Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 18. Germany, Circa early 15th century. This manuscript is an early 15th-century German translation of Villanova's Liber de vinis, a medical treatise on the uses of wine.
Free Library of Philadelphia, Lewis E 235b. Constantinople?, Possibly written in the scriptorium of Saint John the Baptist Petra Monastery (Prodromos Petra Monastery) in Constantinople (Kavrus-Hoffman); first half 15th century. This manuscript is a palimpsest, in which a grammatical treatise was written in Greek cursive with no decoration in the fifteenth century on leaves from an earlier manuscript. The previous text, mostly not legible, was a late thirteenth- or early fourteenth-century copy of Ad correctionem eorum qui virtuose vivunt, by the fourth-century theologian Ephrem the Syrian, written in Greek minuscule (Kavrus-Hoffman). The lower, older text is perpendicular to the upper text. Three leaves of the older manuscript were used as bifolia and are sewn into a gathering with no binding.
Historical Medical Library of The College of Physicians of Philadelphia, 10a 210. Spain or southern France, 14th century or circa 1400. This manuscript is a fourteenth-century or very early fifteenth-century copy of Arnaldus de Villanova's guide to health for James II, King of Aragon from 1291 to 1327, on topics such as bathing, eating, drinking, and sleeping. This guide, referred to in the manuscript both as Liber de conservatione sanitatis and Regimen generale (fols. 1r-26r), is followed by the much briefer Regimen speciale (fols. 26r-28v), which, unlike the main text, mostly consists of recipes. The text is written in two columns of a rounded Gothic script with the start of chapters marked by alternating red and blue initials.
University of Delaware Library, MSS 95, Item 13. France, Second half 13th century. Two unconnected leaves from a French Psalter, one containing portions of Psalm 101 and 102 (102 and 103 in the modern Bible), the other containing portions of Psalms 88 and 89 (89 and 90 in the modern Bible).
Special Collections Research Center, SPC.MSS.133. France, Written and illuminated in the Lorraine or Champagne regions of northeastern France, circa 1450-1475, with later notes added circa 1500; second half 15th century. This book of hours was made in northeastern France following the Use of Toul in the Hours of the Virgin and Office of the Dead, with Infancy Cycle miniatures for the Hours of the Virgin. The calendar, brief Hours of the Cross and Hours of the Holy Spirit precede the Hours of the Virgin, with the Penitential Psalms, Litany, and Office of the Dead following, along with various prayers in Latin and French. The usual Marian prayer O intemerata and Gospel readings from Matthew, Mark, and Luke are not present. A bifolium in a later hand (circa 1500) from another manuscript with suffrages to Saints Michael, John the Baptist, John the Evangelist, and Peter and Paul (fol. 123r-124r) is at the end of the volume.
Library Company, 14. Italy, Circa 1600. This manuscript is a late sixteenth- or early seventeenth-century collection of Franciscan texts, including the Franciscan rule in twelve chapters as it appeared in the papal bull Solet annuere issued by Honorius III; the testament of Saint Francis of Assisi in Italian; and lists of precepts in Italian drawn from the rule. The erased text on the first leaf (fol. 1r) is from the third chapter of the rule, almost the same as a leaf of text within the manuscript (fol. 3r) but with slightly different line breaks.
Opera, including Lucidarium artis transmutationis metallorum; extracts from the Sommeta and Violetta; and Epistola
Subject:
16th century; Italian; Italy
Description:
Donald F. and Mildred Topp Othmer Library of Chemical History, Othmer MS 8. Palermo, Italy, 1557. This manuscript contains a collection of alchemical texts with copious notes and annotations in the margins.
The Rosenbach, MS 272/17. Italy, 1596. This manuscript is a diploma for a doctorate in civil and canon law accorded to Alexander Terentius (IUD) from the University of Padua, 1596.