Details

Standardized Title:

Qānūn fī al-ṭibb. Latin

Subjects:

Medicine -- Early works to 1800.
Medicine.
Medicine, Arab.
Medicine, Medieval.
Materia medica -- Early works to 1800.
Materia medica.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Latin.
Manuscripts, Medieval.

Language:

Latin.

Summary:

Sections from Books 1 and 2 of Avicenna's 11th-century comprehensive medical work, as translated into Latin in the 12th century by Gherardo da Cremona. Book 1 addresses medicine generally; the section in the manuscript is from the first treatise and concerns the four elements. Book 2 is devoted to materia medica. A few small stemmata are drawn in the lower margins in Book 1(f. 3r-4r), and marginal notes and headings appear throughout, with marginal chapter numbers in the section from Book 2 (f. 12r-17v). Repairs to the centers of leaves in the section from Book 1, with vellum patches and text supplied in the first half of the 14th century (f. 5-11; Quaritch).

Contents:

1. f.1r-2v: [Preface and beginning of table of contents]
1. f.3r-11v: [Section of Book 1]
2. f.12r-17v: [Section of Book 2]

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from opening rubric (f. 1r).
Collation: Parchment, i (modern paper wrapper) + 17 + i (modern paper wrapper); 1¹²(-1) 2² 3⁸(-4); columns numbered in an early hand, upper outer corners, 5-40 (Book 1, f. 3r-11v) and 351-354, 371-374, 347-350, 355-358, 367-370, 375-376, 378-379 (misnumbered for 377-378; Book 2, f. 12r-17v). Possible catchword on last verso (f. 17v). Link to collation model at end of record.
Layout: Written in 2 columns of 52 (Book 1) and 58 (Book 2) lines; frame-ruled in lead with double horizontal bounding lines in Book 1 and double vertical bounding lines in Book 2; prickings visible.
Script: Written in Gothic script by at least 2 hands (f. 1r-11v, 12r-17v); 14th-century Gothic script on repairs; 17th- and 18th-century pen trials and inscriptions (f. 12v, 13v, 17v).
Decoration: 6-line puzzle initial in red and blue with flourishing in red and blue (f. 1r); 1-line initials alternating between red and blue in the table of contents (f. 1r-2v); 2-line initials alternating between red and blue, with contrasting flourishes, in Book 1 (f. 3r-11v); running head L[iber] I in red and blue, sometimes with simple flourishes in the contrasting color (f. 1r-11v); underlining and rubrication in red throughout; manicules in brown and red ink throughout most of Book 1 (f. 3r-9r).
Binding: Sewn in modern paper wrapper.
Origin: Written in England between 1250 and 1299 (Quaritch).

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Possible 18th- or 19th-century ownership inscriptions: John Church (f. 13v); William Clarke (f. 18v).
Sold by Bernard Quaritch Ltd., cat. 1270 (2000), no. 7, to Lawrence J. Schoenberg.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2012.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2021.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 81 (LJS 359).

Cited as:

Oversize LJS 359

Contributor:

Gherardo, da Cremona, 1113 or 1114-1187, translator.
Clarke, William, former owner.
Church, John, former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

774413818

Web link:

The Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative Fund Home Page

Collation model