Londres. Wellcome Library, MS.40

  • Other Form of the Shelfmark :
    • London. Wellcome Collection, MS.40
    • London. Wellcome Library, MS.40
    • Londres. Wellcome Library, MS.40
    • Wellcome Library, MS.40
  • Held at : Londres. Wellcome Library
  • Date of Origin :
  • Composition :
    • 1 volume; 7 leaves folio. 27.5 x 17 cm. [folded to 14 x 5 cm.] On vellum, sewn in original limp vellum cover. The original folio-size sheets have been folded double, and then in three, and the vellum cover added to fit the smaller format. At the top of the cover is a vellum tag so that the MS. could be suspended by a cord from a girdle.

IIIF manifest

Notes

Data Source: Wellcome Collection - Online Collections

  • Calendarium.

    Indictiones.

    Festa mobilia.

    Tabula planetarum.

    Homo venarum.

    Tabula lunae.

    Eclipses solis.

    Eclipses lunae.

    Homo signorum.

    Canon Kalendarii.

    Written in red and black, with initials in blue. With two carefully executed drawings in red and black of the 'Vein-man' and of the 'Astrological man'. The dates of the eclipses are from 1461-1481, and the outside of the cover is dated 1463 by an early hand. There are also small drawings of the eclipses in red and blue.

  • In the Wellcome Library:

    Other examples of this type of folding calendar / almanac can be seen at MSS.39, 41 and 8932.

  • Purchased at Sotheby's 31/7/1923, Lot 508A.

Bibliography

  • The manuscript has been discussed in the following publications:

    Medieval Medicine: A Reader, ed. Faith Wallis, Readings in Medieval Civilizations and Cultures, XV (Toronto: Toronto University Press, 2010), pp. 286-8.

    "What is the Folded Almanac?: The Form and Function of a Key Manuscript Source for Astro-medical Practice in Later Medieval England", Hilary M. Carey, Soc Hist Med (2003) 16(3): 481-509.

    "Astrological Medicine and the Medieval English Folded Almanac", Hilary M. Carey, Soc Hist Med (2004) 17(3): 345-363 .

Data source