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Or 10289

Record Id:
032-003378014
Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
032-003378014
MDARK:
ark:/81055/vdc_100046082860.0x000001
LARK:
SLARK:
Format:
TEI
Reference (shelfmark):
Or 10289
Title:
Alchemical writings
Collection Area:
Oriental Manuscripts
Project / Collection:
Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project
Hierarchy Tree:
[{ "id" : "032-003378014", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Or 10289: Alchemical writings" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
Hierarchy Record Ids:
032-003378014
Is part of:
not applicable
Hierarchy:
032-003378014
Container:
not applicable
Record Type (Level):
Fonds
Extent:
173 folios (v+173+vii)
Digitised Content:
http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_10289 (digital images currently unavailable)
Thumbnail:
Languages:
Arabic
Hebrew
Scripts:
Arabic
Hebrew
Start Date:
1690
End Date:
1690
Date Range:
1690
Calendar:
Hebrew
Era:
CE
Access:

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User Conditions:
Material Type:
Archives and Manuscripts
Legal Status:
Not Public Record(s)
Names:
Abu Falah of Saragossa (Abufalaḥ of Syracuse)
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā al-Rāzī [Rhazes], Persian physician, philosopher and alchemist, c 0865-c 0925,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121031816,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/95154093
Abū Bakr Muḥammad ibn Zakarīyā al-Rāzī [Rhazes], Persian physician, philosopher and alchemist, c 0865-c 0925,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121031816,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/95154093
Arnaldus de Villa Nova, c 1240-1311
Arnaldus de Villa Nova, c 1240-1311
Avicenna, Persian polymath, 980-1037,
   see also http://isni.org/isni/0000000121430876,
   see also http://viaf.org/viaf/89770781
Gaster, Moses, scholar, linguist and Hakham of the British Sephardic congregation, 1856-1939
Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, alchemist, 9th century-10th century
Klālid ibn Yazīd.
Morienus, Romanus, Eremita Hierosolymitanus
Morienus, Romanus, Eremita Hierosolymitanus
Ostanes
Plato, 427 BC-347 BC
Plato, 427 BC-347 BC
אבו אפלח הסרקוסטי
TEI:

Hebrew Manuscripts Digitisation Project

Or 10289

Alchemical writings

Contents

Summary of Contents: A collection of alchemical writings, for the most part unique. Also referred to as 'The Gaster Manuscript'. Gaster himself described it 'as complete a bibliotheca alchemica Judaica as one could desire'. The manuscript is a copy of an older codex (see Patai, p. 420). Consists of two parts: the first part contains mostly works from the early Greek-Arabic period; while the second part contains excerpts in Hebrew from the writings of Christian European alchemists. Part 1: ff. 1-118r; Part 2: ff. 118r-137v.

Language(s): Hebrew, Arabic

ff. 1r-3r
Author:
Title: מרשמים באלכימיה
Title: Mirshamim be-alkhimyah

Ff. 2r-2v: a note about the 'moon' (silver), and recipes for making gold and transmuting copper into silver. F. 3r: a recipe for transmuting tin into 'moon and sun' (silver and sun).

ff. 3r-21r
Author: אבו אפלח הסרקוסטי Abu Falah of Saragossa (Abufalaḥ of Syracuse)
Title: אם המלך
Title: ʾEm ha-melekh

An anonymous Hebrew translation of a Arabic treatise on alchemy by Abu Falah of Saragossa, written for the instruction of Ibn Mas'ud of Seville.

F. 3r: "אמר אבן[!] פלח אל סרקוסתי"

Contains three chapters.

