), 11v (related diagrams)., and Binding: Yellow limp vellum too large for the present manuscript.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Sacro Bosco, Joannes de, fl. 1230.
Subject (Topic):
Astronomy, German poetry, Illumination of books and manuscripts, Medieval, Literature, Medieval, Manuscripts, Medieval, Numerology, and Science, Medieval
Damīrī, Muḥammad ibn Mūsá, 1341?-1405 دميري، محمد بن موسى، 1341?-1405
Published / Created:
[17th century?]
Call Number:
Manuscript Arabic S-2
Image Count:
862
Resource Type:
text
Abstract:
A zoological encyclopedia listing the names of the different animals, birds and insects arranged alphabetically, with anecdotes, poems and folkloric tales, but the most important part of this work is the description of the medicinal properties of the animals and their different organs. It is the most comprehensive zoological work in Arabic and a store-house of folk-lore and popular medicine. The author is Muḥammad ibn Mūsá al-Damīrī (1341?-1405), a Shafiite Egyptian scholar, from Cairo. He worked as a tailor, but then devoted himself to learning and scholarship and became a prominent scholar at al-Azʹhar. He also lived for a while in Mecca and Medina. al-Damīrī finished writing his book in the month of Rajab, 773 H (January/February, 1372). The book is in two versions: long and short. The present manuscript is the long version and according to a recent note on leaf 1a it was copied from a manuscript copied in 805 H (1402/1403). Name of copyist and place and date of copying not mentioned, probably from the 17th century
Alternative Title:
Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrá 880-02 and حياة الحيوان الكبرى 240-02/r
Description:
In Arabic., Incipit: "al-Ḥamdu lillāh alladhī sharrafa nawʻ al-insān bi-al-aṣgharayn al-qalb wa-al-lisān wa-faḍḍalahu ʻalá sāyir al-ḥayawān bi-niʻmatay al-manṭiq wa-al-bayān wa-rajjaḥahu bi-al-ʻaql alladhī wazan bi-hi qaḍāyā al-qiyās fī aḥsan mīzān fa-aqām ʻalá waḥdānīyatihi al-burhān. Aḥmaduhu ḥamdan yamuddunā bi-mawādd al-iḥsān ...", 18 x 31.5 cm ; written surface: 10.5 x 23 cm, 26 lines per page, Black leather binding., In good, rather fine naskhī script; in black ink, on yellowish paper, with headings, keywords and markings in red; catchwords., Some collations and corrections on the margins., On leaf 1a a recent note in pencil: "Nuskhah manqūlah ʻan nuskhah kutibat fī sanat 805, wa-al-khaṭṭ min al-ḥādiyah ʻashar.", and Colophon: "Wa-ṣallá Allāh ʻalá Sayyid al-Mrusalīn al-Nabī al-Muṣṭafá wa-raḍiya Allāh ʻan ālihi wa-ʻutratihi wa-ṣaḥbih ahl al-faḍl wa-al-wafā wa-ḥasbunā Allāh wa-kafá. Wa-kāna al-farāgh min musawwadatihi fī shahr Dhī al-Ḥijjah tashrīf sanat thalāth wa-sabʻīn wa-sabʻimiʼah wa-min hādhihi al-nuskhah al-mubārakah fī Shaʻbān sanat khams wa-thamānimiʼah. Jaʻala Allāh taʻālá dhālika khāliṣan li-wajhihi al-karīm mūjiban lil-fawz ladayh fī dār al-naʻīm wa-huwa ḥasbunā wa-niʻma al-wakīl. Qāla dhālika kātibuhu [i.e. kātibuhu] wa-muʼallifuhu faqīr raḥmat rabbihi Muḥammad ibn Mūsá ibn ʻĪsá ibn ʻAlī al-Damīrī waqāhu Allāh sharra nafsihi wa-jaʻala būmahu ḥasīran min massihi hawā al-fiṭnah bi-ḥurūfihi. Tammat kitāb Ḥayāt al-ḥayawān al-kubrá bi-ḥamd Allāh al-ʻaẓīmah [i.e. al-ʻaẓīm] rabb al-ākhirah wa-al-ūlá. Tammat."
Subject (Name):
Damīrī, Muḥammad ibn Mūsá, 1341?-1405.
