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MEDICAL, VETERINARY AND SCIENTIFIC TEXTS including JOHANNES SACROBOSCO, Algorismus; PSEUDO-ARISTOTLE, Secretum Secretorum; JORDANUS RUFUS, De medecina equorum; WILLIAM THE FALCONER, De Falconibus,in Latin, German and French, MANUSCRIPT ON PAPER AND VELLUM
[Germany, 13th/14th to mid-15th century]
225 x 150mm. 85 leaves, 71 of paper and 14 of vellum: 115(of 14, xv an added singleton likely the survivor from another copy); 25(of 8, outer half of v and leaves vi-viii probably cancelled blanks); 311(of 12, lacking xii); 4-88; 98, 106, lacking at least a further gathering after 8, catchwords in the centre lower margins of gatherings 4-9, each gathering of paper leaves with inner and outer sewing guards of reused vellum, the volume is made up of six distinct sections each written in brown ink by different scribes and ruled to different layouts: gathering 1, except for final added leaf, 44 long lines, two-line initials of red, rubrics scored red and capitals touched red; gathering 2 two columns of 52-53 lines; gathering 3 two columns of 42-48 lines; gatherings 4-8 two columns of 50 lines between five verticals and 51 horizontals ruled in plummet, justification: 170 x 112mm, rubrics and paraphs in red, capitals touched red and two-line initials of red flourished brown; gatherings 9-10 palimpsest of two columns of 50-58 lines between verticals ruled in plummet (tears or losses to the margins of several folios but only affecting text on folios 27-30, some spotting and staining). Unrestored 15th-century Germanic limp vellum with link-stitch sewing on rigid leather backplate, sewing interwoven longstitch with chainstitch at head and foot, leather buttons and paper label (some surface spotting and scoring, split at foot of flap and lacking most of cord ties).
CONTENT:
ff.1-3v verses and prose gloss on calculating dates and times according to the Jewish system; ff.3v-10v Johannes Sacrobosco, Algorismus as Thorndike, 1937, 463; ff.10v-14v Algorismus in German, opening 'In maist waz boeci[us] gena[n]t d' spricht also alles daz vo[n] angeng d' welt', lacking final two sections; f.15 final page and explicit of another copy of the Algorismus in German, supplying missing sections; f.15v list of cardinal, ordinal, distributive and other number forms in Latin, with a note in German on roots; ff.16-17v text on gynaecology and pediatric medicine, beginning 'De libro geneteorum'; ff.17v-18 'Phisionomia', as Thorndike, 1937, 205; ff18v-19 on menstruation, beginning '[Est(?)] a dolor[ibu]s virgines'; ff.19-20, on the pulse, beginning 'Vidende s[un]t quatuor alte[r]ac[i]ones i[n] sano pulsu'; ff.21-31 Alexander, De proprietatibus mensium, on the months, herbs, spices, other substances and the humours as Thorndike, 1963, 841; f.31v text in German on the care of horses, opening 'Eyn ros von wass[er] zu rech' (first page only); ff.32-51v Pseudo-Aristotle, Secretum secretorum attributed to Philip of Tripoli as Thorndike, 1937, 219; ff.51v-52 text on the planets and constellations as Thorndike, 1937, 641; ff.52v-53 text on correct behaviour, opening 'Audiens sapiens sapientior erit'; ff.53-65 Jordanus Rufus of Calabria on veterinary medicine as Thorndike, 1963, 310, entitled here Practica equorum; ff.65-66 ?Albertus Magnus, De Falconibus, opening 'Medicinalis liber ancipitris est'; ff.66-68 William the Falconer, De Falconibus, opening 'Gullielmus falconerius fuit qui nutritus fuit in curia regis rogerii'; ff.68-69 Cato, Distichs; ff.69-70 Gualterius Anglicus, Fabulae Praefatio, moralising hexameters described here as Notabilia isopi; ff.70-71v abstract of Seneca's precepts in French (first four pages only), opening 'Talent mestoit pris quelela contase d[e]s philophes de cele clergie qui est apelee moralitee.'; ff.72-73v on fevers and the pulse, beginning 'Aliqua sup[ra] scripta su[n]t'; ff.74-85 De dosibus, recipes for medicines arranged in alphabetical order, as Thorndike, 1963, 305, here with the explicit identifying the work as a commentary on the Antidotario magistri nicolai; f.85v and the margins of ff.83v, 84v and 85 added recipes for medicines.
