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

Title

Alchemical and medical compilation.

Authors

• Schmucker, Johann Leberecht, 1712-1786

Call number

Ms. Codex 2145
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206, University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9977497945103681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/1405412001

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

German and Latin

Origin

Date

after 1779

Place

Germany

Summary

Compilation of multiple texts containing medical remedies and alchemical formulas in German and Latin. Stylistically coherent sections include one alchemical work in German with alchemical symbols and headings in red ink (f. 8r-15v) and another with alchemical symbols and signed quires (f. 17r-82r), both of which are marked on the lower right recto of each leaf with what looks like a division symbol. Additional alchemical sections are also marked with the division symbol (f. 99r-104r, 107r-111v). The second half of the volume, where the text block is outlined in ink on each page (f. 117r-202v), includes an alchemical text with original pagination 1-26 (f. 117v-129r) and medical excerpts from Chirurgische Wahrnehmungen, first published in 1774 by Prussian royal military physician Johann Leberecht Schmucker (f. 144r-166r). Other Prussian military physicians and other medical works from the mid-18th-century are also cited. One table, titled Pondera et mensura pharmaceutica (Pharmaceutical weights and measures), is a reference for symbols used in recipes (f. 85v-86r). The inscription dated 1765 on the first leaf (f. 1r) is a later addition.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title supplied by cataloger.
   

Extent

207 leaves : 167 x 110 mm bound to 172 x 117 mm

Collation

Paper, 207; 1-10⁸ 11¹⁰ 12-25⁸ 26⁸⁻³(6, 7, 8 pastedowns); modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto, [1-207] (f. 178-207 blank). Original pagination in ink in one section (1-28, f. 117r-130v). Quires 3-11 signed A-H, J, lower center first recto.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary (18th-century) leather on three supports with simple blind tooling; spine cracked and damaged at head and tail.

Layout

Various rulings in lead in roughly the first half of the volume, frequently vertical bounding lines and horizontals (f. 6r-116v); text block outlined in ink in roughly the second half (f. 117r-202v).

Decoration

Headings in red ink in one section (f. 8r-15v); occasional manicules (f. 79v, 102r-102v).

Script

Written in cursive and italic scripts, for German and Latin texts respectively, by multiple hands.

Provenance

• Ownership inscription: C.L.v.J. or C.L.v.F. (inscription in ink, inside upper cover).
   
• Offered for sale at auction by Zisska & Lacher Buch- und Kunstauktionshaus (Munich), auction 70 (2-4 May 2018), lot 34.
   
• Sold by Jeffrey D. Mancevice, Inc. (Worcester, Massachusetts), 2019.
   

Subjects topical

• Alchemy--Early works to 1800
• Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions--Early works to 1800

Genres

• codices (bound manuscripts)
• compilation manuscripts
• prescriptions
• Recipes
• Manuscripts, German--18th century
• Manuscripts, Latin--18th century
• Manuscripts, European

Keywords

• 18th century
• German
• Germany
• Paper
• Alchemy
• Science -- Medicine

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 2145: Alchemical and medical compilation. 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 ©2024 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

• fol. 2r — [Alchemical and medical compilation]
• fol. 85v — Table, Pondera et mensura pharmaceutica

Decorations

• fol. 79v — Manicule
• fol. 102r — Manicule
• fol. 102v — Manicule