Londres. Wellcome Library, MS.36

  • Other Form of the Shelfmark :
    • London. Wellcome Collection, MS.36
    • London. Wellcome Library, MS.36
    • Londres. Wellcome Library, MS.36
    • Wellcome Library, MS.36
  • Held at : Londres. Wellcome Library
  • Date of Origin :
  • Composition :
    • 1 volume; i + 111 + i folios 4to. 21 x 15 cm. Modern vellum binding over wooden boards. Corner of f. 41 torn away: inner margins wormed, slightly affecting the text. Index tabs cut in folios 51-68.

IIIF manifest

Notes

Data Source: Wellcome Collection - Online Collections

  • Alchemical miscellany

    Written in a semi-current humanist hand, 28 lines to a page. Titles, initials and paragraph marks in red.

    Contents

    1. f. 1r-45r (Pseudo?)-William of Ockham, Scientia alkimica

    f. 1r Liber occham philosophi super scientia alkimica. Et primo de preceptis generalibus huius artis. Et notandum quod sunt octo ... De bitumen ... Bitumen est quedam confectio ... f. 45r ... sequentibus edoceris.

    2. ff. 45r-46r Poem, followed by notes on weights and measures

    f. 45r Hic liber brevior melior precetoris extat ... f. 48r ... hoste cave. Finis. Laus deo.

    ff. 46v-50v blank

    3. ff. 51r-68v Synonyms, mostly Arabic-Latin

    f. 51r Incipiunt aliqua sinonima philosophorum. Abara id ist cucurbita ... f. 68v Zegi id est Vitriolum.

    4. ff. 68v-69r Tables of the correspondence between metals, planets and signs of the zodiac, in black. 4-5 columns.

    ff. 69v-70v blank

    5. ff. 71r-75v William Sedacerius(?), De vitro

    f. 71r Capitulum de vitro secundum sedecinam. Vitrum est corpus diaphanum ... f. 75v ... sapientiam operantis etc.

    f. 76r blank

    6. ff. 76v-110r Liber quadripartite, 2 books only

    f. 76v Incipit primus liber quadripartite. Primus liber quadripartite. In nomine domine. Incipit prohemium ad lunificum et solificum ... f. 78v ... de Auro et eius preparatione. De Auro et eius preparatione. Aurum secundum latinos vocatur sol ... f. 110r ... ab igne.

    7. ff. 110v-111v Table of contents to the Liber quadripartite, in a sixteenth-century hand.

  • Written in Italy.
  • Heavily annotated by a sixteenth-century owner.
  • Purchased at Sotheby's, 5/6/1929, Lot 544.

Bibliography

  • The work of William Sedacerius is described by Thorndike in his History of Magic and Experimental Science , Vol. III, pp. 628-632, and by Sarton in his Introduction to the History of Science , Vol. III, Part 2, pp. 1574, 1575.

Data source