Collection ID: 0007 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Alchemical writings

Authors

• Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280 (http://viaf.org/viaf/88125532)
• Hermes, Trismegistus (http://viaf.org/viaf/24571510)
• Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (http://viaf.org/viaf/11036)
• Rāzī, Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā, 865?-925? (http://viaf.org/viaf/95154093)
• Llull, Ramon, 1232?-1316 (http://viaf.org/viaf/120696927)
• Arnaldus, de Villanova, -1311 (http://viaf.org/viaf/100189814)
• Johannes, de Rupescissa, approximately 1300-approximately 1365 (http://viaf.org/viaf/161741750)
• ʻAlī ibn Riḍwān, -approximately 1068 (http://viaf.org/viaf/100198249)
• Philip, Duke of Burgundy, 1342-1404 (http://viaf.org/viaf/88977589)
• Hortulanus Alchemist (http://viaf.org/viaf/47154979)
• Morienus, Romanus (http://viaf.org/viaf/12734759)
• Pliny, the Elder (http://viaf.org/viaf/100219162)
• Elia, da Cortona, frate, -1253 (http://viaf.org/viaf/96184933)
• Arnaldus, of Brussels

Other related names

• Whitman, W.E., former owner

Funders

• Council on Library and Information Resources

Call number

Lehigh Codex 10
(Bethlehem, United States, Lehigh University, Special Collections)

Alternate identifiers

• Accession: 10548
• deRicci: 1
• Hirsh: MS Hirsh 10

Publisher

Special Collections

Language

Latin; Italian; Catalan, Valencian

Origin

Place

Naples, Italy

Summary

This late fifteenth-century manuscript, written on paper, contains a compilation of alchemical texts assembled and copied by Arnold of Brussels. For the most part, it was made in Naples between 1472 and 1490, as often noted at the end of works (for example, fols. 149r, 182v, 196v). A group of works in the middle of the volume appear to be in a different, possibly German, hand (fols. 79-101). As well as lists of philosophers, recipes, and key alchemical terms, it contains a number of texts and treatises of historical importance. These include the pseudo-Albertus Magnus's "Semita Recta" ("The Straight Path," fols. 17v-18r) and Hermes Trismegistus's "Obra de la Alkimia" ("The Work of Alchemy," ff. 30v-32v), as well as multiple works or excerpts of works by Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (known as Geber), Ramon Llull, Arnold of Villanova, and Pliny the Elder among others. For more information, see Hirsh (1970). The text is simply adorned with colored initials and paraph markers, but has been further embellished by later readers with simple line-fillers, a large number of manicules, and – perhaps most interestingly – sketches of alchemical apparatus (fols. 19v-20r). Later hands have made annotations and additions to the text throughout. There are multiple conflicting systems of foliation, and the quires appear to have been reordered at least once before being bound in their current order. Some of the leaves are damaged and many have had their margins repaired. Others are almost completely detached from the text block (for example, fol. 94).

Notes

• Holes in and damage to paper throughout
   

Extent

Iv+229+iv; 285 x 204 mm bound to 295 x 222 mm

Foliation

Modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto, lower right recto; i-xiv (title page and table of contents), 1-216

Collation

1 (1, +1), 2 (12), 3-6 (16), 7 (14), 8-9 (12), 10 (5, +3), 11 (6), 12 (5, +3), 13 (10), 14-15 (16), 16 (14), 17 (12), 18 (2), 19-20 (8), 21 (12)

Signatures

Modern quire signatures in pencil, a-u (fols. iir, 17r, 33r, 49r, 65r, 79r, 91r, 103r, 108r, 114r, 119r, 129r, 145r, 161r, 175r, 187r, 189r, 197r, 205r)

Support

Paper

Binding

Half leather; rebacked, title stamped in gold on spine: "LE TRESOR DES ALCHEMISTES"; marbled edges

Layout

Two columns of forty-one lines; evidence of trimming; written area: 211 x 145 mm

Decoration

One large diagram (fol. 163r) on the philosopher's stone; occasional marginal drawings (for example, alchemical apparatus, fols. 19v-20r); line-fillers and manicules in ink; rubrication and paragraph marks in red

Script

Gothic--cursiva

Provenance

• W. E. Whitman in pencil on front flyleaf and in ink on second title page (nineteenth century); acquired by Lehigh University in 1881
   

Related resources

• De Ricci, Seymour, with the assistance of W. J. Wilson, Census of Medieval and Renaissance Manuscripts in the United States and Canada, vol. 2 (New York: H. W. Wilson, 1935-40), p. 1986-1988, no. 1.
• Wilson, W.J., "An Alchemical Manuscript by Arnaldus de Bruxella," Osiris II (1936): 220-405.
• John C. Hirsh, Western Manuscripts of the Twelfth through the Sixteenth Centuries in Lehigh University Libraries: A Guide to the Exhibition (Bethlehem, PA: Lehigh University, 1970), cat. 10, pp. 17-24.

