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

Title

Miscellany of scientific treatises

Authors

• Johannes, de Rupescissa, ca. 1300-ca. 1365
• Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280
• Arnaldus, de Villanova, d. 1311
• Geber, 13th cent

Other related names

• Llull, Ramon, 1232?-1316, attributed name
• Heber, Richard, 1773-1833, former owner
• Kloss, Georg Franz Burkhard, 1787-1854, former owner
• Strong, George Templeton, 1820-1875, former owner
• Lea, Henry Charles, 1825-1909, former owner

Call number

Ms. Codex 69
(3420 Walnut Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6206., University of Pennsylvania, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 9915455713503681
• http://www.worldcat.org/oclc/122584710
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/1545571

Publisher

University of Pennsylvania

Language

Latin

Origin

Date

between 1450 and 1475

Place

Germany

Summary

Collection of scientific, alchemical, and medical works. Some are by famous individuals such as Geber, Albertus Magnus, and Johannes de Rupescissa, but most are unattributed. Partial table of contents in a later hand pasted inside upper cover. Many marginal notes, symbols, corrections and comments in various later cursive hands, including a reference to the date 1431 (f. 16r).

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title supplied by cataloger; title written in Latin on upper cover is too abraded to be read easily.
   

Watermark

Piccard XIII. iii. 1638 (ca. 1483); also, cf. Piccard IV. xii. 252 and 253 (ca. 1487 and 1488).

Extent

123 leaves : 207 x 140 (148 x 85) mm. bound to 215 x 145 mm

Collation

Paper, i + 123 + i; 1¹², 2-7¹⁰, 8¹⁰(+1), 9-12¹⁰; 1-75, [i], 76-122; contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto. Gatherings signed a-i, k-m, lower right recto of leaves in first half of each gathering.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary boards with remains of bronze clasp; rebacked with 19th-century morocco; spine is worn, particularly at the hinges. Title (abraded) written on upper cover. The second and last quires and the front endleaf are pulling loose. A few leaves are torn.

Layout

Written in 26-29 long lines; ruled in lead.

Decoration

Diagram of alchemical devices (f. 22v); sketches in ink of crowns (f. 9v, 23r); 4-line and 5-line puzzle initials in red and green (f. 2r, 47r), alternating green or red initials and paragraph marks throughout; red underlining throughout; various chemical and alchemical symbols used in the text and marginalia.

Script

Written in a Gothic cursive script in a single hand, with a second, slightly later hand beginning on f. 120v.

Provenance

• Possibly formerly owned by Richard Heber (inscription referring to Heber's sale, f. [i] recto).
   
• Formerly owned by Georg Franz Burkhard Kloss (Frankfurt am Main); sold at auction at Sotheby's to Rodd, 7 May 1835, lot 4567.
   
• Formerly owned by George T. Strong (signature, dated 1839, f. [i] recto); sold at auction at Bangs & Co., 4 Nov. 1878, lot 1061.
   
• Formerly owned by Henry Charles Lea (signature, dated 1878, f. [i] recto; bookplate inside lower cover).
   
• Passed to the University of Pennsylvania with the Lea Library.
   

Subjects topical

• Alchemy--Early works to 1800
• Chemistry--History
• Medicine, Magic, mystic, and spagiric--Early works to 1800
• Medicine, Medieval

Genres

• Codices
• Anthologies
• Drawings
• Recipes
• Treatises
• Manuscripts, Latin--15th century
• Manuscripts, Renaissance

Keywords

• 15th century
• Drawing
• Alchemy
• History
• Science -- Medicine
• Magic
• Paper
• Germany
• German

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts Ms. Codex 69: Miscellany of scientific treatises 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 © 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. 1r — Aqua philosophica atque occulta, f. 1r
• fol. 2r — Liber investigationum Gebri philosophii, f. 2r
• fol. 10r — Rosa novella, f. 10r
• fol. 14v — Vasa chemica, f. 14v
• fol. 23r — Liber investigationum Gebri de medicine proprietatibus sive investigationum perfecti magisterii, f. 23r
• fol. 34r — Practica magni philosophi, f. 34r
• fol. 44r — Opus universale, f. 44r
• fol. 47r — Philosophus perpulcer et nobilis quo ad veram viam universalem, f. 47r
• fol. 64r — Tractatus concordiarum philosophorum de lapide philosophico, f. 64r
• fol. 75v — Liber lucis, f. 75v
• fol. 80r — Universale quomodo corpora in primam materiam reducantur, f. 80r
• fol. 93v — Synonima corporum spirituum et salium cum signis, f. 93v
• fol. 102v — Tractatus utilis de materia et generatione metallorum, f. 102v
• fol. 107v — Passage concerning the four elements, f. 107v
• fol. 108r — Ad rubeum, f. 108r
• fol. 109r — Tractatus perpulcer de generatione et corruptione metallorum collectus, f. 109r
• fol. 116v — De putrefactione, f. 116v
• fol. 119v — Dialogus in miseros et stolidos alchymistas, f. 119v
• fol. 120v — Additional notes and recipes in another hand, f. 120v

Decorations

• fol. 2r — Decorated initial, Initial I, f. 2r
• fol. 9v — Drawing, Crown, f. 9v
• fol. 17r — Manicule, f. 17r
• fol. 22v — Diagram, f. 22v
• fol. 23r — Drawing, Diagram, f. 23r
• fol. 36v — Decorated initial, Initial S, f. 36v
• fol. 38v — Decorated initial, Initial R, f. 38v
• fol. 39r — Decorated initial, Initial S, f. 39r
• fol. 40v — Manicule, f. 40v
• fol. 46v — Decorated initial, Initial R, f. 46v
• fol. 47r — Decorated initial, Initial N, f. 47r
• fol. 53r — Manicule, f. 53r
• fol. 69r — Decorated initial, Initial D, f. 69r
• fol. 74r — Manicule, f. 74r
• Inside back cover — Bookplate, Inside back cover