This Sammelband of six distinct units, each the work of a different scribe, was put together in the 15th century to provide its owner with a wide-ranging collection of works that could be seen as falling into three classes: arithmetic, moral conduct and medicine, both human and veterinary. The Secretum secretorum -- a translation from the Arabic, believed in the Middle Ages to be a letter from Aristotle to Alexander written during the latter's campaign in Persia -- could be thought to cover both of the latter categories. On the whole, however, the medical texts predominate and treat the health of birds, beasts, men, women and infants: they range from renowned treatises, such as Jordanus Rufus on the medicine of horses and William the Falconer, to texts on gynaecology and diagnosis that appear to be unpublished and unrecorded. It seems likely that these gatherings were acquired and bound together to serve as a reference book for a physician.
The limp binding that contains them is of a type where the bookblock is link-stitched directly onto rigid backplates (see illustration facing p.13); it was an effective and practical means of securing and covering less valuable books. As a result of their modest status such bindings do not survive in great numbers. Various surveys have identified about 140 of these bindings, all datable between 1375 and 1500 and mostly localisable to Austria and Germany or neighbouring lands: J.A. Szirmai, The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding, 1999, pp.297-299.
[Germany, 13th/14th to mid-15th century]
225 x 150mm. 85 leaves, 71 of paper and 14 of vellum: 1
CONTENT:
ff.1-3v verses and prose gloss on calculating dates and times according to the Jewish system; ff.3v-10v Johannes Sacrobosco, Algorismus as Thorndike, 1937, 463; ff.10v-14v Algorismus in German, opening 'In maist waz boeci[us] gena[n]t d' spricht also alles daz vo[n] angeng d' welt', lacking final two sections; f.15 final page and explicit of another copy of the Algorismus in German, supplying missing sections; f.15v list of cardinal, ordinal, distributive and other number forms in Latin, with a note in German on roots; ff.16-17v text on gynaecology and pediatric medicine, beginning 'De libro geneteorum'; ff.17v-18 'Phisionomia', as Thorndike, 1937, 205; ff18v-19 on menstruation, beginning '[Est(?)] a dolor[ibu]s virgines'; ff.19-20, on the pulse, beginning 'Vidende s[un]t quatuor alte[r]ac[i]ones i[n] sano pulsu'; ff.21-31 Alexander, De proprietatibus mensium, on the months, herbs, spices, other substances and the humours as Thorndike, 1963, 841; f.31v text in German on the care of horses, opening 'Eyn ros von wass[er] zu rech' (first page only); ff.32-51v Pseudo-Aristotle, Secretum secretorum attributed to Philip of Tripoli as Thorndike, 1937, 219; ff.51v-52 text on the planets and constellations as Thorndike, 1937, 641; ff.52v-53 text on correct behaviour, opening 'Audiens sapiens sapientior erit'; ff.53-65 Jordanus Rufus of Calabria on veterinary medicine as Thorndike, 1963, 310, entitled here Practica equorum; ff.65-66 ?Albertus Magnus, De Falconibus, opening 'Medicinalis liber ancipitris est'; ff.66-68 William the Falconer, De Falconibus, opening 'Gullielmus falconerius fuit qui nutritus fuit in curia regis rogerii'; ff.68-69 Cato, Distichs; ff.69-70 Gualterius Anglicus, Fabulae Praefatio, moralising hexameters described here as Notabilia isopi; ff.70-71v abstract of Seneca's precepts in French (first four pages only), opening 'Talent mestoit pris quelela contase d[e]s philophes de cele clergie qui est apelee moralitee.'; ff.72-73v on fevers and the pulse, beginning 'Aliqua sup[ra] scripta su[n]t'; ff.74-85 De dosibus, recipes for medicines arranged in alphabetical order, as Thorndike, 1963, 305, here with the explicit identifying the work as a commentary on the Antidotario magistri nicolai; f.85v and the margins of ff.83v, 84v and 85 added recipes for medicines.
This Sammelband of six distinct units, each the work of a different scribe, was put together in the 15th century to provide its owner with a wide-ranging collection of works that could be seen as falling into three classes: arithmetic, moral conduct and medicine, both human and veterinary. The Secretum secretorum -- a translation from the Arabic, believed in the Middle Ages to be a letter from Aristotle to Alexander written during the latter's campaign in Persia -- could be thought to cover both of the latter categories. On the whole, however, the medical texts predominate and treat the health of birds, beasts, men, women and infants: they range from renowned treatises, such as Jordanus Rufus on the medicine of horses and William the Falconer, to texts on gynaecology and diagnosis that appear to be unpublished and unrecorded. It seems likely that these gatherings were acquired and bound together to serve as a reference book for a physician.
The limp binding that contains them is of a type where the bookblock is link-stitched directly onto rigid backplates (see illustration facing p.13); it was an effective and practical means of securing and covering less valuable books. As a result of their modest status such bindings do not survive in great numbers. Various surveys have identified about 140 of these bindings, all datable between 1375 and 1500 and mostly localisable to Austria and Germany or neighbouring lands: J.A. Szirmai, The Archaeology of Medieval Bookbinding, 1999, pp.297-299.
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