Avicenna, 980-1037 Jābir ibn Ḥayyān Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā, 865?-925? Richard, de Fournival, fl. 1246-1260
Published / Created:
[ca. 1350]
Call Number:
Mellon MS 2
Image Count:
96
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on parchment of a collection of practical alchemies and procedures, the earliest such manuscript in the Mellon collection. Contains texts transmitted from Arabic sources and what appear to be European additions to the literature and practice of alchemy. Includes the following identifiable texts: Rasis or Aristotle, Lumen luminum perfecti magisterii; Avicenna, Epistola ad Hasen; Geber, Liber deitatis sive divinitatis and Summa perfectionis magisterii; Rasis, De aluminibus et salibus, extracts; and Richard de Fournival, Opus Arturi, or De arte alchemica. and The codex is an important, early, and comprehensive collection of largely practical alchemies and procedures. It is also of special significance both because of its early copies of texts transmitted from Arabic sources and for what appear to be very early, independent, European additions to the literature and practice of alchemy.
Description:
Alternating red and blue capitals throughout, some headings in red, many capitals stroked red, slight filiform decoration to opening initial of the volume, the rubrics and decoration probably by one of the scribes or another closely related hand., Binding: Early, probably 15th century. Undecorated red-dyed hide over beveled wooden boards, four brass edgepieces on each cover attached with brass nails, two brass catches on upper cover, lightly chased brass and leather clasps on lower cover (all of the material of cut sheet-brass), back with six raised bands, repaired and rebacked, with modern leather title label. Used as pastedowns inside upper and lower cover are two leaves from a 14th-century Germanic (perhaps Netherlandish) manuscript on parchment containing plainsong written in Germanic neumes on five-line staves, the text in Gothica textualis formata, large gothic capitals in red or blue, one at top of lower pastedown in black and red slightly decorated. In all the staves but the last on the lower pastedown the center-line is stroked red and bears the clef sign; in the last, the fourth line from the bottom has these indications., Pastedowns inside both covers are two leaves from a 14th-century Germanic (perhaps Netherlandish) manuscript on parchment containing plainsong written in Germanic neumes on five-line staves, the text in Gothica textualis formata, large gothic capitals in red or blue, one at top of lower pastedown in black and red slightly decorated., Possibly written by Frater Bartholomaeus (of?) Ol-----, 1335, according to a later note at foot of f. 88v, Script: Written by three scribes all using similar, legible, and rather cursive forms of Gothica textualis; the first scribe wrote ff. 1r-64v, the second ff. 65r-77r1, 38, and the third the remainder., Written by three scribes all using closely similar, legible, and rather cursive forms of Gothica textualis, heavily abbreviated with standard forms., and Written space 184 x 116, 2 columns, 50-49-48 lines each.
Subject (Name):
Avicenna, 980-1037, Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294, Duveen, Denis I., bookplate, Geber, 13th cent. Summa perfectionis magisterii, Razi, Abu Bakr Muh ammad ibn Zakariya, 865?-925?, Richard, de Fournival, fl. 1246-1260, and Saumaise, Claude, 1588-1653, provenance
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Bacon, Roger, 1214?-1294 Freelove, Robert Jean, de Meun, d. 1305? Khālid ibn Yazīd al-Umawī, 7th cent
Published / Created:
[ca. 1550]
Call Number:
Mellon MS 33
Image Count:
277
Resource Type:
Archives or Manuscripts
Abstract:
Manuscript on paper of 1) Unidentified alchemy. 2) Jean de Meung, Liber Lapidis mineralis, Book II only, translated into English by Robert Freelove, 1522. 3) The Practys of Lyghtes. 4) Roger Bacon or Johannes Sawtre, Radix mundi, translated into English by Robert Freelove, 1550. 5) Rudianus, Liber trium verborum, translated into English. 6) Khalid ibn Yazid, Liber secretorum philosophorum, translated into English, 1542. 7) Unidentified alchemy.
Description:
Binding: Sixteenth century, English. Brown calf over pasteboards, the covers paneled in blind fillets, much deteriorated and the backstrip missing, preserved in a cloth case., No color or rubrication; occasional headlines or headings in large writing., Script: At least three scribes writing English cursive vernacular hands; the first, whose initials were probably "T.R." as written on f. 18r, 20, wrote ff. 1-18; the second wrote ff. 19-53, 67-94, and perhaps ff. 115-128; the third wrote ff. 54-65., and Watermarks: 1) a pot similar to Briquet 12801; 2) a similar one with a gothic "3" on the pot; 3) a hand with flower like Briquet 11347, all datable about 1550.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, English literature--Early modern, 1500-1700, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Blank pages not digitized. and Imperfect: some pages mutilated with loss of text.
Subject (Topic):
Alchemy--Early works to 1800, Formulas, recipes, etc, Herbs--Early works to 1800, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper of Annales Sanctae Iustinae. The Annals deal with the regional history of Lombardy and the March of Treviso, but also with world history and cover the years 1207-1270. With Mantissa. Notes on the history and buildings of Padua from its legendary foundation to the death of Petrarch (1374), together with some facts of general history, written as a supplement to the preceding text.
