Description of Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Library of Chemical History, Othmer MS 2: Alchemical miscellany contributor Erin Connelly Council on Library and Information Resources Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Library of Chemical History These images and the content of Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Library of Chemical History, Othmer MS 2: Alchemical miscellany 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/. To the extent possible under law, Othmer Library, Chemical Heritage Foundation has waived all copyright and related or neighboring rights to this metadata about Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Library of Chemical History Othmer MS 2: Alchemical miscellany. 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. Some leaves palimpsest with discernible traces of an earlier cursive gothic script in Latin, probably from fourteenth-century Italy, see fols. 49v-52v, 60r, 66r, 67r, 73v-74r; outer margin fol. 38 trimmed away, front flyleaf stained, fol. 9, stained partially obscuring text, fol. 42 to end soiled, with fols. 48-69 particularly dirty occasionally obscuring part of the text, fols. 79v-80r, stained with part of the text difficult to read, fol. 89 holes in lower margin from binding fittings Quire 4 leaf 6 canceled with no loss of text; Quire 8 leaves 11 and 12 canceled without loss of texts Philadelphia Science History Institute Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Library of Chemical History Othmer MS 2 This manuscript contains a miscellany of practical and theoretical alchemical texts with a full-page drawing of alchemical instruments. Latin; Italian Alchemical miscellany Johannes, de Rupescissa, approximately 1300-approximately 1365 Rudianus (?) Hospitalinus Ierosimilitanus Dastin, John (?) Johannes, de Teschen former owner Melvino, Francesco former owner Franciscus Pere[tt]oli (or Peressoli?) former owner Barrett, Roger Watson former owner Witten, Laurence C. former owner Ritman, Joost R. 1r Johannes de Rupescissa, De confectione veri lapidis Credas mihi pauper vir evangelice quod ante me nullus hominum in aperto hanc veritatem scripsit. Scito et animadverte qui philosophi magni . . . Explicit liber quinte essentię lapidis magistri Iohanis de Rupecissa viri magni et prophetici de ordine minorum 3r Series of recipes and procedures for subliming mercury, making alcohol, and so forth ascribed to Johannes Thecinensis, Christophorus Venetis, Thomas Aquinas In Nomine domini Amen. Hic soluitur dictum Aristotilis Quarto methaeorum Vbi dicit sciant artifices alkimię quod species metallorum permutari non possunt . . . Et sic explicit cum dei adiutorio 11r Practica artis alkimie (Rudianus) Nunc in dei benedictione practicam reserabo et modum agenda philosophicum quomodo perficiatur ipsum elixir siue tinctura alba et rubea ex solo mercurio philosophorum Explicit cum dei adiutorio cui sit laus et gloria 42r Opus magistri hospitalis by Hospitalinus Ierosimilitanus corrected by Rainalds [Arnaldus] de Villa Nova Accipe in nomine domini libram i alcaldir (?) Et explicit Gratiadei Minor 66v John Dastin (?), Rosarius philosophorum Desiderabile desiderium et pretium quod a cunctis philosophia nec male ponitur 69v Unidentified alchemical tract in Italian Recipe quella parte 79r Johannes Tecenensis, Alchemical antiphon Recipe <o> calcinatum seu fixum

Parchment

 i+89; 145 x 81 mm bound to 152 x 85 mm Modern foliation top outer corner in pencil, and incomplete early-modern foliation in ink

1 (10), 2 (14), 3 (12), 4 (6, -6), 5 (12), 6 (14), 7 (12), 8 (12, -11 -12)

Vertical catchword in quire five

Nineteen-twenty long lines; ruled in ink with single full-length vertical bounding lines ruled in lead; written area: 105 x 55 mm Humanistic Probably two scribes Full page drawing in pen with colored wash of sublimation vessels and a furnace (fol. 41r); red rubrics and red paragraph marks throughout; three- to one-line red or blue initials throughout 41rFull page drawing of two alchemical tools: "Sublimatoria vasa" and "furnus sublimatorum"

Bound in its original fifteenth-century leather (now very dark, possibly originally red), over thick wooden boards, cut flush with the book block, three raised bands, five brass bosses front and back covers, corner-studs on fore-edge, four metal roundels stamped with a star, front cover, along the spine, one remains back cover, fastens front to back with a clasp and catch brass and leather fastener

