Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.2.18
Alchemical texts
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Full transcription (numbering as written in the MS):| Tractatus nominum librorum in hoc contento cum gradu diuinu(?) | fo: 15. primus . | .1. Est liber qui dicitur Codex Sinodi turbe philosophorum . incipit libri turbe philosophorum de secretis secretorum| foo. 33. | .2. Item liber haly qui incipit liber secretorum philosophorum | foo. 38. | .3. Item liber tractatus alkimie breuis etde Ouo philosophorum et de spiritu olcultato[sic] in sulphuro et arsenico| foo. 39. | .4. Item liber saky filius hamil | foo. 40. | .5. Item liber qui dicitur Epistola solis ad Lunam | foo. 55. | .6. Item liber Geber perfeccionis magisterij incipit totam nostram scienciam| foo. 81. | .7. Item liber qui dicitur Rosarius . magistri Arnoldi A villa nova | foo. 94. | .8. Item epistola Johannis dastine ad papam | foo. 95. | .9. Item tractatus de separacione elementorum| foo. 97. | .10. Item tractatus liber aristotilis veriss?(?) de separacione element⟨orum⟩ | foo. 105. | .11. Item liber qui dicitur lumen luminum . rasis philosophi | foo. 119. | .12. Item tractatus Aristotelis ad regem alexandrum| foo. 121. | .13. Item liber Alphidij philosophij | foo. 124. | .14. Item liber hermetis philosophi trimegisti . nota bene huic(?) | foo. 127. | .15. Item tractatus Edwardi excellentisse editus| foo. 128. | .16. Item lumen luminum abbreuiatum | foo. 129. | .17. Item liber alphonsi qui clauis sapiencie dicitur cum .3bus. capitulis .5. de generacione corporum , 2m capitulis de generacione tam artificiali quod naturali .3m. de generacione plantarum mineralum(?) . et alliquanto sperus cum plantarum et cetera(?) | foo. 137. | .18. Item liber perfecti magisterij | foo. 145. | .19. Item liber morieni philosophi translatus de arabico | foo. 153. | .20. Item liber Rasis philosophi qui dicuntur magnum(?) opus| foo. 177. | .21. Item conclusio solitarij de nova seresta(?) | foo. 159. | Visio Johannis dastin| foo. 160. | .22. Item tractatus de natura signorum et 7 planetam | foo. 161 et vltime(?). | Item sequntur alia particula(?) de virtutibus herbarum et de opere minerali cum compositem Balsanum(?) artificialis ut in foo 101(?) | foo. 165. | Item tractatus lapidis | foo. 174. | Item sequitur opus de virtutibus lapidum| foo. 178. | Item aliud opus | foo. 184. | Item liber qui dicitur sunt lilium ... (?) quaedam est| opus vrtissimum|
Some minor additions and corrections to this list of the contents are in another hand.
Full transcription.
The words 'Accipe thesaurum' are written above this recipe in another hand.
Full transcription.
The recipe is crossed out, but seems to have begun 'This glasse markyd', and contains a substantial number of planetary symbols.
Notes now mostly erased and illegible.
Written by a ?16th century hand.
Marginal annotations thoroughout in several hands of the 14th-16th centuries.
A later hand has added a final rubric on f. 33r: 'Explicit sinodus philosophorum | Turba est'.
A later hand has added a title in red-brown ink in the upper margin of f. 33v: 'Supplementum Philosophorum'.
Also in Cambridge, University Library MS Add. 4087, ff. 155r-156r where it has the title 'Liber de spiritu occultato alkimie' (f. 156r).
Diagram with suns, moons and eagles on f. 39v may belong with this text. The diagram is headed 'Liber tabule marmoree cum .6. speris' and features a note 'Rex hilbertus sapoens terrens ante suum(?) ?(?)citus tabulam marmoream cum .6. speris hoc modo depictis'. The diagram consists of 6 spheres enclosed in a rectangular frame arranged in two triangular groups of three. Two of the spheres are labelled for the moon and two more for the sun, the final two contain two birds arranged in an ouroboros configuration, and a sphere labelled 'spera nigra'.
