[Alchemical and medical compilation]

Name:

Schmucker, Johann Leberecht, 1712-1786

Date:

1779

Description:

Compilation of multiple texts containing medical remedies and alchemical formulas in German and Latin. Stylistically coherent sections include one alchemical work in German with alchemical symbols and headings in red ink (f. 8r-15v) and another with alchemical symbols and signed quires (f. 17r-82r), both of which are marked on the lower right recto of each leaf with what looks like a division symbol. Additional alchemical sections are also marked with the division symbol (f. 99r-104r, 107r-111v). The second half of the volume, where the text block is outlined in ink on each page (f. 117r-202v), includes an alchemical text with original pagination 1-26 (f. 117v-129r) and medical excerpts from Chirurgische Wahrnehmungen, first published in 1774 by Prussian royal military physician Johann Leberecht Schmucker (f. 144r-166r). Other Prussian military physicians and other medical works from the mid-18th-century are also cited. One table, titled Pondera et mensura pharmaceutica (Pharmaceutical weights and measures), is a reference for symbols used in recipes (f. 85v-86r). The inscription dated 1765 on the first leaf (f. 1r) is a later addition.

Language:

German

Provenance:

Ownership inscription: C.L.v.J. or C.L.v.F. (inscription in ink, inside upper cover).; Offered for sale at auction by Zisska & Lacher Buch- und Kunstauktionshaus (Munich), auction 70 (2-4 May 2018), lot 34.; Sold by Jeffrey D. Mancevice, Inc. (Worcester, Massachusetts), 2019.

Subject:

Alchemy -- Early works to 1800; Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800

Form/Genre:

codices (bound manuscripts); compilation manuscripts; prescriptions; Recipes; Manuscripts, German; Manuscripts, Latin; Manuscripts, European; manuscripts (documents)

Physical Description:

207 leaves : paper; 167 x 110 mm bound to 172 x 117 mm

Rights:

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

Notes:

Ms. codex.; German and Latin.; Title supplied by cataloger.; Collation: Paper, 207; 1-10⁸ 11¹⁰ 12-25⁸ 26⁸⁻³(6, 7, 8 pastedowns); modern foliation in pencil, lower right recto, [1-207] (f. 178-207 blank). Original pagination in ink in one section (1-28, f. 117r-130v). Quires 3-11 signed A-H, J, lower center first recto.; Layout: Various rulings in lead in roughly the first half of the volume, frequently vertical bounding lines and horizontals (f. 6r-116v); text block outlined in ink in roughly the second half (f. 117r-202v).; Script: Written in cursive and italic scripts, for German and Latin texts respectively, by multiple hands.; Decoration: Headings in red ink in one section (f. 8r-15v); occasional manicules (f. 79v, 102r-102v).; Binding: Contemporary (18th-century) leather on three supports with simple blind tooling; spine cracked and damaged at head and tail.; Origin: Probably written in northern Germany (Mancevice), after 1779 (latest date in manuscript, f. 169r).

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 2145