Harley MSS 3799-3809

This collection of 11 volumes contains the commentary by Jacques Despars (b. c. 1380, d. 1458), regent master of medicine at the University of Paris, on Books 1 (fen I-IV), 3, and 4 (only fen I) of the medical summa by Ibn Sīnā, Abú 'Ali Al-Husain ibn 'Abd Allah (Avicenna) (d. 1037), in the Latin translation by Gerardus Cremonensis (Gerard of Cremona) (c.1113/4-1187). Despars compiled his commentary between 1432 and 1453 (see Harley MS 3808, f. 247r), and the present set of manuscripts is the only extant copy of his full work:. The copying of the 11 volumes was completed on 22 Dec. 1475 (see Harley MS 3809, f. 284r).

Copies of the complete Canon in Latin translation are Additional MS 14424, Royal MS 12 G. vi, Sloane MS 1933 (ff. 184r-275r, imperfect), Sloane MS 2157, and Sloane MS 3095; Books I, II, V, and IV in Harley MS 3744 (ff. 6r-135r, 138r-154v); Book III in Harley MS 3757; excerpts in Harley MS 3407 (ff. 92r-101v), and Harley MS 4087 (ff. 39r-108v).

Despars' commentary with additions by Johannes Lascaris was edited by Jacques Ponceau and printed in 1497-1498 at Lyons by Jean Trechsel and Jean Clein: see H 2214*; Arnold C. Klebs, Incunabula scientifica et medica (Bruges 1938; repr. Hildesheim 1963), p. 69, no. 131.13; Frederick R. Goff, Incunabula in American Libraries, Third Census (New York, 1964), A1428; GW 3127; ISTC ia01428000 (a British Library copy is IC.41940). For Despars see also 'Desparts (Jacques)', Dictionnaire de biographie française, vols 1- (Paris, 1932-), 10 (1965), p. 1506; Ernest Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biographique des médicins en France au moyen âge. 2 vols (Paris: E. Droz, 1936, repr. Genva, 1979), I, pp. 326-327; D. Jacquart, Supplément to Wickersheimer, Dictionnaire biographique des médecins en France au moyen âge (Geneva, 1979), pp. 134-35. For bibliographical details on Avicenna, Gerard of Cremona, and the Canon, see Harley MS 3744.

Decoration:

Frontispieces and beginnings of fen or major sections of the text with decorated margins and large historiated initials (12-13 lines) in blue with white tracery, set against square grounds of gold with foliate decoration and extensions in gold, red, blue, and green including small flowers, berries and bezants, or a small marginal miniature (12-13 lines) and a large decorated initial (12-13 lines) in a similar style; puzzle initials (4-5 lines) in red and blue often marking the beginning of treatises, with guide-letters; chapter initials (2-3 lines) in alternating red and blue, with guide letters; paragraph marks in alternating red and blue; sentence initials touched in yellow; line-fillers in alternating red and blue used in tables; rubrics in red. Occasional cadels and diagrams touched in yellow. Marginalia including maniculae and small anthropomorphic letters (e.g. Harley MS 3800, f. 61r).