Collection ID: 0001 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Ars artium

Authors

• Schopper, Hartmann, 1542-

Other related names

• Hassia, Maurice, dedicatee
• Woodcock, Albert, former owner

Call number

LJS 251
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4856519
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4856519

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Latin, with some Hebrew characters

Origin

Date

between 1655 and 1699

Place

Germany

Summary

17th-century copy of a 16th-century treatise (1564, p. 6; 1569, p. 121) on cabalistic gematria (the mystical interpretation of language), in which strings of letters, in this case Latin sentences, are assigned a numerical value. Begins with a dedication to Maurice Hassia, Landgraf of Katsenelnbogen, Dietz, Zitgen-Hain, and Nidda, and a preface in which Schopper cites Christian Renaissance scholar Pico della Mirandola as his primary source for the Hebrew tradition of cabala. The mathematical notation used in the manuscript suggests that the text was copied and updated between 1655 and 1699.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from title page for second part (p. 121).
   

Watermark

Small mountain, bird, and initials PB enclosed in a circle surmounted by the letter F (f. 1-132); fleur-de-lis enclosed in a circle surmounted by a heart (f. 133-139).

Extent

139 leaves : 282 x 202 (245 x 156) mm. bound to 289 x 215 mm

Collation

Paper, 139; 1¹⁰ 2¹² 3⁶ 4¹² 5¹⁰ 6⁸(+1) 7-10¹² 11¹²(+1) 12¹² 13¹⁰(-3?); gatherings signed A-D, F-I, K-M (gatherings 5 ([E]) and 13 not signed); 3-22, 25-84, 87-104, 107-122, 125-248, 273-274, 249-264, [i-ii], 265-269, [270], 275-276, [i-ii], 277-279, 279-285; contemporary pagination in ink, upper right recto. Catchword lower right verso on each leaf.

Support

Paper

Binding

Later vellum over pasteboards (signs of trimming show this not to be the original binding); spine and corners repaired.

Layout

Written in 30-37 long lines; vertical bounding lines ruled in ink (many of which have oxidized, causing straight incisions in the paper).

Decoration

Diagrams and tables throughout.

Script

Written in italic script by a single hand.

Provenance

• Formerly owned by Albert Woodcock (inscription inside upper cover: Albert Woodcock, Book bought in Sicily A.D. 1886; similar inscriptions, p. 3, 121).
   
• Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, Aug. 1998.
   
• Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.
   

Subjects topical

• Cabala--Early works to 1800
• Gematria--Early works to 1800
• Mathematics--Early works to 1800
• Algebra--Early works to 1800

Genres

• Codices
• Diagrams
• Tables (documents)
• Treatises
• Manuscripts, Latin--17th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2015 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is 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

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

• Text

  All referenced images and their content 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/

Decorations

• Inside front cover — Owner signature, Inside front cover
• fol. 129r — Diagram, f. 129r
• fol. 134r — Diagram, f. 134r
• fol. 134v — Diagram, f. 134v