Between 1450 and 1475

Northern Italy Belonged to Fr. Francesco Melvino of the Convent of San Primo in Pavia in 1519; inside front cover, "1519. Fratris Francisci Meluini Conuentus Sancti Primi," added: "Papiae"; there is evidence of a church of San Primo in Pavia since the eleventh century; In 1354 it became a house of Servite canons (ordine dei Servi de Maria); the parish was suppressed in 1810 and reestablished as part of the diocesan clergy in 1828; Owned by Franciscus Pere[tt]oli (or Peressoli?), inscribed inside front cover; Belonged to Roger Watson Barrett of Kenilworth, Illinois, his manuscript no. 35 (described by Wilson, 1939, no. 3, pp. 30-39; and De Ricci, 1935-40, p. 678, no. 35); his sale, Park-Bernet, New York, 29 January 1952, lot 387; Subsequent modern sales at Swann's, New York, 5 April 1979, lot 586; Laurence Witten, Cat. 12 (1980), no. 1; Interlib., 1984, plate 9. Dealers' and owners' notes, inside front cover, in ink, "12 ll"; in pencil, "LB 10.009," in pencil, "4258/ N. 158"; note in German in pencil dated 1951"; front flyleaf, recto, note in pencil, "Jacob de Rupezissa. Book on Alchemy"; Belonged to Joost R. Ritman (b. 1941), the Dutch businessman and collector of art and books; acquired from Interlib in 1984; Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica MS 14 (bookplate, inside front cover); briefly described in Medieval Manuscripts in Dutch Collections (Online Resources), and in Gumbert, 1987, no. 116 Book Type Accounts Antiphonary Armorial Bible Biography Book of Hours Breviary Chronicle Collection of Sermons Commentary Document Dogale Friendship book Genealogy Glossary Gospel Lectionary Gospels Gradual Haggadah Homilary Horologion Hymnal Koran Lectionary Mass book Miscellany Missal Pontifical Portolan chart Prayer book Private devotional text Processional Protective scroll Psalter Psalter-Hours Qur`an Recipe book Saint's Life Scribal manual Torah Treatise Century 6th century 7th century 8th century 9th century 10th century 11th century 12th century 13th century 14th century 15th century 16th century 17th century 18th century 19th century 20th century Culture Abbasid Arabic Armenian Ashkenazi Austrian Byzantine Carolingian Chinese Christian Coptic Dutch Egyptian English Ethiopian Fatimid Flemish French German Indian Islamic Italian Jewish Mamluk Mughal Ottoman Ottonian Persian Portuguese Qajar Rajput Russian Safavid Sephardi Spanish Timurid Turkish Yemenite Descriptive term Accordion book Album Annotated Binding Calligraphy Caroline minuscule Chart Charter Colophon Damage Diagrams Drawing Early Abbasid script Fragment Gloss Gothic Gothic book hand Grisaille Grotesques Headpiece Heraldry Historiated initial Humanistic Illumination Illustration Inhabited initial Kufic Manicules Medallion Micrography Miniature Missing leaves Musical notation New Abbasid style Notable binding Original binding Ornament Painting Palimpsest Paper Penwork initial Puzzle initial Ragini Romanesque Scrapbook Scroll Scroll-work initial Seals Tables Textura Treasure binding Watermark White-vine lettering Woodcuts Geography Afghanistan Armenia Austria Belgium Central Arab lands (Near East) Central Asia China Egypt England Ethiopia Flanders France Germany Greece India Iran Iraq Israel Italy Maghreb Morocco Netherlands Pakistan Portugal Romania Russia Spain Sub-Saharan (West) Africa Turkey Yemen Other Alchemy Allegory Astrology Astronomy Biblical Cartography Church Fathers Cosmology Devotion Financial records Fortune-telling Friendship Games Geography Geomancy Grammar History Kabbalah Legal Literature -- Poetry Literature -- Prose Liturgy Logic Magic Maritime Mathematics Mineralogy Philosophy Piyutim Responsa Science Science -- Medicine Scripture Sufism Theology Treatise 15th century Italy Science Drawing Miscellany