A. Timmermann, 'Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations in Cambridge Repositories', Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, 30.2 (2015), pp. 345–511 eTK 0458C
Title added in the outer margin of f. 40r in a later (?16th century) hand 'liber hic dicitur Senior'.
Extensively annotated and corrected by several 14th-16th century hands.
A later hand has added a final rubric to f. 54r: 'Epistola solis ad lunam'.
Extensively annotated and corrected by several 14th-16th century hands.
An inserted slip, [note 1] between ff. 71v-72r.
An excerpt from this text is also present on ff. 95v-96v.
Not in IMEP.
Rubric added in the upper margin of f. 81r in a contemporary hand.
Note in decorative frame in outer margin of f. 81r, 'aureu opus'.
Notes in ink in a ?15th century hand on small inserted slips of paper accompanying this text as follows:
- Between ff. 82v-83r: notes [2a] and [2b].
- Between ff. 84v-85r: note [3].
- Between ff. 85v-86r: note [4].
- Between ff. 87v-88r: notes [5a] and [5b].
The words 'papam Romanum' in the rubric on f. 94v are in another hand and written over an erasure.
The full version of this text is present in this manuscript on ff. 55r-79r.
This excerpt is also present in Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.8.5, ff. 47v-50r where it has the title in the manuscript 'Tractatus de separatione quatuor Elementorum'.
The upper margin of f. 105r has the word 'philosophus' in a hand contemporary with the main text, and then the name 'RASIS' in majuscules in an early-modern hand.
This text is spuriously attributed to Rasis, Geber and Aristotle in the various surviving copies of this text.
An extract from this text also appears on ff. 128rv.
Title in another hand in the upper margin of f. 118v: 'Opus Aristotelis ad Alexandrum regem'.
Calculation with alchemical symbols in an early-modern hand directly below the final line of text on f. 120r.
Note in the upper margin of f. 121r in an early-modern hand: 'agens vbique vnum est , et calor quidem est substancia agens'.
A. Timmermann, 'Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations in Cambridge Repositories', Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, 30.2 (2015), pp. 345–511 eTK 1618
Note in the outer margin of f. 124r in an early-modern hand, 'Hic liber vocatur secretum secretissimorum per albertum magnum'.
Extensively annotated by several 14th-16th century hands.
The full version of this text also appears on ff. 105r-118r.
This text is spuriously attributed to Rasis, Geber and Aristotle in the various surviving copies of this text.
The Alfonsus mentioned in the opening of the text is Alfonso X, King of Castile and Leon, 1221-1284 .
Written in a medieval hand contemporary with 'Scribe 1'.
Folio 136r blank.
Title in the upper margin of f. 137r in another (?16th century) hand, 'Liber pefecti magisterij qui dicuntur Aristotelis'.
The word 'Aristotelis' added to the final rubric on f. 144v in the same hand that added the title attributing the text to Aristotle in the upper margin of f. 137r.
Title added in the upper margin of f. 153r in a medieval hand, 'opus Rasis philosophi'.
Written as prose.
Title added in the upper margin of f. 158v in a ?16th century hand, 'Visio Johannis Dastin'.
This is the final text copied by 'Scribe 1' in this manuscript.
Part of the text on f. 161r illegible due to rubbing.
The opening contains references to the Trojan war and to figures such as Achilles and Helen.
Full transcription. Not in IMEP.
'Jhesus + amen' in the upper margin of f. 164v.
Extensive marginal annotations in another hand.
Also in London, British Library, MS Sloane 1784, f. 5r, and Oxford, Bodleian Library, MS Ashmole 1471, ff. 65v-67v .
Followed by further notes about minerals in another hand and a note in a later (?16th century) hand, 'Multa que hic desitiunt invenies in libro de lapidibus'.
