Abscondita naturae : collecta ab diversis philosoph[orum] et medicorum voluminibus / scriptum in inclita civitate Crem[onensi] per Hieronymum Vidam.

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Author/Creator:

Vida, Marco Girolamo, approximately 1485-1566, compiler.

Contributor:

Settala, Ludovico, 1552?-1633, former owner.

Calvi, Sebastiano, 17th century, former owner.

Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

Language:

Latin

Subjects (All):

Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions--Early works to 1800.

Medicine--Formulae, receipts, prescriptions.

Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts)

recipes

Manuscripts, Latin.

Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Milanese physician Ludovico Settala (coat of arms in ink, f. ii verso; armorial stamp on covers).

Formerly owned by the physician Sebastiano Calvi, who received the manuscript as a gift from Giacomo Filippo Scaravaggi (probably of Milan) in 1685 (inscription, f. i recto).

Sold by Martayan Lan (New York) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, Oct. 2003.

Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.

Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2021.

Physical Description:

197 leaves : paper ; 208 x 150 (145 x 100) mm bound to 214 x 165 mm

Production:

[Cremona], 1545.

Language Note:

Latin.

Summary:

Collection of over 400 recipes for medical, cosmetic, and culinary purposes, copied from both manuscript and printed sources. The medical recipes include treatments for the plague, syphilis, epilepsy, toothache, headache, scabies, eye ailments, fever, sciatica, and leprosy. A group of case studies are dated 1538 to 1545 (f. 24v-31v). An alphabetical index, dated 1545 like the text, is at the end of the volume (f. 188r-193r).

Notes:

Ms. codex.

Title from title page (f. ii recto).

Foliation: Paper, 197 leaves; 1² 2-8²⁰ 9²⁴ 10²⁰ 11¹⁸(-7); [i-ii], 1-187, [188-195], foliation in ink, upper right recto.

Layout: Written in 17-18 long lines.

Script: Written in cursive script by Marco Girolamo Vida.

Decoration: Strapwork and decorative lettering on title page (f. ii recto); occasional manicules (for example, f. 31v).

Binding: Contemporary (mid-16th-century) calf, blind-tooled, with later gilt armorial stamp on covers.

Origin: Written in Cremona in 1545 (title page, f. ii recto).

Local Notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 93 (LJS 458).

Cited as:

LJS 458

OCLC:

805417952

Online:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page