Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Chemical characters from several authors.

Authors

• Adet, Pierre-Auguste, 1763-1832
• Berthollet, Claude-Louis, 1748-1822
• Fourcroy, Antoine-François de, comte, 1755-1809
• Hassenfratz, J. H. 1755-1827
• Jackson, William
• Lavoisier, Antoine Laurent, 1743-1794
• Lettsom, John Coakley, 1744-1815
• Ludolf, Hieronymus von, 1708-1764
• Basilius Valentinus
• Charles Rainsford Collection of Alchemical and Occult Manuscripts (University of Pennsylvania)

Other related names

• Northumberland, Hugh Percy, Duke of, 1742-1817, former owner (http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/nr93028960)
• Rainsford, Charles, 1728-1809, former owner

Call number

Ms. Codex 1662
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9962934463503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/898044186
• https://colenda.library.upenn.edu/catalog/81431-p3kk94j7r https://repository.upenn.edu/uniqueatpenn/23/

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

English, with definitions and terms in Latin and a single word in Greek

Origin

Date

1769-1809

Place

England

Summary

Copies of lists of chemical nomenclature and symbols including an unidentified text in Latin and followed by lists attributed to the alleged 15th-century alchemist Basilius Valentinus and the 18th-century chemist Hieronymus von Ludolf. Later additions to the manuscript include Antoine Lavoisier's definitive work on the standardization of chemical nomenclature in which he introduces the concept of elements and compounds (1787) and Jean-Henri Hassenfratz and Pierre-Auguste Adet's subsequent publication of standardized symbols corresponding to Lavoisier's new nomenclature (1799). Includes an alphabetical index for p. 1-52 (index, p. 22-34).

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from title page (p. i).
   
• 1. p.1-13: [Unidentified Latin list] -- 2. p.14-16: Mineral substances -- 3. p.17-21: Characters / from Basil Valentine -- 4. p.22-34: Alphabet of the characters -- 5. p.36-52: Chemical signs / from Ludolf -- 6. p.53-60: A synopsis of the chemical characters adapted to the new nomenclature -- 7. p.61-70: The substance of two memoirs on the characters to be used in chemistry.
   

Extent

125 leaves : 185 x 123 mm bound to 189 x 125 mm

Foliation

Paper, 125 leaves; [ii], 1-11, 11-52, [53-247]; contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners. Pages 71-247 blank. Folio following title page has been cut out resulting in a loss of text.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary quarter leather.

Script

Written in a cursive script by what appears to be multiple hands.

Provenance

• Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 15 July 2014, as part of Lot 411.
   
• Owned by the 2nd through 12th Dukes of Northumberland, ms. 573B, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1809-2014 (initials, p. i).
   
• Formerly owned by Charles Rainsford (British army officer, fellow of the Royal Society, and alchemist; bookplate, inside upper cover); bequeathed by Rainsford to Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland.
   

Subjects topical

• Alchemy--Early works to 1800
• Alchemy
• Occultism
• Chemistry
• Occultism--Early works to 1800
• Chemistry--Early works to 1800

Genres

• Codices (bound manuscripts)
• Manuscripts, European
• Manuscripts, English--18th century
• Lists

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 1662: Chemical characters from several authors. are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

• Text

  Metadata is ©2023 University of Pennsylvania Libraries and licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• i — Title page
• 1 — [Unidentified Latin list]
• 14 — Mineral substances
• 14 — Mineral substances
• 17 — Characters from Basil Valentine
• 22 — Alphabet of characters
• 36 — Chemical signs
• 53 — A synopsis of the chemical characters adapted to the new nomenclature
• 61 — The substance of two memoirs on the characters to be used in chemistry