[Medical recipe book]

Contributor:

Wolff, Levij Isaac de, active 18th century (compiler); Beekman, J. M. (former owner)

Date:

1730

Description:

Compilation of recipes for treatments of numerous diseases (cholera, diabetes, dysentery, gonorrhea, pneumonia), ailments (headache, cough, eye and tooth problems), and conditions (angina, apoplexy, asthma, epilepsy, heart palpitations, hernia, paralysis, vertigo, melancholy, hypochondria), with an alphabetical index cut at the fore edge with letter tabs A-V (excluding J and K) at the beginning of the volume (f. i recto-xx recto). Each index entry has a corresponding heading in the volume, even if no recipes follow. Headings with numerous recipes include pestis (plague, f. 74r-77r), convulsiones (convulsions, f. 92r-93r), and lues venerea (veneral disease, f. 96r-98r). Some recipes refer to Leiden professor of chemistry, anatomy, and medical botany Herman Boerhaave, active in teaching and publishing 1701-1732 (for example, f. 117r, 118r, 120r). The second half of the volume is blank (f. 175-352), but the final leaves (f. 355r-357v) have headings and recipes in the same format and similar hand, although they are not included in the index. The signature of Levij Isaac de Wolff, medical doctor, inside the front cover and the similarity of hand throughout the volume suggests that in addition to owning the volume, Wolff probably compiled it, or added to it. A note with instructions for a remedy for infectious disease, written in Dutch in a different hand, is laid in.

Language:

Latin

Provenance:

Formerly owned by J. M. Beekman (signature in ink inside front cover).; Sold by Antiquariaat Forum ('t Goy-Houten, Netherlands), 2018.

Subject:

Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800; Jews -- Netherlands -- History -- Sources

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts); prescriptions; Recipes; Manuscripts, Latin -- 18th century; Manuscripts, European

Physical Description:

375 leaves : paper; 155 x 100 mm bound to 160 x 110 mm + 1 note.

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0/

Notes:

Ms. codex.; Jewish physician from Nijmegen, married Sara Bock (or Bok) in the Nijmegen synagogue 4 June 1743 (civil registration dated 30 December 1776, Regionaal Archief Nijmegen; Antiquariaat Forum); served as parnas in the Jewish Congregation in 1754, 1757, 1764, and 1773 (minutes book, Regionaal Archief Nijmegen, no. 681; Hindle S. Hes, Jewish physicians in the Netherlands); name also appears as Levy Isaac de Wolff and Levie Isac de Wolff.; Latin; one note in Dutch laid in.; Title supplied by cataloger.; Foliation: Paper, 375 leaves; 1¹²⁻³(-1, -2 (pastedown), -3) 2-3¹² 4¹²⁻²(-7, -8) 5-8¹² 9¹²⁻¹(-8) 10-13¹² 14¹²⁻¹(-1) 15-31¹² 32¹²⁻²(-11 (pastedown), -12); original foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, [i-xxi], 1-18, 20-35, 37-118, [119], 120-172, [173], 174, [175-352 (blank), 353-357]; quires signed in modern pencil, [pi], 2[pi], A-Z (excluding J, U, and W), 2A-2G, lower right first recto.; Layout: Each disease, ailment, or treatment begins at the top of a recto page with a heading above a double underline; recipes are separated by a single line; octavo format.; Script: Written in cursive script, by one or more hands; headings in larger, more formal cursive script by a single hand.; Watermark: Amsterdam arms on a platform with scrolls and other decorations below, countermark possibly IKP (similar to Voorn, Zuid-Holland 69 (1728) and 71 (1731) and to Heawood 401 (1723-1734), with a lion with forearms in a form unrecorded outside 1718-1734, but none with the same countermark; Antiquariaat Forum).; Binding: Contemporary (18th-century) parchment, sewn on 3 parchment tapes laced through the joints (Antiquariaat Forum).; Origin: Possibly written in Nijmegen, circa 1730 (date based on watermark and references to Leiden professor of chemistry, anatomy, and medical botany Herman Boerhaave, active in teaching and publishing 1701-1732; Antiquariaat Forum).

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 2106