[French book of secrets].

Abstract:

Miscellany of notes, mostly abridged from printed sources, on natural history, hydraulic mechanical devices, scientific instruments, geometry, numismatics, and medical remedies. Many of the natural history notes refer to members of the Académie royale des sciences of the 17th and early 18th centuries, including Guillaume Amontons on the steam engine (p. 194), François Blondel on pocket watch movements (p. 197), Wilhelm Homberg on phosphorus (p. 9), and René-Antoine Ferchault de Réaumur on temperature (p. 284). Other sources from natural history and medicine include Johann Bernoulli (p. 317), Robert Boyle (p. 2), Jean Ferapie Dufieu (p. 103), Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz (p. 23), and Noël Antoine Pluche (p. 100). The latest printed source identified, for an item on the cultivation of the plant oreilles d'ours (bear's ears, p. 98), is the Manuel de champs, ou, Recueil choisi, instructif et amusant, by the abbé de Chanvalon, published in 1764 and 1765. The two most substantial excerpts, each starting on the first page of a gathering, are Des usages du compas de proportion (p. 209-246), book 2 from Nicolas Bion's Traité de la construction et principaux usages des instruments de mathématique, first published in 1709; and La science des médailles antiques et modernes (p. 251-275) by Louis Jobert, first published in 1692 and reprinted many times. A few notes are culinary, on topics including cheese, eggs, and chocolate. The medical remedies interspersed throughout include treatments for gout, migraine, and ailments of the ears and teeth. An alphabetical index (Table des secrets contenus dans ce livre) is at the end of the volume (p. 349-357).

Date:

1760

Description:

Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Jonathan A. Hill Endowed Fund.; Acquired for the Penn Libraries with assistance from the Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Fund.

Identifier:

9978152320103681; (OCoLC)on1357035219; (OCoLC)1357035219

Language:

French; Latin

Provenance:

Sold by Adam Weinberger Rare Books (New York), 2022.

Publisher:

[France], [1760-1769?]

Relation:

http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/366224; http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017.12/366281

Subject:

Natural history -- Pre-Linnean works.; Geometry -- Early works to 1800.; Hydraulics -- Early works to 1800.; Scientific apparatus and instruments -- Early works to 1800.; Numismatics -- Early works to 1800.; Medicine -- Formulae, receipts, prescriptions -- Early works to 1800.; codices (bound manuscripts); miscellanies.; diagrams.; Drawings.; Manuscripts, French -- 18th century.; Manuscripts, European.

Resource Type:

Manuscripts

Physical Description:

182 leaves : paper; 168 x 115 (168 x 100) mm bound to 170 x 120 mm

Rights:

http://rightsstatements.org/page/NoC-US/1.0/?

Notes:

Ms. codex.; French, with one item in Latin (p. 9-11).; Title supplied by cataloger.; Collation: Paper, i + 182 + i leaves; 1²⁰ 2²⁴ 3²² 4¹⁶ 5-8²² 9¹²; original pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners, 1-225, [i-ii], 226-329, 340-348, [349-357, 358-378(blank)]. Pagination in ink of each quire individually is sporadically visible, upper left corners.; Layout: Written in 20-22 long lines, with items separated by a horizontal line in ink; outer margin formed by folding; octavo format.; Script: Written in cursive script, probably by a single hand.; Decoration: Over 50 drawings and diagrams in ink, largely of machinery and geometric figures.; Watermarks: Unclear watermarks visible in blank leaves at the end of the volume; one has words arranged in three lines, the first line possibly Beronie,; Binding: Contemporary (18th-century) mottled vellum, upper front hinge slightly split (Weinberger).; Origin: Probably written in France, possibly in the 1760s (latest datable item from the Manuel des champs of the abbé de Chanvalon, published in 1764 and 1765, p. 98-99)

Physical Location:

Ms. Codex 2093

Collection:

Jonathan A. Hill Endowed Fund.; Edgar Fahs Smith Memorial Fund.