[Disbound alchemical compilation].

Format:

Book

Manuscript

Contributor:

Galletti, Gustavo Camillo, 1805-1868, former owner.

Language:

Latin

Subjects (All):

Alchemy--Early works to 1800.

Alchemy.

Genre:

treatises

pen and ink drawings

Manuscripts, Latin -- 15th century.

Manuscripts, Medieval.

Manuscripts, Renaissance.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Gustavo Camillo Galletti, Florence (ex libris stamp, f. 1r).

Held in an unidentified German collection (Bloomsbury).

Sold at auction at Bloomsbury Auctions (London), 7 December 2020, lot 44.

Physical Description:

147 leaves : paper ; 270 x 195 mm (approximate extant dimensions of burned leaves); 220 x 146 mm (approximate dimensions of written area).

Place of Publication:

[Germany or the Netherlands], [circa 1489]

Language Note:

Latin.

Summary:

Late 15th-century collection of alchemical treatises, with Geber's Summa perfectionis magisterii (f. 78r-115r) predominating by virtue of being the only illustrated treatise, as well as the longest (116 chapters) and most heavily annotated. Formerly a manuscript codex, all of the leaves are detached and burned on three edges (both sides and top), with loss of text in the upper corners. The leaves are encapsulated and housed in a post binder.

Contents:

1. f.1r-37r: [De metallis in speciali / Albertus Magnus]

2. f.39r-49v: [Semita recta]

3. f.57r-65v: [Opusculum in arte alchimie / al-Rāzī]

4. f.68r-70r: [Liber correctorum]

5. f.70v-74v: [Unidentified treatise]

6. f.78r-115r: [Summa perfectionis magisterii] / Jeber

7. f.117r-120v: Liber de septuaginta

8. f.121r-122v: [Unidentified treatise on metals]

9. f.126r-140v: [De lapidis, cum glosa]

10. f.141r-142v [Indices].

Notes:

Ms. leaves.

Title of manuscript supplied by cataloger.

Collation: Paper, 147; 1⁸ 2-14¹⁰ 15¹⁰⁻¹ (10 probably canceled); [1-78, 78-104, 104-145], modern foliation in pencil on lower right recto or in ink on upper right recto of sleeves. Foliation used in this record as marked, including duplicate foliation. All leaves detached, hypothetical collation based on catchwords (f.8v, 18v, 28v, 48v, 97v (actually 98v), 106v (actually 108v)), with gatherings 4, 7, 8, and 14 probable but not marked with catchwords.

Layout: Written in 2 columns of 38 lines; ruled in ink with vertical bounding lines.

Script: Written in hybrid Gothic script (f. 1r-115r), with additions by contemporary hands (f. 117r-142r).

Decoration: 22 illustrations of alchemical equipment (f. 89-98) in the Summa perfectionis magisterii (f. 78r-115r); rubricated in red; manicules and nota marks by multiple readers (f. 6v, 7v, 13v, 20v, 25r, 27r, 42v, 45r, 47r, 48r, 64r, 68r-70r, 95v-96r, 99v, 104v, 107v-108v, 117v-118v, 119v-120r, 121v, 133v).

Watermark: Similar to Briquet Oiseau 12172 (Kleve, 1489) and 12173 (Metz, 1490) (f. 50, 97).

Origin: Probably written in western central Germany or adjacent parts of the Netherlands, circa 1489 (based on watermark).

Leaves surface cleaned; mended at edges where fractures were vulnerable; encapsulated; and post bound in a binder (Conservation Center for Art & Historic Artifacts, Philadelphia, 2023)

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Coll. 1458.

Contains:

Geber, active 13th century. Summa perfectionis magisterii.

Albertus, Magnus, Saint, 1193?-1280. De metallis in speciali.

Semita recta.

OCLC:

1396724175

Access Restriction:

Access to this item is subject to staff review.