Details

Subjects:

Alchemy -- Early works to 1800.
Alchemy.
Chemistry -- History.
Chemistry.
History.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Poems.
Recipes.
Treatises.
Manuscripts, English.
Manuscripts, Renaissance.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

English, with many works translated from Latin and retaining Latin titles.

Summary:

Collection of 34 alchemical treatises, verses and recipes. More than a quarter of them are by George Ripley; other authors represented are Ramón Llull, Guido de Montanor, Geber, Pearce the Black Monk, Johan Isaäc Hollandus, Arnaldus de Villanova, and Constantine the African.

Contents:

1. f.1r-10r: [The marrow of alchemy] / George Ripley.
2. f.10v-12v: [George Ripley unto King Edward IV] / George Ripley.
3. f.13r-30v: Twelve gates / George Ripley.
4. f.31r-32v: [Note of our fires without the knowledge wherof our mastery is not performed] / George Ripley.
5. f.33r-34v: [Recipes / George Ripley]
6. f.35r-36v: A Partiall abridgemente of all the writinge of George Ripley.
7. f.36v-40v: An accurtation / of Raymonde [Llull]
8. f.40v-41r: Another speciall worke of the basiliske.
9. f.41v-42r: [Accurtation with "A very stronge vyneger" and "A worke in the mynerall stone" / Ramón Llull]
10. f.42v: [Sayings / Guido de Montanor]
11. f.42v-43r: The dreame / of Sir George Ripley (1582)
12. f.43r-44v: A Secrete [with The visyon, Recapitulatio] / [George Ripley]
13. f.44v-47r: The testamente / of Geber the philosopher.
14. f.47r-51r: The Mirrour of Alkemy.
15. f.51v-52r: [Poems / Pearce, the Black Monk]
16. f.52r-53v: The Calander of Principells.
17. f.54r-57r: Liber multipherie.
18. f.57r-58r: Concordance betwene Raymonde [Lull] and Guydo [de Montanor] / George Ripley.
19. f.58v-59r: The lawes of philosophers.
20. f.59v-61r: Dialogue [Tractatus duo chemici?] / Sir Hollande.
21. f.61v: A generall rule for all men that intendeth to be philosophers.
22. f.62r-62v: The moste shorteste & the most lighteste way & the least [?] that can be done in this arte or science [with Another manner & way to make the culxes of Sol and comon m[?]nry fixed both togethers]
23. f.63r-70r: The psalter of Philosophers.
24. f.70r-74r: Accurtation / Raymonde [Llull].
25. f.74r-75v: The practice of the Philosophers / [Ramón Llull?]
26. f.76r-77v: [Upon the elixir / Pearce, the Black Monk]
27. f.77v: The philosophers stone.
28. f.78r-78v: A treatis of the vertus of rosemary / Arnaldus de Villanova.
29. f.79r-80v: Notabell lessons chosen or picked owte of the work of Guydo [de Montanor] / [George Ripley]
30. f.80v: [Poem "Owte of the darknes I will leade you"]
31. f.81r-83v: Epistula ad papa[m] / [Arnaldus de Villanova].
32. f.84r: Stella complexionis is the father of truthe / Constantinus Africanus.
34. f.84v-91v: [Answers to questions posed by the Archbishop of Rheims / William de Cenes (Comes? Genes?)]
35. f.94r-95r: Alegory contaynynge perfectly the moste profounde secrettes of the philosophers stone [Merlini Allegoria].

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title supplied by cataloger (Zacour-Hirsch).
Collation: Paper, 96; 1¹⁰, 2¹⁴, 3¹⁰, 4¹⁶, 5¹⁰, 6¹⁴, 7¹⁰, 8¹⁰(+2); [i], 1-10, [11-95]; contemporary foliation in ink, upper right recto; modern foliation in pencil, upper and lower right recto. Catchwords in lower right, each recto, of texts 4 and 6. Link to collation model at end of record.
Script: Written in a cursive script, erroneously identified as the hand of Henry Percy, 9th Earl of Northumberland (see note on f. [i]), more likely the hand of the first owner, H. Bayle (see R. Newhauser's article, p. 123).
Watermarks: See The New Briquet, v. 1, p. 72, no. 8081 (Nicholas le Bé of Tryes, ca. 1582).
Binding: Contemporary limp vellum with monogram HB on upper cover and title Alchemy on spine; binding loose; vellum cover split and cracked at spine; cover completely detached from front hinge and spine, coming loose from back hinge. Several quires loose; f. 48-49 completely detached..
Origin: Written in England, after 1582 (f. 43r) and before 1630 (Newhauser, p. 122-123).
Forms part of: Edgar F. Smith Memorial Collection.

Penn Provenance:

First owned by H. Bayle (monogram on upper cover, effaced name on f. 58 r; see Newhauser, p. 123).
Formerly held in the library at Petworth House, Sussex (shelf number 97 on spine, as described by Alfred John Horwood in Sixth Report of the Royal Commission on Historical Manuscripts, Part I (London, 1877); Appendix to the Sixth Report, p. 309), then owned by Henry Wyndham, Lord Leconfield; while in this library earlier possible owners include Henry Percy, ninth Earl of Northumberland; Algernon Percy, tenth Earl of Northumberland; and Charles Seymour, sixth Duke of Somerset (Newhauser, p. 122-123).
Sold by Bernard Quaritch Ltd. (London), 1946.

Cited in:

Described in Zacour, Norman P. and Hirsch, Rudolf. Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Libraries of the University of Pennsylvania to 1800 (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1965), pp. 231-232 (Ms. E. F. Smith 4).

Publications about:

Newhauser, R. "The 'Merlini Allegoria' in English." English Literary Renaissance 10, 1, (1980), pp. 120-132. Edition of the last work in this codex, edited using this manuscript. A copy of this article is on file in the library.

Cited as:

UPenn Ms. Codex 111

Contributor:

Bayle, H., former owner.
Northumberland, Henry Percy, Earl of, 1564-1632, former owner.
Northumberland, Algernon Percy, Earl of, 1602-1668, former owner.
Somerset, Charles Seymour, Duke of, 1662-1748, former owner.
Leconfield, Henry Wyndham, Baron, 1830-1901, former owner.

Contains:

Ripley, George, -1490?
Llull, Ramon, 1232?-1316.
Montanor, Guido de, active 1400.
Geber, active 13th century.
Hollandus, Johan Isaäc, active 15th century.
Arnaldus, de Villanova, -1311.
Constantine, the African, approximately 1020-1087.

OCLC:

155962438

Web link:

Collation model