Keywords

• Alchemy
• 15th century
• Italy
• Diagrams
• Paper

Licenses

• Text

  These images and the content of Special Collections Lehigh Codex 10: Alchemical writings 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

  To the extent possible under law, Lehigh University Libraries, Special Collections has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this metadata about Special Collections Lehigh Codex 10: Alchemical writings. This work is published from: United States. For a summary of CC0, see https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/. Legal code: https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode.

  URL

  https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/legalcode

Table of contents

• i verso — Advertissement a ceux qui verront ce manuscript
• ii recto — [Table of contents]
• fol. 1r — Semita Recta in Alkymia; incipit: Omnis sapientia a Domino Deo est... [fol. 1r]
• fol. 17v — Regimen et ex quibus Componi Debet Lapis Philosophorum; incipit: Accipe de nobilissimo corpore mi perfecto... [fol. 17v]
• fol. 18r — [Recipes and instructions]
• fol. 21v — [Relatio de Philosopho Mauro et de Fabro Erario Aurifabro]; incipit: Fabro quodam Erario existentem ... [fol. 21v]
• fol. 22r — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 24v — Petitiones et responsiones facte per Agadinum philosophum a Spiritu; incipit: Dicas michi tu spiritus: Potest fieri lapis ... [fol. 24v]
• fol. 25v — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 30v — Obra de la Alkimia; incipit: Premerament r[ecipe] de la pedra que es apellada Adebesi ... [fol. 30v]
• fol. 32v — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 49v — Summa minor; incipit: Cum solerti indagine universarum rerum artifex ... [fol. 49v]
• fol. 65r — Testamentum; incipit: Ex omnibus rebus animalibus ... [fol. 65r]
• fol. 68v — Liber [triginta] verborum super practica servanda in arte alkimie; incipit: Iam tu scis qui hanc quieris sci[enti]am ... [fol. 68v]
• fol. 71v — Liber duodecim verborum; incipit: Sume aquam distillatam de albumine ... [fol. 71v]
• fol. 72v — Secreta; incipit: Septem sunt planete, septem metalla ... [fol. 72v]
• fol. 73v — Liber duodecim aquarum; incipit: Libelli hui[us] seriem 12 cap[itu]lis ordinabo ... [fol. 73v]
• fol. 74v — Qualiter fit aqua fortis et virtutes eius que possunt operari cum ea; incipit: Recipe vitrioli uncias 3 ... [fol. 74v]
• fol. 76r — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 79r — [Tertia distinctio de cura elementorum]; incipit: Hec e[st] t[er]cia disti[n]ct[i]o huius libri q[ue] e[st] de cura ... [fol. 79r]
• fol. 97r — [Various alchemical texts and tables]
• fol. 99v — Epistola accurtationis; incipit: Cum ego Raymund[us] de insula Maioricarum ... [fol. 99v]
• fol. 102r — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 106r — De compositione lapidis philosophorum, doctrina elegans composita in infrascriptis centu[m] versibus; incipit: Fili, doctrinam tibi nu[n]c porrigo bina[m] ... [fol. 106r]
• fol. 106v — Quomodo Mercurius convertit[ur] in veram lunam; incipit: Mercurius verissima luna fit alacritate ... [fol. 106v]
• fol. 107r — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 120v — De doctrina compositionis medicine ad rubeu[m] super argentum preparatu[m]; incipit: De hiis aut[em] nullus philosophus liber mentione[m] fecit ... [fol. 120v}
• fol. 126r — Flos regis; incipit: Scias tu rex quod sapientes ... [fol. 126r]
• fol. 127v — Dicta XII philosophorum]; incipit: Sciatis domini quod lapis ... [fol. 127v]
• fol. 129v — Libellus septem propositionum; incipit: En testimoni es a mi Deu, al qual yo no ment que en aquestes vii propositions ... [fol. 129v]
• fol. 132r — [Duodecim capitula]; incipit: En nom de deu Rey de gloria componam aquest libre ... [fol. 132r]
• fol. 144v — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 145r — Liber lucis; incipit: En nom de deu comens a scriure e de la gloriosa verge Maria e de tota la cort celestial del paradís ... [fol. 145r]
• fol. 149r — Various alchemical texts
• fol. 151r — [Rigmi in ydeomate cathalano circa compositionem lapidis ad rubeum et deinde ad albam]; incipit: En nom de deu lo rey del cel / E del angel sant Gabriel ... [fol. 151r]
• fol. 153v — [Later notes]
• fol. 154r — Opus et magisterium lapidis ph[ilosoph]or[um] transmissum per Magistru[m] Guill[ermu]m Reverendo Archiep[iscop]o Remensi; incipit: O venerande p[ate]r, gratias ago deo ... [fol. 154r]
• fol. 158r — Questiones essentiales et accidentales; incipit: Primo querit[ur] utru[m] operatio pot[est] fieri ex folis luminaribus ... [fol. 158r]
• fol. 162r — Various alchemical texts
• fol. 163v — Liber de Secretis secretorum; incipit: Accipe canem masculum coratenum ... [fol. 163v]
• fol. 164r — Liber Phenicis; incipit: Cum tanta dier[um] p[ro]lixitate ... [fol. 164r]
• fol. 171r — [Allegoriae sapientum supra Librum turbae] (extracts); incipit: In dei no[m]i[n]e amen. Sancti spiritus assit michi gratia ... [fol. 171r]
• fol. 172v — Parabola super lapide philosophorum; incipit: Quidam rex volens alios superare ... [fol. 172v]
• fol. 173v — [Later notes]
• fol. 174v — Visio senis; incipit: Vidi senem nimia claritate ... [fol. 174v]
• fol. 175v — Liber montis; incipit: Benedictu[m] e[n]im sit nomen d[omi]ni ... [fol. 175v]
• fol. 182v — Testamentum Hermetis; incipit: Dicit ph[ilosophu]s: Verum sine mendacio ... [fol. 182v]
• fol. 183r — Exposito Ortulani super Testamentum Hermetis; incipit: Verum, id est, veru[m] est q[uod] ars est data hui[us] operis ... [fol. 183r]
• fol. 185v — Liber ad regem Calid; incipit: Dixit Castrensis: Legim[us] in historiis ... [fol. 185v]
• fol. 197r — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 197v — [Historiae naturalis XXXVII] (extract); incipit: Oleu[m] amigdalinu[m] purgat ... [fol. 197v]
• fol. 198r — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 199v — Sonetti de fr[atr]e Elia; incipit: El mi delecta de dire brevimente ... [fol. 199v]
• fol. 201v — [Various alchemical texts]
• fol. 203v — [Later notes]
• fol. 204r — Lilium; incipit: Naturam circa solem et lunam ... [fol. 204r]
• fol. 213v — Lilium abbreviatum; incipit: Cum es n[ost]r[u]m ex tribus co[n]stet ... [fol. 213v]

