Londres. Wellcome Library, MS.552

Biblissima authority file: https://data.biblissima.fr/entity/Q149818

  • Other Form of the Shelfmark :
    • London. Wellcome Collection, MS.552
    • London. Wellcome Library, MS.552
    • Londres. Wellcome Library, MS.552
    • Wellcome Library, MS.552
  • Held at : Londres. Wellcome Library
  • Date of Origin :
    • Mid 15th Century
  • Composition :
    • 1 volume; 73 leaves 4to. 22 x 15 cm. Ff. 31, 40, 41 are in vellum. Original vellum covers damaged. The end is missing, and between foleave 16 and foleave 17, and before foleave 24 a leaf has been torn out: lower corners of foleave 30, lower margins of foleave 31 and foleave 50 wanting. Margins frayed and damaged: water-stained throughout, with some loss of text. Written in several contemporary English hands, some initials and paragraphs marks in red. Illustrated with 20 figures of hands in red and blue, or in red. The Veterinary Receipts in English (Nos. 3, 13) are badly stained and faded. Many of them appear to be charms and incantations, as is shown by the numerous Signs of the Cross in red which still stand out. Inside the upper cover, greatly rubbed and partly illegible, are notes on Urines in English, and astrological notes in Latin. Inside the lower cover, there is an unfinished circular diagram (of the Cosmos?), and some lines of an inscription which is also illegible.

Notes

Data Source: Wellcome Collection - Online Collections

  • Medical miscellany in Latin, French and English

    Contents

    1. ff. 1r-19v B. de Florentia. Opus chiromantiae

    f. 1r Se[cantur sciencie] inter se quemadmodum res ... f. 19v ... gratias debitas et laudes agamus. Et hiis dictis finem ponamus. Amen. Explicit opus Cyromancie compilatum per F .B. de florencia Anno domini millesimo CCC XVO. Die xxxi apud Castrum de corinberto [?] in anglia.

    2. ff. 20r-21v Pseudo-Aristotle, De physiognomia

    f. 20r Op[ortet ?] [...] signa et uestigia ... f. 21v ... mentum apertum gene apparentes cito canescens.

    3. ff. 22r-23r Veterinary receipts in English

    4. ff. 24r Pseudo-Solomon, chiromantic tract in French

    f. 24r Ceste figure V en quiconque meyn soyt trove ... dolour de ventre. Explicit tractatus de paumista salamonis.

    5. ff. 24r-30r Medical receipts in Latin and English

    6. f. 31r De primis sillabis, fragment

    7. f. 31r Alphita, fragment

    f. 31r Assit principio sancta maria meo. [A]lphita est farina ordei ... pro arthemisia et yspini similiter Arnoglossa.

    8. f. 32v-36v Anonymous, Chiromantia

    f. 32v Si linea vite sit grossa et inflata ... f. 36v ... ad latrocinium et incidias [sic] cum decepcione.

    9. ff. 37v-38r Anonymous, Chiromantia

    f. 37v Reperiantur a monte manus et radicibus digitorum ... f. 38r ... ut querenti veritas plenius indicetur.

    10. ff. 38r-42r John of Seville, Summa chiromantiae

    f. 38r Benedictus deus omnipotens qui machinam mundanam ... Ego Iohannes edidi et ex codissibus [sic] philosophorum de arte cyromancie tractancium flores collegi et in presenti libello compilaui quem libellum summam cyromancie voluimus appellare... f. 42r Et si predicta subtiliter inspexeris infallibiliter prognosticare poteris. Amen.

    11. ff. 42v-49r Anonymous, De nativitatibus

    f. 42v Assit principio sancta maria meo. Qui natus fuerit sub signo arietis... f. 49r ... Tonitruum in tauro annum iocundum fructiferum significat.

    12. ff. 49v-52r Anonymous, lunary

    f. 49v Luna prima Adam natus est ... f. 52r ... Sanguinis minutio non oportet fieri.

    13. ff. 53r-56r Veterinary receipts in English

    14. ff. 56r-69r Latin-English glossary or herbs

    f. 56r Apium commune. Smalege. f. 69r Zion est semperviua etc.

    15. ff. 69r-73r Medical receipts in Latin

  • The first work, as stated in the colophon, is 'compilatum per F.B. de Florentia', and is not recorded in Thorndike's Catalogue of Incipits, though his list does include a work on alchemy by the same author (Col. 240). 'Castrum de Corinberto in anglia' is presumably the Latin name for Cirencester, but in an unusual form.
  • Purchased at Sotheby's 28/6/1912, Lot 324.

Bibliography

  • Catalogue description modified in 2014. For original description, see S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

Data source