Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge Libraries

A catalogue of Western manuscripts and papyri at Cambridge University Library, the Fitzwilliam Museum and selected Cambridge colleges

Cambridge, Trinity College, MS O.7.45

Diktyon no.: Diktyon 12014

Contents

Introduction: This manuscript, probably completed in 1642, is a copy of the principal work of the 1st century CE medical writer Dioscorides Pedanius, De materia medica, with a facing translation in English. The text is an encyclopaedia of medicinal plants and their uses, which became the most used work of its kind and dominated the study of botany and pharmacology in the Greek, Latin and Arabic traditions until the 16th century. An English translation of this text was completed by John Goodyer (1592-1664) in 1655, but the rendering of the text into English here is very different. The manuscript also contains a number of poems in English at its beginning and end. Dr Christopher Wright

Language(s): Greek and English

1. f. ii verso
Language(s): English
Poems

f. 1r is blank apart from various notes and drawings

2. ff. 1v-69r
Language(s): Greek and English
Dioscorides Pedanius, Materia medica
Incipit: f. 1v (English) Seeing many (beloved Araeus) not only of the antient, but also of the modern likewise
Incipit: f. 2r (Greek) Πόλλων οὐ μόνον ἀρχαίων, ἀλλὰ καὶ νεῶν συνταξαμένων
Explicit: f. 68v (English) But that which is stony in composition and rough (scrupulosus) in colour is naught
Explicit: f. 69r (Greek) τὸ δὲ λιθῶδες τῇ συγκρίσει καὶ τῇ χρόᾳ ψωρὸν, φαῦλον

TLG 0656.001

ff. 69v-70v are blank

3. f. +1r
Language(s): English
Poems

ff. +1r-+2v are blank

Physical Description

Form: codex
Support: Western paper, folded in quarto. Watermark: Coat of arms ( c. 50 × 35 mm. ) in the gutter.
Extent: Codex: iii + 2 + 70 + 2 + iii leaves. 180 × 152 mm.
Foliation: The manuscript is foliated with the numbers [a-c] + i-ii + 1-70 + +1-+2 + [d-f], in pencil, in Arabic and Roman numerals, recto, upper right.

Collation

The original endleaves, ff. i-ii and +1-+2 are an integral part of the main quire structure. The manuscript consists of 6 quires, of which one is a binion, one is of twelve folios and the rest were of sixteen folios.

  • Quires 1-216 ff. i-ii, 1-30
  • Quire 312 ff. 31-42
  • Quire 416 ff. 43-58
  • Quire 516-4 ff. 59-70 The last four folios have been cancelled, without loss of text
  • Quire 64-2 ff. +1-+2 The first two folios have been cancelled, without loss of text

Condition

There are small tears from the edges of ff. [c], i-ii and +1-+2, and minor wear and tear to edges elsewhere. There is some creasing and areas of dirt, extensive in the outermost folios.

Layout

A single column of 18-30 lines. 159-173 × 100-130 mm.

Hand(s)

The Greek text was copied in a western European mixed minuscule script, slanting to the right, in brown ink.

Punctuation used includes the lower, middle and upper points.

Additions

The title ‘Chiliades Medicinales Graece et Anglice’ has been written on f. ii recto.

On f. 1r are various quotations, rough drawings, the former classmark M.3 411 and the date July 10 1642.

Binding

18th-century binding with grey paper covering over couched-laminate boards, with a white parchment spine and plain pastedowns. The classmark appears on the spine on patches.

190 × 158 × 20 mm.

History

Origin: The manuscript was probably completed on 10 July 1642, as suggested by the date on f. 1r. This would be consistent with the script and materials.

Provenance and Acquisition

Donated by the antiquary Roger Gale (1672-1744) in 1738.

Additional Information

Availability

Visitors to Trinity College who wish to consult Special Collections material are required to apply to the Library in advance of their visit. For information on eligibility and admission procedures see: Trinity College: Information for Readers.

Bibliography

    The western manuscripts in the library of Trinity College : a descriptive catalogue, James, M. R. (Montague Rhodes) (Cambridge, 3, Cambridge University Press, 1902)

Funding of Cataloguing

The Polonsky Foundation

Digital Images

Cambridge Digital Library

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