[Alchemical treatises and medical remedies]

Date:

1681

Description:

Compilation of alchemical treatises and medical remedies from an alchemical perspective, with frequent use of alchemical symbols and references to planets, antimony, and sulfur. Two of the treatises include notes that they were copied from printed sources, one attributed to Bernard, Comte de Treves, which had editions published in 1624 and 1659 (p. [325]), and Le tombeau de la pauvreté, copied specifically from an edition published by J. d'Houry in Paris (1673 or 1681, p. [481]). The fore edges of many leaves are soft and fraying and stained due to past mold and treatment.

Language:

French; Latin

Provenance:

Sold by Nicolas Malais/Cabinet Chaptal (Paris), 2025.

Subject:

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

Resource Type:

Text

Form/Genre:

manuscripts (documents); codices (bound manuscripts); treatises; prescriptions; Manuscripts, European

Physical Description:

329 leaves : paper; 260 x 180 (200-235 x 110-125) mm bound to 270 x 200 mm

Rights:

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

Notes:

Ms. codex.; French, with the last component work in Latin (p. [553-654]) and occasional use of Latin elsewhere (for example, sporadic recipes in p. 101-132),; Title supplied by cataloger.; Table of contents: 1. p.1-100: Methodes pour extraire des metaux, mineraux et vegetaux l'huile d'iceux,soulphre et sel -- 2. p.101-134: [French and Latin alchemical instructions] -- 3. p.136-[321]: Pour fixer la lune en [l'or] par le [mercure] -- 4. p.[325-371]: Traicté de l'ouevre des philosophes, ou bien, L'epistre certain / de Bernard, Comte de Treves -- 5. p.[375-410]: Traicté de l'antimoine / vulgaire escript par Alexandre de Suchten a noble Jean Baptiste de Seebach -- 6. p. [415-481]: Le tombeau de la pauvreté -- 7. p.[489-542]: [French medical remedies and alchemical instructions] -- 8. p.[553-654]: Commentarius de pharmaco, catholico, [et] germanico in latinum idioma versus.; Foliation: Paper, 329 leaves; early pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners, [i-ii], 1-134, [i], 135-188, 190-257, [258-656]. The collation could not be established, but some gatherings are of eight leaves.; Layout: Written in 27-30 long lines; text block outlined in ink in two sections (p. 1-100, [325-410]); quarto format.; Script: Written in cursive script, with a brief section at the beginning in humanistic book hand (p. 1-16).; Decoration: 4 diagrams in ink of alchemical apparatus (p. 170, 193, 197, 230),; Watermarks: P. CARTELIER (?) in a cartouche with a crown above and bell below (for example, p. 323-324, 545-546); four-letter countermark in a cartouche, possibly REBV or RERV (for example, p. 321-322, 543-544); Binding: Contemporary calf (17th-century); gilt spine.; Origin: Written in France, circa 1681 (Malais/Cabinet Chaptal estimates 1680; 1681 is the later date of publication for one of the component works, Le tombeau de la pauvreté).

Physical Location:

Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 2273