Decorations

• Inside front cover — Bookplate, Lehigh University
• Flyleaf 1 verso — Notations in pencil
• Flyleaf 2 recto — Ownership note, "W. E. Whitman"
• Flyleaf 4 recto — Title page in ink, in French
• Flyleaf 4 recto — Notations in pencil
• i recto — Title page in ink, in French
• i recto — Ownership note, "W. E. Whitman," twice
• fol. 19r — Marginal drawing, Medicine jar
• fol. 19v — Marginal drawings, Alchemical apparatus
• fol. 20r — Marginal drawing, Alchemical apparatus
• fol. 39r — Marginal drawing, Vessels
• fol. 47v — Marginal drawings, Vessels
• fol. 55r — Marginal nota mark, Face in profile
• fol. 55v — Marginal nota mark, Face in profile
• fol. 56r — Marginal nota mark, Face in profile
• fol. 95r — Marginal drawing, Alphabet letters
• fol. 127r — Marginal nota mark, Face in profile
• fol. 163r — Diagram, The philosopher's stone
• fol. 177r — Marginal nota mark, Face in profile
• fol. 183r — Marginal drawing, face
• Flyleaf 1 verso — Notations in pencil
• Flyleaf 2 recto — Ownership note, "W. E. Whitman"
• Flyleaf 4 recto — Title page in ink, in French
• Flyleaf 4 recto — Notations in pencil