According to Timmerman, this text incorporates pseudo-William of Tunis, Lilium paradis. The Lilium paradis text begins at the beginning of f. 184r where the title 'Lilium' has been written in the upper margin in white ink.
Folio 194v contains a number of miscellaneous pen trials, astrological/astronomical symbols and calculations as well as the final portion of this text. The mis-en-page of f. 194v suggests that when the scribe began copying De congelatione et conglutinatione lapidum the leaf was already a 'scrap' endleaf.
Accounts for purchases of 'carbonum' and 'mercuris', notes and pen-trials, and two cadel-style initial Rs.
The text is badly rubbed at beginning and end but mentions 'Septiformi spiritu orthodoxe illustrati'.
Text is badly rubbed at beginning and end, but is headed 'Nota bene . sequencia verba
Physical Description
Foliation sequence in use in this record: 16th-century foliation for core leaves, with modern additions and expansions
Folios [i]-[ii] + [iii]-[v] + 1, 11-71, [note 1], 72-82, [note 2a], [note 2b], 83-84, [note 3], 85, [note 4], 86-87, [note 5a], [note 5b], 88-195, [196 stub] + [vi]-[vii]
The core leaves are foliated in ink in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the upper outer corner of each recto, ff. 10-195 in a ?16th century hand. There is no obvious loss of text at the beginning of the core leaves between f. 1 (designated as 'ffoli primus' in faint ink in the manuscript) and f. 11, but the manuscript may once have contained 9 additional leaves (a now missing ff. 2-10) that were used for notes and annotations before being removed at an unknown time after the ?16th century foliation sequence was added.
The paper flyleaves at the beginning and end of the manuscript are unfoliated and so have been assigned designations in this record ff. [i]-[v] for the flyleaves at the front of the volume, and ff. [vi]-[vii] for the flyleaves at the rear of the volume. Paper endleaves ff. [i]-[ii] and ff. [vi]-[vii] appear to be of slightly different paper stock to ff. [iii]-[v], with the inner leaves perhaps being slightly older than the outer.
There are several notes written on small slips of paper within the volume; some of the notes have been sewn into the main codicological structure and others are loose. The notes have been assigned desigations [note 1]-[note 5b] in this record and are discussed in the section on Accompanying Material in this record.
Collation
- Two paper endleaves (ff. [i]-[ii]) +
- Three paper endleaves (ff. [iii]-[v]) +
- Five parchment leaves (ff. 1-14: 9 leaves ?missing between ff. 1 and 11)
- Quires 1-58 (ff. 15-54)
- Quire 610 (ff. 55-64)
- Quires 7-208 (ff. 65-176)
- Quire 2112 (ff. 177-188)
- Quire 228-1 (ff. 189-195: 8th leaf missing)
Two paper endleaves + three paper endleaves + five parchment leaves + 1-58 610 7-208 2112 228-1 (8th missing)
No leaf signatures.
No quire signatures.
No catchwords.Condition
Layout
185 × 115 mm. Ruled faintly in leadpoint, frame and lines; ruling not visible on most leaves but see e.g., f. 33v. Single columns, typically 44 lines to the page, especially ff. 15r-160r, but with some variability within that range, and considerable variability thereafter. Written above top line.
Hand(s)
Folios 15r-160r: the majority of the text on ff. 15r-160r was copied by 'Scribe 1', who writes a neat anglicana. Double-compartment a. Loops on ascenders of b, d, h, and l. The letters f and long-s typically drop below the baseline. The tail of the letter q flicks to the left and the letter often resembles a modern minuscule g. The scribe differentiates between u and v, typically preferring v in the initial position and u in medial and terminal positions. The scribe used a yogh- or zeta-shaped-z (ȝ or ζ) in 'practizando' in the opening line of the text beginning 'Ego edwardus fessus ...' on f. 126v.
