Franklin

La filosophia naturale di molti celebri et antichissimi.

Format/Description:
Manuscript
2 volumes (410, 416 leaves) : paper ; 210 x 160 (173 x 130) mm bound to 222 x 180 mm + 1 note
Production:
[Italy?], 1721.
Status/Location:
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Details

Subjects:
Alchemy -- Early works to 1800.
Alchemy.
Magic -- Early works to 1800.
Magic.
Occultism -- Early works to 1800.
Talismans -- Early works to 1800.
Talismans.
Occultism.
Form/Genre:
Codices.
Diagrams.
Drawings (visual works)
Manuals (instructional materials)
Recipes.
Manuscripts, Italian.
Manuscripts, European.
Language:
Italian, with notes in French.
Summary:
Alchemical treatise that discusses calcination, distillation, and transmutation as well as practical instructions for experiments and medicinal recipes. The end of the first volume also has a sonnet about the philosopher's stone (V. 1, f. 408r). Includes indices that are organized by subject (V.2, f. v recto-xi verso, 355r-364r) and lists of contents (V. 1, f. i verso; V.2, f. xii recto-xv verso) written in French. The first volume contains a foldout diagram between f. 320-321 and there is a fragment of a printed leaf laid into the second volume between f. 7-8.
Notes:
Ms. codex.
Title from title page (V. 1, f. 1r).
Foliation: V.1: Paper, i (contemporary paper) + 410 + i (contemporary paper); [i, 1-2], 3-320, [i], 321-408, [i]. V.2: Paper, iii (contemporary paper) + 416 + iii (contemporary paper); [xl,1-2], 3-354, [355-376]; contemporary foliation in ink, modern foliation in pencil, upper right recto.
Layout: Written in 16 long lines.
Script: Written in a semi-cursive script by a single hand.
Decoration: V. 1 contains pen and ink drawings and diagrams of alchemical apparatus, pentacles, and talismans throughout; title page partially illuminated with gold paint (f. 2r).
Binding: Contemporary gold-tooled morocco. First volume has pink, yellow, and green silk ribbon bookmarks.
Origin: Written in Italy[?] in 1721 (v. 1, f. 2r).
Local notes:
Purchased with support from the B. H. Breslauer Foundation.
Penn Provenance:
Formerly owned by Charles Rainsford (British army officer, fellow of the Royal Society, and alchemist); bequeathed by Rainsford to Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland.
Owned by the 2nd through 12th Dukes of Northumberland, ms. 592.1 and 592.2, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1809-2014 (bookplate, inside upper cover; stamps throughout).
Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 15 July 2014, as part of Lot 411.
Cited as:
UPenn Ms. Codex 1681.
Contributor:
Rainsford, Charles, 1728-1809, former owner.
Northumberland, Hugh Percy, Duke of, 1742-1817, former owner.
Charles Rainsford Collection of Alchemical and Occult Manuscripts (University of Pennsylvania)
OCLC:
913579883