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

Title

Alchemical and medical compendium

Other related names

• Rainsford, Charles, 1728-1809, former owner
• Northumberland, Hugh Percy, Duke of, 1742-1817, former owner

Call number

Ms. Codex 1676
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 6293544
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/6293544

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Latin, Italian, and Spanish, with some French and occasional words in Greek

Origin

Date

between 1750 and 1799

Summary

Collection of instructional works bound together concerning alchemy, divination, medical remedies, and anatomy. Includes a partial alphabetical index (f. i recto-v verso). Instructions include details on alchemical procedures such as calcination, distillation and transmutation (f. 105r) including how to turn lead into gold (f. 114v) and sapphires into diamonds (f. 115r). An entire section is devoted to the properties of salt (f. 48r). Other practical instructions include a section on military stratagems (f. 35v) and remedies for wounds such a rabid dog bite (f. 45v).

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title supplied by cataloger.
   

Extent

163 leaves : 302 x 210 mm. bound to 315 x 215 mm. +

Foliation

Paper, i (contemporary paper) + 168 + i (contemporary paper); [i-v, 1-163]; modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto. Irregular contemporary foliation and pagination in ink, upper outer corners. All references in this record are to modern foliation. A number of leaves have been cut out, occasionally resulting in a loss of text (for example, f. 14-15). Several folios are completely detached (f. 33-35).

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary parchment. Some staining of paper due to mold and moisture damage. Several leaves are completely detached.

Decoration

Circular foldout diagram (f. 93r); pen and ink drawings of alchemical apparatus (for example, f. 4r) and several circular diagrams (f. 31r, 122v).

Script

Written in various cursive scripts by many different hands.

Provenance

• Formerly housed in the library of the Jesuit College of Naples (note, f. v verso).
   
• Formerly owned by Charles Rainsford (British army officer, fellow of the Royal Society, and alchemist); bequeathed by Rainsford to Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland.
   
• Owned by the 2nd through 12th Dukes of Northumberland, ms. 587, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1809-2014 (bookplate, inside upper cover; stamps throughout).
   
• Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 15 July 2014, as part of Lot 411.
   

Subjects topical

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

Genres

• Codices
• Diagrams
• Drawings
• Manuals (instructional materials)
• Manuscripts, Italian--18th century
• Manuscripts, Latin--18th century
• Manuscripts, Spanish--18th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Rare Book & Manuscript Library, Ms. Codex 1676: Alchemical and medical compendium 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 ©2017 University of Pennsylvania Books & Manuscripts 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

Decorations

• fol. 2r — Table, f. 2r
• fol. 3r — Diagram, f. 3r
• fol. 3v — Diagram, f. 3v
• fol. 4r — Diagram, f. 4r
• fol. 4v — Diagram, f. 4v
• fol. 5r — Diagram, f. 5r
• fol. 29v — Diagram, f. 29v
• fol. 31r — Diagram, f. 31r
• fol. 34v — Diagram, f. 34v
• fol. 42r — Diagram, f. 42r
• fol. 115r — Diagram, f. 115r
• fol. 115v — Diagram, f. 115v
• fol. 116r — Diagram, f. 116r
• fol. 119r — Diagram, f. 119r
• fol. 122v — Diagram, f. 122v
• fol. 123r — Diagram, f. 123r
• fol. 123v — Diagram, f. 123v
• fol. 125r — Table, f. 125r
• fol. 125v — Table, f. 125v
• fol. 126r — Table, f. 126r
• fol. 126v — Table, f. 126v