Vade mecum : sive catalogus medicamentorum praestantissimoru[m] morborum quodcumq[ue] genus / R. M.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Language:

English

Latin

Subjects (All):

Traditional medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions--Early works to 1800.

Traditional medicine.

Herbs--Therapeutic use--England--17th century.

Herbs.

Political poetry, English.

Herbs--Therapeutic use.

Traditional medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions.

England.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

poems

prescriptions

Manuscripts, European.

Manuscripts, English.

Penn Provenance:

Sold by Samuel Gedge Ltd. (Mundesley, England), 2009.

Physical Description:

115 leaves : paper ; 95 x 65 mm bound to 100 x 75 mm

Place of Publication:

[London?, England], [1624-1640?]

Language Note:

English, with lists and a few cures in Latin.

Summary:

The bulk of the manuscript (f. 12-100) consists of a large number of plant-based cures for a variety of complaints and illnesses, including plague, sciatica, vomiting, spleen and liver problems, worms, and squinting. The pages at the beginning of the manuscript include a list of those cures that are in Latin or have headings in Latin (f. 1r), with folio references; a difficult-to-read sequence that may give a brief account of a journey (f. 3r-9r) and includes the names Simion (f. 6r) and George Hodgshon (f. 9r); and a table of contents for the cures in English (f. 9v-11v). The pages at the end of the manuscript include a section of numbered but blank pages (f. 100v-109v); a small collection of ten Bible verses (f. 110r-110v); a critical list of ten dogmatic developments in the Catholic (referred to as papist) church, such as the prohibition of marriage for priests (f. 111r); a description of prognostication by oak apple (f. 114v-115r); a 10-line, anti-Parliament poem that begins, "We fasted first, then prayed that War might cease" (f. 115v); and a 20-line poem that begins, "Once had I money and a friend; I did them both preserve" (f. 116r). The two poems at the end are in the same hand and can be no earlier than 1640, when John Pym, referred to in the first poem, became head of the majority in Parliament. A small number of leaves have been torn or cut out.

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title and subtitle from title page (f. ii recto), with subtitle added in a different hand.

Foliation: Paper, 115; [ii, 1-2], 3, 5-74, 77-78, 81-107, [108-116 (contemporary pagination as 108-125),117-118]; contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto; contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners; modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.

Script: Written in a secretary hand for English and an italic hand for Latin (Gedge).

Binding: Contemporary calf, stamped gilt rose and crown in the center of both boards (Gedge).

Origin: Written in England, perhaps London, between 1624 (f. ii recto) and approximately 1640.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 1552

OCLC:

427648180