Details

Other Title:

Ars magna cabalistica.

Subjects:

Pico della Mirandola, Giovanni, 1463-1494.
Cabala -- Early works to 1800.
Cabala.
Gematria -- Early works to 1800.
Mathematics -- Early works to 1800.
Mathematics.
Algebra -- Early works to 1800.
Algebra.
Gematria.

Form/Genre:

Codices.
Diagrams.
Tables (documents)
Treatises.
Manuscripts, Latin.
Manuscripts, European.

Language:

Latin, with some Hebrew characters.

Summary:

17th-century copy of a 16th-century treatise (1564, p. 6; 1569, p. 121) on cabalistic gematria (the mystical interpretation of language), in which strings of letters, in this case Latin sentences, are assigned a numerical value. Begins with a dedication to Maurice Hassia, Landgraf of Katsenelnbogen, Dietz, Zitgen-Hain, and Nidda, and a preface in which Schopper cites Christian Renaissance scholar Pico della Mirandola as his primary source for the Hebrew tradition of cabala. The mathematical notation used in the manuscript suggests that the text was copied and updated between 1655 and 1699.

Notes:

Ms. codex.
Title from title page for second part (p. 121).
Collation: Paper, 139; 1¹⁰ 2¹² 3⁶ 4¹² 5¹⁰ 6⁸(+1) 7-10¹² 11¹²(+1) 12¹² 13¹⁰(-3?); gatherings signed A-D, F-I, K-M (gatherings 5 ([E]) and 13 not signed); 3-22, 25-84, 87-104, 107-122, 125-248, 273-274, 249-264, [i-ii], 265-269, [270], 275-276, [i-ii], 277-279, 279-285; contemporary pagination in ink, upper right recto. Catchword lower right verso on each leaf.
Layout: Written in 30-37 long lines; vertical bounding lines ruled in ink (many of which have oxidized, causing straight incisions in the paper).
Script: Written in italic script by a single hand.
Decoration: Diagrams and tables throughout.
Watermarks: Small mountain, bird, and initials PB enclosed in a circle surmounted by the letter F (f. 1-132); fleur-de-lis enclosed in a circle surmounted by a heart (f. 133-139).
Binding: Later vellum over pasteboards (signs of trimming show this not to be the original binding); spine and corners repaired.
Origin: Written in Germany in the second half of the 17th century.

Local notes:

Lawrence J. Schoenberg & Barbara Brizdle Manuscript Initiative.

Penn Provenance:

Formerly owned by Albert Woodcock (inscription inside upper cover: Albert Woodcock, Book bought in Sicily A.D. 1886; similar inscriptions, p. 3, 121).
Sold by Sam Fogg Ltd. (London) to Lawrence J. Schoenberg, Aug. 1998.
Deposit by Lawrence J. Schoenberg and Barbara Brizdle, 2011.
Gift of Barbara Brizdle Schoenberg, 2019.

Cited in:

Described in Transformation of knowledge: early manuscripts from the collection of Lawrence J. Schoenberg (London: Paul Holberton, 2006), p. 46-47 (LJS 251).

Cited as:

Oversize UPenn LJS 251.

Contributor:

Hassia, Maurice, dedicatee.
Woodcock, Albert, former owner.
Lawrence J. Schoenberg Collection (University of Pennsylvania)

OCLC:

790609528

Web link:

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