Introduction:
A copy of De Aspectibus (or Optica), a Latin translation of an Arabic manuscript
made around 1200. The work - which had only just reached the Latin West - was the
Kitab
al-Manazir (Book of Optics) written by the Islamic polymath Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥasan ibn
al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham in Cairo.
It has the incipit Invenimus visum quando inspexerit luces valde fortes . . .
“We find that when sight fixes on very strong light . . .”
Above the incipit is written de luce in the same hand as that of the text.
The De Aspectibus is on folios 1-111 and De Crepusculis is on folios 112-118.
The second work is attributed to Alhacen in the manuscript, but it is the work of
Ibn Muʿādh.
ibn al-Haytham was born around 965 in Basra in what is now Iraq.
In 1020 he moved to Cairo where he worked until his death in about 1040.
The Kitab al-Manazir, thought to have been written between 1028 and 1038,
is one of many works in natural philosophy attributed to ibn al-Haytham.
A copy of the holograph, made by his son-in-law, resides in the Süleymaniye
Library in Istanbul.
A century earlier, the Arabic text appeared in the West and was
translated into Latin no later than 1210. Importantly, the first three chapters
of Book 1 are not in the translation and so the material dealing with the
fundamental physical aspects of light never reached the West.
Though Gerard of Cremona is usually thought to be the translator,
there is no definite evidence for this, and some against. It is certain that
the translation is the work of two individuals: one produced a Latin that kept
very close to the Arabic, the other produced a summary or paraphrase.
The translator(s) chose the title De Aspectibus, and it was with that
title that copies of the translation began to be made and circulate.
al-Ḥasan ibn al-Haytham was Latinized to “Alhacen” and so the medieval
manuscript tradition had Alhacen as the author.
This Peterhouse copy dates to the early 1300s and was bequeathed
to the College in 1371. It is one of 20 manuscripts of the De Aspectibus listed by
Lindberg and is further described by James.
David DiLaura
Language(s): Latin
1. Inside back cover
Pastedown Fragments from De proprietatibus elementorum.
Albertus Magnus
Written space 245x190mm, ruled with pencil in 2 cols of 47 lines; written
in what Thomson describes as 'very rough anglicana'.
F. ir blank; f. iv contains a table of contents, s. xv.
2. ff. 1-111v
De Aspectibus
Alhazen
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
1r[I]nuenimus uisum quando inspexerit fuces ualde fortes
fortiter dolebit ex eis... hunc tractatum qui est finis libri. Deo gracias.
3. ff. 112-14
De crepusculis
Gerard of Cremona (trl)
Language(s): Latin
Incipit:
112vIncipit liber de ascensionibus nubium. [O]stendere
quid sit crepusculum et que causa necessaria faciens eius apparicionem ... et perueniunt
uapores ascendentes ex terra et illud est quia uolimus.
Explicit:
114rExplicit liber de ascencionibus nubium.
Form: codex
Support:
Parchment
Extent: 116 leaves (i+115)
Dimensions (leaf):
280 × 200 mm.
Dimensions (written):
190 × 115 mm.
Foliation: Modern pencil foliation.
Collation
A2 (1 is the front pastedown), 1-912,
106(+1 after 6).
Catchwords present.
Layout
Ruled with crayon in 2 columns of c.55 lines.
Hand(s)
Written by a single scribe in anglicana.
Decoration
Unfilled spaced for coloured initials and rubrics.
Thomson describes 'amateurish' freehand marginal diagrams in ink of text.
72vDiagram on f. 72v has been excised.
Additions
'Supplementum Willelmi Melbur' with
a drawing, possibly of an eye.
Thomson cautiously identifies this as William of Melbourne, MA by 1312, DCL by 1331.
Binding
Standard College binding, s. xviii ex.
Origin:
c.1200
; England
Provenance and Acquisition
Bequeathed to Peterhouse by Roger de Sutton (fellow from 1352), 21st April
1371; his will describes the volume as 'in custodia domini Willelmi
Erby socii domus predicte' , and 'in albis tabulis' .
Addition on 115v reads 'Iste liber est scolarium
domus Sancti Petri Cantabr' de dono magistri Willelmi Irby quondam socii domus predicte
anno Domini M.
CCC. LXXVI et uocatur Alecen Perspectyue et De ascensione.' Irby was a fellow
c.1371-c.1386.
