Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3120
Collection of medical treatises
Physical Description
A manuscript consisting of parchment leaves (Part 1) preceded by a fragment from an older manuscript that has been reused as an endleaf for this manuscript (Part 1)
20th-century foliation:
[i] | 1-2 + 3-168 + 169-170
Numbering in pencil in the upper right-hand corner of the rectos, by H.L. Pink . f. [i] is a fragment from an older manuscript that has been reused as an endleaf for this manuscript; ff. 1-2 and ff. 169-170 originally served as flyleaves and are treated as such in the description of the manuscript's extent.Collation
- Single parchment leaf |
- Quires 1-148 (ff. 2-114)
- Quire 156 (ff. 115-120)
- Quires 16-218 (ff. 121-168)
Single parchment leaf | 1-148 156 16-218
Condition
Additions
The number ‘192’ is written in an (?) 18th-century script in the lower margin of f. 3r, possibly representing a pressmark or lot number.
The number ‘27’ is written on a loose paper slip inserted in the gutter between f. 91 and 92, perhaps representing an auction number.
Quire signatures ('a-x'), in the bottom right-hand corner of the recto side of the first leaf of each quire, and '+' in the same position on the first leaf after the centre of the quire, written in pencil by a hand of the 19th/20th century.
Binding
16th-century binding, of calf over oak boards (badly wormed) to four bands, with blind roll-tooling. Two clasps and catches, now gone. Traces of a label under horn survive and two pins, probably for a chain staple, in the middle of the top edge of the front cover. Remains of an early 19th-century label (French) bearing the title on the spine and fragments of a 13th-century manuscript used as spine lining (see old spine).
Stabilisation work carried out by Shaun Thompson in 2023. Filling in board corners made from paper pulp and lined with toned Japanese paper. Internal boards lined with Japanese toned paper in order to stabilise insect damage. Sewing supports extended, oversewn, and laced into the boards. Losses to endband cores resewn and laced in.
History
Provenance and Acquisition
Francis John Henry Jenkinson (1853-1923) , librarian of the University of Cambridge: bought from J. Westell . Name and note inscribed in pencil by Jenkinson on f. 2v: ‘J. Westell Nov. 6 1885’ and ‘F. Jenkinson’.
Presented to the University Library on 20 November 1893 by Francis John Henry Jenkinson (1853-1923), librarian of the University of Cambridge : this date inscribed in pencil in the lower margin of f. 3r: ‘Presented 1893’.
Part 1 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3120, f. [i]]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
Book I, Chapter IX. Used as binding material and bound upside down.
Physical Description
A single fragment of a parchment leaf.
Layout
160-165 Ruled in leadpoint, frame only, with occasional line ruling. Probably double columns (but this cannot be confired since the fragment does not show the full width of the leaf's original text space). 44 lines to the page, written below top line.
Hand(s)
Copied by a single hand in a Gothic Textualis script.
Decoration
Headings in red ink.
History
Part 2 [Cambridge, University Library, MS Add. 3120, ff. 1-170]
Contents
Language(s): Latin
A collection of recipes beginning with the same entry, and also followed by a poem (see next item), is found in Salins-les-Bains, Bibliothèque municipale, MS 45, ff. 63v-70v.
Full transcription. An extract from a 'Liber de dietis' (ll. 27-30) (see Sudhoff, p. 169).
Full transcription; added in the 17th century, perhaps written in 1657 since the verse is possibly followed by the number ‘57’. A comparable verse is cited in French sources, e.g. see Claude G. Dubois, Henri Weber, Claude Longeon, and Claude Mont, 'Vice de Innovation» et «Escumeurs de Latin» : quelques aspects du mélange des langues dans ses rapports avec la création littéraire en France au XVIe siècle', Réforme, Humanisme, Renaissance, 15 (1982), 19-36 (p. 32 n. 33).
Physical Description
Collation
- Quires 1-148 (ff. 2-114)
- Quire 156 (ff. 115-120)
- Quires 16-218 (ff. 121-168)
Leaf signatures mostly cropped off, but still visible in the bottom right-hand corners of the recto side of leaves in the first halves of Quires 14 (‘o’-‘oooo’), 15 (‘ȝ’-‘ȝȝȝ’), 18 (the word 'aue' with a single horizontal line above it - the word ‘aue’ with four horizontal lines above it), 19 (‘c’-‘cccc’), 20 (‘d’-‘dddd’), and 21 (‘f’-‘ffff’)
Catchwords in the lower right-hand corners of the last versos of quires.Layout
250 × 150 mm. Ruled in leadpoint, frame only and line ruling. Double colums. written below top line, 60 lines per page.
Hand(s)
Written by a single hand in a Northern Textualis script.
Decoration
A dragon drawn in penwork of blue and red ink in the lower margin of f. 75r.
Full or partial 'J' borders in blue and red on ff. 3r, 3v, 19r, 31v, 32r, 42v, 43r, 58v, 75r, 87v, 121r, 131r, 131v.
Large puzzle initials (6-13 lines) in blue and red and penwork decoration in the same colours on ff. 3r, 3v, 19r, 31v, 32r, 42v [2x], 49v [2x], 75r [2x], 87v, 121r [2x], 131r, 131v, 144v.
Large initials (6-11 lines) outlined in blue filled with penwork decoration in red and blue that also surrounds the letters on 3r, 43r, 58v.
Smaller initials (2-3 lines) in blue or red with penwork decroation and pen-flourishing in the opposite colour throughout.
Small (1-line) capitals highlighted in yellow.
Linefillers in red ink.
Titles and headings rubricated in red throughout.
A drawing of a hare in brown ink higlighted in yellow, illustrating a recipe including ingredients taken from the hare to remedy rabies caused by a dog's bite in the outer margin of f. 101r.
Underlining in red ink.
Paraphs in blue or red ink.
Run-over symbols decorated with human faces and hybrid figures in brown and red ink (e.g. ff. 111r and 168r).
Catchwords sometimes in frames of brown ink.
History
Additional Information
Record Sources
Availability
Entry to read in the Library is permitted only on presentation of a valid reader's card. For information on eligibility and admissions procedures, see Joining the Library). For further enquiries, and to confirm the availability of the manuscript, please contact the Special Collections Reading Room.
Bibliography
-
St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury Corpus of British medieval library catalogues, Barker-Benfield, B.C. (London, British Library in association with the British Academy,
2008)
Summary Catalogue of the Additional Medieval Manuscripts in Cambridge University Library
Acquired
before 1940 Summary catalogue, Ringrose, Jayne (Woodbridge, Boydell Press, 2009)
Funding of Cataloguing
Wellcome
Digital Images
Abbreviations
View list of abbreviations and editorial conventions.
