Textmanuscripts

10 manuscripts

		Calendar for Calculating Easter In Latin, manuscript on paper [France (Auxerre?), c. 1400]

		A very rare astronomical manuscript containing the tables and computational data for the calculation of Easter for the period between 1400 and 1440 based on solar and lunar cycles prior to the sixteenth-century reform of calendar calculation under Pope Gregory XII. The importance of this manuscript also lies in the fact that it contains one of the earliest known French examples of the mnemonic device known as Cisioianus.

		Computistical Calendar; Prologue to PTOLEMY, Almagest (Latin translation of Gerard of Cremona) In Latin, manuscript on paper Italy, Tuscany?, c. 1475-1500

		An accomplished humanist scribe copied this small scientific manuscript that includes a calendar with information for calculating Easter and a complete record of the time of sunrise and the length of the day, together with the prologue to the classic work of astronomy, Ptolemy’s Almagest, in the Latin translation by Gerard of Cremona. The contents point to its ownership by a Renaissance scholar with an interest in practical astronomy.

		ABRAHAM IBN EZRA, Sefer ha-Mispar [Book of Numbers] and Hokhmat ha-Mispar [Science of Numbers] In Hebrew, manuscript on Paper [Balkans or Turkey, mid to late fifteenth century]

		Compendium of two important Hebrew works on arithmetic, both attributed to a major Jewish scholar of the twelfth century instrumental in bringing Arabic ideas to the West through Spain. The first treatise introduces the decimal system to western Europe. It is extant in 11 manuscripts, last edited in the nineteenth century without its final chapter. The second treatise is entirely unpublished and exists only in a single other, incomplete, copy.

		ANONYMOUS, Würzburger Wundarznei [Medical Miscellany] In German, manuscript on paper Germany, East Franconia (Würzburg?), c. 1488-1500, with later additions up to around 1525

		In its original Würzburg binding this manuscript belongs to the literary genre of the medical manual that developed around 1400 in the German-speaking regions and represents a typical means for the transfer of surgical knowledge. Much influenced by works of the famous surgeon Peter von Ulm, the Würzburger Wundarznei is the only representative of this genre extant from eastern Franconia.

		Calendar for 1490 with computational tables [and] Treatise on arithmetic In Latin and Dutch, decorated manuscript on parchment [Northern Netherlands, 1490]

		This well-preserved manuscript contains three brief treatises on the calculation of the rising of the sun and the rules for multiplication and division, accompanied by a complex series of calendar tables. Possibly made for student use and written partly in the vernacular, the manuscript provides an important example of the importance of calculating time through astronomical analysis and basic mathematics in order to chart the course of the calendar year and the hours of the day.

		ABRAHAM IBN EZRA, et al, attributed to, [Miscellany on Geomancy] In Hebrew, illustrated manuscript on paper Italy (northern?), c. 1550-75

		This is a small, neatly written manuscript on divination, or geomancy, including three texts often attributed to the great poet, philosopher, and astronomer, Abraham Ibn Ezra. Although treatises on divination in Hebrew are not rare (300 to 350 manuscripts are extant), none of the works in the present manuscript are published, and they appear to relate to the early manuscript tradition that predates the occasional printed editions and are also preserved in three manuscripts all in institutions.

		ANONYMOUS, Sefer Evronot (Book of Intercalations) In Hebrew, illustrated manuscript on paper [Eastern Europe, Moravia, Silesia, or Galicia, 1593-1604]

		Richly illustrated manuscript of the Sefer Evronot (Book of Intercalations) used to intercalate the Jewish lunisolar calendar and to reconcile it with the Christian calendar for religious and mercantile purposes. Every Evronot manuscript, intended for local use by community leaders, merchants, and travelers, is unique. One of only about six illustrated copies dating before 1600, this copy is important also because it was made for use in Eastern Europe, whereas the majority are from Southern Germany.

		ANONYMOUS, [Medical Miscellany] In Yiddish and Hebrew, manuscript on paper Poland, Wengrow, dated 1596

		One of only 15 Yiddish medical manuscripts dating before the seventeenth century and one of the few surviving medieval manuscripts from Poland, the only one from Wengrow. The core of this manuscript contains a collection of medical cures arranged in the order of the ailment or the organ affected, probably written by a physician. The sheer wealth of material in this manuscript and the relative scarcity of other sources, especially in Eastern Europe, should make this manuscript a valuable source for further research.

		MULIGIN, IGNATIO FRANCESCO, Il Trionfo d’applausi, e di glorie figurato di purissime lettere di sua altezza reale Maria Anna Christina Vittoria di Baviera Delfina di Francia, nel quale si contengono li seguenti versi, da leggersi nella figura con il microscopion In Italian, manuscript on paper, accompanied by a microscopic drawing (by Pierre Mignard?) [France, c. 1683-84]

		Unpublished autograph of an unedited microscopic poem in the form of a drawing (by Pierre Mignard?) and accompanied by a book-length transcription, written by a previously unidentified figure in the papal circle for the Dauphine of France as a diplomatic act intended to influence the King. This extremely rare work (very few such microscopic compositions are extant) preserved in its original binding witnesses the early scientific impact of the microscope on visual and textual transmissions, in this case exploited in the service of state politics at the highest level and presenting a unique program of royal iconography hitherto unanalyzed.

		Vaticinium Severi et Leonis Imperatorum [Oracles of Leo the Wise] In Latin and Spanish (title page only), illustrated manuscript on paper [Spain or Italy, dated 1701]

		Although a copy of a printed book, the present manuscript contains a series of 16 finely executed drawings and testifies besides to the persistent interest in the sibylline prophecies concerning Byzantium, reinterpreted here in the context of the fall of the Ottoman Empire to show that the reign of Muslim domination has effectively passed.