Folios 160v-192r: the majority of the text on ff. 160v-192r was copied by 'Scribe 2', who writes an anglicana of less precise appearance than the work of Scribe 1, but of roughly similar date. Single-compartment a. Loops on ascenders of b, d, h, and l. Large loop on left stroke of v. The 'et' abbreviation resembles a modern '@' symbol with the central a replaced by a '2' or an 'r'.
Alchemical recipes added in an untidy cursiva antiquior with some secretary features by 'Scribe 3' to ff. 79r-80v, 120r, 136v, and ?144v.
Decoration
Folio 12r: drawing of an alchemical furnace in light brown ink. Faint outlines of other diagrammatic sketches on ff. 11v-12r.
Folio 82r: diagrams of shapes (e.g., triangle, square, pentagon) in black ink, some enclosed in circles, in the upper and outer margin of the leaf.
Folio 120v: 20 labelled drawings of alchemical vessels in brown and black ink, with three additional vessels added (?later) in another hand.
Folio 162r: labelled drawing of a plant in brown ink with cross-hatch shading in the outer margin.
Folio 177v: small diagrams of alchemical vessels in light brown ink and pencil in the outer margin.
Folio 188r: small diagram with cross-hatch shading of an alchemical vessel (pelican) in ink in the outer margin.
Folio 55r: inhabited initial 'T' with a ?tonsured bust in the counterspace of a 'Lombardic' T.
Folio 121r: inhabited intial 'U' with a bust in the counterspace.
Folio 129r: inhabited intial 'Q' with a bust in the counterspace.
Flourished initials in red and blue (typically a blue initial with red pen-flourishing) at some of the major divisions of the texts, see e.g., p. 134r.
Rubrication of titles at most of the major and minor divisisons of the texts, sometimes written along the edge of the text-block, see e.g., f. 15r. Paraph marks in red or blue throughout to mark minor syntactical divisions.
Folio 15r: decorative initial 'I' now badly rubbed, but filled with gold; the gold extends into a border along the upper margin and frames the title of the text 'Turba philosophorum' written in gold.
Folio 40r: Decorative initial 'E' in gold with pen-flourishing and spray border in red, blue, white, green and black, with gold accents.
Additions
Note written twice in ink in two different display scripts at the bottom of f. 1r: 'Hic monumenta latent multo preciosius auro'.
Folio 1v: Trinity College armorial bookplate with motto: 'Collegium S.S. et Individuae Trinitatis in Academia Cantabrigiensi' with alphanumeric components of the manuscripts shelfmark in pencil above ('O.2.18').
In large letters on f. 14v:| 'Donum dei| The gyfte of God'.
On f. 14v in small letters enclosed in a box near the inner margin, and now partly illegible through rubbing, a note: 'Incepi istum librum ...(?)istere cota...(?) 19 . diebus(?) aprilis anno domini .1524. ...(?) M'
A ?name ?'Marchol' in the upper margin of f. 44r.
Note in the lower margin of f. 164r: 'Nota aliqui dicut quod cardamomi est granorum paradisi'.
Large decorative majuscule 'R's in ink, seemingly pen trials, on f. 195r
Receipts for (?)payments on f. 195r in a ?15th century hand.
Cipher of the letters 'PF' or 'RF' in ink on f. 195v
Quire signatures ('1-22') in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century.
Quires numbered in modern pencil in Hindu-Arabic numerals in the lower outer corner of the first recto of each quire beginning with '1' on f. 15r.Binding
?18th-century binding. Quarter-bound in white vellum with grey paper sides over paste boards. No raised bands on spine.
Paper pastedowns pasted over the turn ins. The alpha-numeric components of the present shelfmark ('O.2.18') written in pencil on the front pastedown. The rear pastedown contains a library stamp in black ink a rectangular matrix 'TRIN. COLL. LIBRARY CAMBRIDGE'. Two paper flyleaves at the front of the volume (ff. [i]-[ii] and two paper flyleaves at the rear of the volume (f. [vi]-[vii] all blank and all probably contemporary with the current binding.