References

Patai, Raphael. The Jewish Alchemists: a History and Source Book (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995),ch. 7.
ff. 21v-24v
Author:
Title: מרשמים באלכימיה
Title: Mirshamim be-alkhimyah

F. 23r, last paragraph: "מספר יוחנן אשפרמאנטט"- an excerpt 'from the book of Yoḥanan Asprmantt', which name according to Patai cannot be satisfactorily identified.

ff. 25r-45r
Author:
Title: Book of Astutah (or Astuto)

Astutah is probably a corruption of Ostanes, the ancient alchemist.

ff. 45r-52v
Author:
Title: Book Two

Ascribed to Albertus Magnus; f. 45r: ספר שני לאליברטו מאייו

References

Langermann, Y. Zvi, "The Hebrew Version of Semita recta, an Alchemical Treatise Attributed to Albertus Magnus"Aleph: Historical Studies in Science and Judaism5 (2005): 273-284.
ff. 53v-58v
Author:
Title: זה ספר שפירוש - ספר השלישי
Title: Book Three: The Book of Spiros

ff. 58v-64r
Author:
Title: ספר כוכב המאיר והוא ספר הרביעי
Title: Book Four: The Book of the Shining Star

Starts with recipes for the transmutation of 'metals into sun and moon' (silver and gold).

ff. 64r-70r
Author:
Title: ספר אריסטוטליס והוא ספר חמשי
Title: Book Five: The Book of Aristotle

Contains discussions on the use of vitriol, tutty, alum, lead (Saturn), the urine of boys, red water, white water, and 'white philosophers' oil'.

ff. 70r-76r
Author:
Title: ספר של ייבר והוא ספר ששי
Title: Book Six: The Book of Yeber

Yeber can be identified with Jābir ibn Ḥayyān.

Discusses orpiment, atramento, elixir and the alchemical use of salts.

F. 74v: זהו ספר מאבן הגדול.

ff. 76r-78v
Author:
Title: ספר ארכטורוש והוא ספר השביעי
Title: Book Seven: The Book of Arcturus

ff. 78v-82r
Author:
Title: ספר של ארכילוס והוא ספר השמיני
Title: Book Eight: The Book of Arkhilus

Arkhilus is probably identical with Archelaos of Miletus.

ff. 82v-90r
Author:
Title: ספר המאור והוא ספר התשיעי
Title: Book Nine: The Book of Light

ff. 90v-94r
Author:
Title: ספר מאישטרו אירימנש מקושטנטינה והוא ספר עשירי
Title: Book Ten: The Book of Maestro Irimans of Costantina

Maestro Irimans is perhaps identical with Morienus, the Byzantine monk, who was allegedly the alchemy teacher of the Umayyad prince, Klālid ibn Yazīd.

ff. 94r-97r
Author:
Title: ספר ל' נתיבות והוא ספר י"א
Title: Book Eleven: The Book of the Thirty Paths

It could refer to a part or parts of Jābir ibn Ḥayyān's 'Book of Seventy'.

ff. 97r-103r
Author:
Title: ספר אבי סינא והוא סי"ב
Title: Book Twelve: The Book of Avicenna

ff. 103v-115r
Author:
Title: ספר ראזיש והוא ספר י"ג
Title: Book Thirteen: The Book of Razes

Razes can be identified with the Persian physician Muḥammad ibn Zakariyya al-Rāzī.

ff. 115v-118r
Author:
Title: ספר פלטון והוא ספר י"ד
Title: Book Fourteen: The Book of Plato

Alchemical works written by or attributed to Hermes, Plato, Jābir ibn Ḥayyān, Avicenna and Muḥammad ibn Zakariyya al-Rāzī.

ff. 118r-137v
Author:
Title: כולל שני
Title: Second Section

Contains among others excerpts in Hebrew from the writings of European alchemists, among others: ff. 119v-120v: [מישתר ארנאלדיש [מוילהנובה (Maestro Arnaldus de Villanova), ff. 121v-122v: יואני אשכנזי (perhaps Teutonicus?), ff. 122v-125v: פעולה כפי משיר פיירו דאבאט Petrus Bonus), ff. 125v-126v: ניקולו די אינגליטירה (Niccolo di Ingliterra), f. 126v: מישטירו אירמלכו דטרמלכריא' (Mestero Ermano de Normandia), ff. 127r-130r: אנדריאה די נפולי (Messer Andrea di Napoli), f. 130r: גואספורי די בולונייא (Gaspare di Bologna), f. 133v: קרישטופארו די אבולונייא (Cristoforo of Abolonia), ff. 133v-134r: משיר יואני בוטריאו (Messer Joane Botrio), etc.