Description:
Binding: Nineteenth century. Quarter binding, pasteboard covered with brown paper, and white parchment; flat spine with black leather title label with gold-tooled inscription: “MONACHI / PADUANI / CHRONICON / MS.”; below this label an oval label in the same material., Collection of Sir Thomas Phillipps. Purchased on the Edwin J. Beinecke Fund., In the original parts of the Annals, pale red headings; pale red stroking of the majuscules and plain alternately pale red and black 2-line initials, either Gothic with some decoration, or slovenly-made Humanistic ones. The parts copied by the second scribe are undecorated., Script: The Annals are copied by a single scribe writing Italian Hybrida Libraria under Humanistic influence, using only vertical d. Mantissa, as well as replacement leaves in the preceding text, are copied by a ca. 1600 hand writing Gothico-Humanistica Cursiva., and The original part of the manuscript is soiled and waterstained. It had lost two leaves that were later replaced.
Subject (Geographic):
Lombardy (Italy)--History, Padua (Italy), and Treviso (Italy)--History
Subject (Topic):
Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library, and World history
Manuscript on parchment of Fragments of a Brut Chronicle. Begins imperfectly in chapter 36 (Constantine) and has several lacunae. The work ends in chapter 86 (beginning on f. 11r) with the thirty-first year of Edward III. With art. 3) A note (in Latin) stating that King Henry IV was consecrated in 1399 and documenting his descent from Adam. 4) A list (in Latin) of 86 kings (each numbered) from Brutus to Edward III. 5) Names of prisoners captured and killed at the battle of Poitiers (19 Sept. 1356). 6) Terms of the treaty of Bretigny (8 May 1360). 7) Parliamentary text.
Description:
Acquired from Henry Fletcher in 1950., Binding: 18th-19th centuries. Stab sewn to a vellum folder made up of a legal document (trimmed with some loss of text) dated 1766 and involving the manors of Whitechurch and Milbourne in Wiltshire. The outside has an inscription, 19th century, "Some leaves of early English History in Norman French supposed to have come from Malmesbury Abbey." A similar inscription occurs on f. i verso., Decorative initials, blue with red penwork, appear only on ff. 1-12; initial strokes and headings, in red, throughout., In Anglo-Norman., and Script: Written in Anglicana bookhand by one scribe.
Subject (Geographic):
Great Britain--History--14th century
Subject (Name):
England.--Treaties, etc.--France,--(1360 May 8)
Subject (Topic):
Anglo-Norman literature, Chronicles of England, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Manuscript on paper in 2 volumes of a rhyme concordance (rimario) to the vernacular poetical works of Francesco Petrarca (1304-1374), arranged in an approximate alphabetical order, with numbered references to the pages or folios of an unidentified edition of 374 pages or folios (this being the highest number to which references are made).
Description:
Binding: Sixteenth century. Venetian de luxe bindings, brown morocco over pasteboard. The covers are bordered with blind-tooled and gold-tooled fillets; gold-tooled corner pieces and in the center gold-tooled coat of arms with two lilies of the Fugger family. On the front cover of vol. 1 are the gold-tooled vowels "A" and "E", on the front cover of vol. 2 the vowels "I", "O" and "V", referring to the content of both volumes. Gold- and blind-tooled spine with three raised bands. Red and green headbands. Gilt and gauffered edges. Marks of four pairs of ties., Script: Copied by one scribe in rapid Gothico-Humanistica Cursiva., and Watermark: Anchor within a circle, Briquet 586-589.
Subject (Name):
Petrarca, Francesco,--1304-1374
Subject (Topic):
Concordances, Italian poetry--To 1400, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
Binding: Sixteenth century (?). The backs of the quires are cut in at the sewing stations and coarsely woven cloth stays are adhered in the center of each. Sewn on five tawed, slit straps laced into wooden boards. Endbands, sewn on vegetable fiber cores, are covered with the covering leather which is backstitched. The wooden boards are flush, or nearly so. The spine is rounded and lined with cloth extending onto the outside of the boards. Covered in dark brown calf with a diamond pattern drawn on each board with a pointed instrument. A rectangular space for a label [now missing] is cut out of the upper board near the head. There are marks of four round, brass bosses on the lower board and the remains of two strap-and-pin fastenings, the pins on the upper board. The brown calf straps are attached with metal plates. Some mold damage to the bookblock. Rebacked. Bosses and fastenings wanting., Plain initial with modest penwork designs, in red, on f. 1r. Small initials, 3- to 2-line, headings, and initial strokes, in red, throughout., Purchased in 1949 from Stonehill's by Thomas E. Marston; his gift to Yale in 1952., Script: Written by a single scribe in a neat running hand. Rubrics (often omitted), in a more formal gothic script, appear to be later additions (instructions for rubricator along outer edges of leaves)., and Watermarks: unidentified unicorn, in gutter.
Subject (Topic):
Christian hagiography, Manuscripts, Medieval--Connecticut--New Haven, and Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in Beinecke Library