Three paper flyleaves (ff. [iii]-[v]) of slightly different paper stock to ff. [i]-[ii] and [vi]-[vii]. Folio [iii] recto contains several former shelfmarks in ink:
- B.6. (struck through)
- No. 72.
- O.15.6 (struck through)
- O.2.18
Accompanying Material
[Note 1]: commenting on the text of the Summa perfectionis loose between the present ff. 71v-72r
written in ink on paper by a ?15th-century hand. The note begins 'Candida si rubro'.
[Note 2a] and [note 2b] loose between
the present ff. 82v-83r, written in ink on paper by a ?15th-century hand. The
text on [note 2a] reads:| 'Destrute re leiutur exat hic non festinem Cuius bis sena'
| / Sequitur / Igitur
terra eorum soultionem Labores /'. | The text on [note 2b] is in verse and reads:|
'Egregie prolis mater
stirps regia solis| Solem concipiat et praegnans germine fiat | Si pariat ventum valet
auri pondera centum
| Si non dampnatur sine germine proijciatur | Sequitur // Sol est dominus lapidum
nobilem'
[Note 3] pasted between the present ff. 84v-85r, written in ink on paper by a ?15th-century hand. The text on [note 3] is
in verse and reads:| 'Tunc aqua candoris dolio purgata liquoris| Expris fetoris lacti
sit mixta
cruoris| Tunc complectuntur| Candida tunc rubeo iacet| Sequitur soluimus sane aurum
vel solem'.
[Note 4a] and [note 4b] loose between the present ff.
85v-86r, written in ink on paper by a ?15th-century hand. The text on [note
4a] is in verse and reads:| Sic dissoluatur lapis et liquor egrediatur| Et vas claudatur
iugiter dum
conficiatur | Ignis confletur lentissimus ignis ametur | Non extinguetur totum nisi
perficietur|
Sequitur / positus autem in suo vase p...(?)'.| The text on [note 4b] is in verse and
reads:| 'Hic lapis ex actu dum puluis sit sine tactu | Simplex corrosus niger multum
preciosus |
Instar(?) conceptus liquidi sit fonte receptus | Ut cinis albescat et toto fonte liqueficat
| Sequitur Continua super rerum(?) balneum temperatum'.
[Note 5a] and [note 5b] pasted between the present ff.
87v-88r, written in ink on paper by a ?15th-century hand. The text on note
[5a] begins:| Destrue rem captam sibi pro rem satis aptam| Leuiter| Hoc non festine
...'| The text
on [note 5b] is in verse and reads:| Tunc aqua candoris dolio purgata liquoris | Expris
fetoris lacti sit
mixta cruoris| Tunc complectuntur tunc pro se concipiuntur | Candida tunc rubeo iacet
vxor | Sequitur
/ Deinde suo corpori rubeo | priori elemento porre ...(?) coniungere / Nam | vbicumque
fuerit corpus regrogabuntur | vel aquile'.
History
Date and place of production based on palaeographical features.
Provenance and Acquisition
One of the manuscripts of Thomas Gale (1635/6-1702) , dean of York, antiquary, and fellow of Trinity College Cambridge.
One of the manuscripts of Roger Gale (1672-1744) , antiquary and scholar, son of Thomas Gale. Inherited from his father.
Donated to Trinity College by Thomas Gale , son of Roger Gale, in 1738. The Gale donation is recorded in .
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
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Bibliography
-
Catalogue of Latin and Vernacular Alchemical Manuscripts in Great Britain and Ireland
Dating from
before the XVI Century, Singer, Dorothea WaleyAnderson, Annie (Brussels, Maurice Lamertin, 1928)
Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge Index of Middle English prose, Mooney, Linne R. (Woodbridge, D.S. Brewer, 1995)
Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations
in Cambridge
Repositories Nuncius: Journal of the Material and Visual History of Science, Timmermann, Anke (30, 2, 345-511, 2015)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome (cataloguing). All images provided by Trinity College, Cambridge.
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