Subject (Topic):
Zoology, Science, Medieval, and Animals in literature
Manuscript on paper of a theological and moral treatise based on hundreds of quotations, mostly from texts of a scientific nature
Description:
In Latin., Script: two scribes: art. 1 is copied in Gothica Cursiva Formata close to Fractura; art. 2 in Gothica Semihybrida Currens with many abbreviations; in this art. the first line of each chapter is in clumsily executed large Gothica Textualis Formata., Headings, paragraph marks, stroking of majuscules and underlining of the references to the authorities and their works, all in red ink (the underlining was beforehand traced by the scribe in black ink). Plain red 1-line initials at the opening of each chapter, sometimes with marginal extensions (a 3-line initial at the beginning of the text, f. 9r). Instructions for the rubricator are found in the margins., and Binding: original undecorated red pigskin over wooden boards; spine with four raised bands. Two clasps attached to the rear cover, with quadrangular brass catches on the front cover; a hole about the center of the top of the rear cover indicates that the booklet once was a liber catenatus. On the front cover a rectangular parchment title label with handwritten inscription in Gothica Cursiva Libraria: “De confessione. De amore Dei. De beatitudine” (16th century?).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Aristotle.
Subject (Topic):
Classical literature, Ethics, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript on parchment, composed in two parts of different age and origin, of 1) Macer Floridus (Odo of Meung, c. 1070), De viribus herbarum. 2) Fragments of a Missal: (a) Third Sunday of Lent. (b) Saturday after the first Sunday of Lent. (c) Second Sunday of Lent
Description:
In Latin., Script: Part I (ff. 1-10): copied by one hand writing Praegothica with wide distance between the lines. Part II (ff. 11-22): copied by one hand in Gothico-Humanistica Libraria., Part I: red chapter headings in larger script written at the right of the text. Red paragraph marks. Red heightening of majuscules on ff. 1r and 10 v only. 2-line (exceptionally 1- or 3-line) early flourished initials in red with red flourishing (red filling on f. 10r). 5-line red, blue and white initial with strapwork decoration on f. 1r. Part II: chapter headings in red, centered. Red 2-line plain initials (Capitalis)., Part II adapted to the size of Part I by pasting strips of parchment to the bottom of the bifolios. The five outer bifolios (ff. 11-15 and 18-22) are palimpsest: leaves from a manuscript in two columns, the text transversal to the textus rescriptus; the inner bifolium (ff. 16-17) is of bad quality; the upper corners of ff. 11 and 22 are missing with loss of text and have been repaired with blank parchment., and Binding: 20th century. Wooden boards and brown calf spine. Endleaves are fragments of a Missal (Italy, 15th century).
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Macer, Floridus.
Subject (Topic):
Herbs, Manuscripts, Medieval, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript on paper in two parts. Part I: Aristoteles, Topica. First folio of De sophisticis elenchis inserted after f. 137. Many folios replaced on 16th-century paper. Part II: 1) Heraclius (attributed author), Brontologion (Rules for interpreting thunder). 2) Ezra the Prophet (attributed author), Prognosis (Weather prophecies). 3) Stories from the Old Testament. The 2 parts of the book were probably bound together in Venice about 1500
Description:
In Greek., Headings in red., and Binding: Eighteenth century. Italian blind-tooled calf with unidentified arms in gilt on both covers.
Subject (Geographic):
Connecticut and New Haven.
Subject (Name):
Aristotle.
Subject (Topic):
Classical literature, Manuscripts, Medieval, Philosophy, and Science, Medieval
Manuscript on paper, in two different hands, containing Joannes de Sacro Bosco's De sphaera mundi and Additiones (1r-22v) and Gherardo da Cremona's Theorica planetarum (23r-38v). First hand is unidentified; second hand, Jacobus de Milisapris, has copied the Theorica planetarum. Also includes a number of astronomical illustrations; in De sphaera mundi: f. 1v ("de forma mundi notatur hec spera"); in Theorica planetarum: ff. 23v, 26r-v, 29r, 33r, 34r. Manuscript is a palimsest; original text is a 15th-century Italian religious text
Alternative Title:
Tractatus de spera de Iohannis de sacro busco. Theorica planetarum and Tractatus de sphaera / written by Jacobus de Milisapris de Porturraris at Padua ; finished "at 2 P.M. on 9 September 1467"
Description:
In Latin., Titles from opening rubrics., Script: first hand writes in humanist minuscule; second hand in gothic textualis., Decoration: headings in red. Rubrication., Layout: 1 column of 30 lines., Binding: seventeenth-century paper binding over paper boards., Foliation added in red modern pencil., and Scribal note (f. 38v): Explicit Theorica planeta[rum] per me Iacobu[m] de Milisapris de Portuna[v]o[n]is. Anno C[hrist]i optimi 1467 die nono me[n]sis septembris hora m[er]curii. In paduano studio i[n] [con]trata colombino[rum].
