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Flambeau des vrais rosecroix ou des sages.
Kislak Center for Special Collections - Manuscripts Ms. Codex 1670
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- Format:
- Book
- Manuscript
- Language:
- French
- Subjects (All):
- Alchemy--Early works to 1800.
- Alchemy.
- Occultism--Early works to 1800.
- Occultism.
- Genre:
- codices (bound manuscripts)
- drawings (visual works)
- manuals (instructional materials)
- Manuscripts, French.
- Manuscripts, European.
- Penn Provenance:
- Formerly owned by Charles Rainsford (British army officer, fellow of the Royal Society, and alchemist); bequeathed by Rainsford to Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland.
- Owned by the 2nd through 12th Dukes of Northumberland, ms. 581, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1809-2014 (bookplate, inside upper cover; stamps throughout).
- Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 15 July 2014, as part of Lot 411.
- Physical Description:
- 178 leaves : paper ; 195 x 159 (150 x 120) mm x bound to 202 x 165 mm
- Production:
- London, 1798.
- Language Note:
- French.
- Summary:
- Collection of alchemical recipes and instructions for the purification, distillation, and transmutation of metals and ores such as gold, silver, cinnabar, lead, antimony, and mercury. Also includes a few recipes for elixirs and oils as well as instructions on how to construct different types of furnaces for alchemical uses, with accompanying illustrations throughout.
- Notes:
- Ms. codex.
- Title from caption title (f. 1r).
- Foliation: Paper, 178; [ii], 1-62, 62-120, 120, 122, 122-149, [xxv]; contemporary foliation in ink, upper center recto.
- Layout: Written in 24-26 long lines; ruled in lead.
- Script: Written in a cursive script by what appears to be a single hand.
- Decoration: Seventeen watercolor illustrations of alchemical apparatus (for example, f. 59v); headings and underlining in red ink throughout.
- Binding: Contemporary parchment. Paper is stained, weak, and deteriorating along the gutter due to moisture damage, particularly the inside of the upper hinge and the first two leaves. Second quire is almost completely detached due to broken sewing.
- Origin: Written in London in 1798 (f. i recto).
- Local Notes:
- Purchased with support from the B. H. Breslauer Foundation.
- Cited as:
- UPenn Ms. Codex 1670.
- OCLC:
- 907241398
- Online:
- Unique at Penn blog post
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