Ff. 130v-131r: פעולה כפי האביפיור דלה לונא, that is, 'Operation According to the Abifior [apifiyor] della Luna'. Probably refers to the anti-pope Benedict XII (Pedro de Luna).

Italian terms in Hebrew transliteration.

Colophon: תמו ונשלמו ספרי האלקימיאה היום יום כ"ו טבת שנת מ'ת'י' יבא הגואל ליצירה כשם שזכיתי להעתיקו כלו כן אזכה להשיג האור שאנו מצפים בכל יום אכיר
ff. 138r-141r
Author:
Title: Drawings of alchemical vessels (alembics, retorts, furnaces, etc.)

With captions and descriptions, explanations in Hebrew.

For a detailed description, see Patai pp. 424-429.

ff. 142v-169v
Author:
Title: Indexes of names and subjects

ff. 170r-173v
Author:
Title: Text in cryptic alphabet.

Alphabet is partially based on Arabic letters and Eastern Arabic numerals.

Physical Description

Paper codex of the 17th century.
Form: codex
Material: paper
Support: Paper with laid lines and chain lines; countermark 'P A'(?) (f. 53)
Extent: 173 folios (v+173+vii)
Dimensions (leaf): 146 × 102 mm.
Dimensions (written): 106 × 80 mm.
Foliation:

Foliation in Arabic numerals in pencil.

9 unfoliated blank leaves after f. 141 (on digital surrogate ff. 141a-141i). on the recto of the fourth one, there are some calculations.

Parallel Hebrew foliation in ink.

Collation

Indeterminable.

Catchword on every verso.

Condition

Lacunae after ff. 15, 48 (cf. catchwords, Hebrew foliation).

Water damage, usage stains.

Layout

Columns:1

Ruled lines: 25

Written lines: 25

Section headings in larger, square characters.

Marginal notes.

Hand(s)

Oriental Hebrew cursive and square script of the 17th century.

Decoration

Diagrams in ink in the margins with captions on ff. 26v-27r, 29r-29v, 123v; full-page illustrations: diagrams with captions, explanations in ink on ff. 138r-141r.

Additions:

F. 137v: erased note.

F. 169v: recipe in Hebrew by a different hand.

Binding

Post-1600, black cloth binding. Remains of the original binding are inserted into the present collation (called as back flyleaf (ii) in digital surrogate).

Title on spine: ''19 ספרי אלכיסתה יחיד בעולם'

History

Origin: 1690

Provenance and Acquisition

Moses Gaster (b. 1856, d. 1939), scholar and rabbi: his manuscript, Cod. G. 19; purchased by the British Museum from him on 12 April, 1924; date of accession 6 July 1927.

Record Sources

Manuscript description based on the online catalogue of the National Library of Israel and Raphael Patai's description in The Jewish Alchemists: a History and Source Book (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), pp. 420-434.

Availability

WARNING: Under current circumstances, not all items are available for consultation and orders can only be placed within Reading Rooms. Please contact Reading Room staff at the British Library for information on availability and for help with placing orders.

Surrogates

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Or_10289 (digital images currently unavailable)

Bibliography

    Gaster, Moses. "Alchemy", in Jewish Encyclopaedia (New York: Funk and Wagnalls, 1901-1906), 1:328-332.
    Suler, B. "Alchemie", in Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 2 (Berlin: 1928), col. 137-159 (translated in Encyclopaedia Judaica [Jerusalem: Keter, 1971], vol. 2, pp. 542-549).
    Patai, Raphael. The Jewish Alchemists: a History and Source Book (Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1995), pp. 420-434.
    Freudenthal, Gad. Science in Medieval Jewish Cultures (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011), pp. 346-347.

Funding of Cataloguing

BL