Hard-coded id of currently selected item: . JSON version of its record is available from Blacklight on e.g. ??
Metadata associated with selected item should appear here...
Harley MS 6485
- Record Id:
- 040-001615953
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-001615953
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000001515.0x000142
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 6485
- Title:
-
The Rosie Crucian Secrets, attributed to John Dee
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript contains the only surviving copy of the alchemical treatise The Rosie Crucian Secrets, divided into three parts and attributed here to John Dee (b. 1527, d. 1609), mathematician and astrologer: each quire of 4 folios contains an inscription 'the first [second, etc] sheet Dr Dee.' The work was copied by Peter Smart, M.A. of London.
Contents:
ff. 1r-376r: The Rosie Crucian Secrets: Their Excellent Method of Making Medicines of Metals. Also Their Lawes and Mysteries, the alchemical and medical section on the preparation of medicines and alchemical philosohy of the Rosicrucian Order, which is an adaptation of John Heydon's Elharvareuna, or Rosicrucian Medicines of Metals, first published in 1665 (see Langford Garstin, Dr John Dee (1985).
ff. 377r-404v: Clavis Chymicus: An Explanation of certain Chymical hard Words used in Dr Dee's Works, an alchemical lexicon.
ff. 405r-501r: Of the Laws and Mysteries of the Rosie Crucians, an adapted translation of Michael Maier's Themis Aurea, ending with a colophon (f. 501r).
ff. 376v and 501v are blank.
Decoration:
Numerous diagrams in ink, the subjects of which are as follows: The Tree of Mercury (f. 12r); geomantic figures with a title 'Geomancy the Harmony in this preparation' (f. 93r); the Tree of the Moon (f. 93v); the Tree of Mercury (f. 98v); geomantic figures (f. 101r); the Tree of the Sun (f. 101v); Venus Tree [with a date 1713] (f. 114v); 'Saturnus Tree' (f. 150r); 'Jupiters Tree' (f. 167r); the Tree of Mars (f. 171r); emblems of salt, sulphur and mercury (f. 374v); figures with the inscriptions of five pieces of gold (ff. 375v, 376r).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Harley Science Project - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-001615953", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 6485: The Rosie Crucian Secrets, attributed to John Dee" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} },{ "id" : "041-001615954", "parent" : "040-001615953", "text" : "Harley MS 6485, ff 1r-376r: The Rosie Crucian Secrets: Their Excellent Method of Making Medicines of Metals. Also Their Lawes and Mysteries,…" },{ "id" : "041-001615955", "parent" : "040-001615953", "text" : "Harley MS 6485, ff 377r-404v: Clavis Chymicus: An Explanation of certain Chymical hard Words used in Dr Dee's Works" },{ "id" : "041-001615956", "parent" : "040-001615953", "text" : "Harley MS 6485, ff 405r-501r: Of the Laws and Mysteries of the Rosie Crucians" }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-001615953 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 6485 : The Rosie Crucian Secrets, attributed to John Dee - Contains:
- Harley MS 6485, ff 1r-376r : The Rosie Crucian Secrets: Their Excellent Method of Making Medicines of Metals. Also Their Lawes and…
Harley MS 6485, ff 377r-404v : Clavis Chymicus: An Explanation of certain Chymical hard Words used in Dr Dee's Works
Harley MS 6485, ff 405r-501r : Of the Laws and Mysteries of the Rosie Crucians
Click here to View / search full list of parts of Harley MS 6485 - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[6490]/040-001615953
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
- 1 volume
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_6485 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- English
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1713
- End Date:
- 1713
- Date Range:
- 1713
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
Please request the physical items you need using the online collection item request form.
Digitised items can be viewed online by clicking the thumbnail image or digitised content link.
Readers who have registered or renewed their pass since 21 March 2024 can request physical items prior to visiting the Library by completing
this request form.
Please enter the Reference (shelfmark) above on the request form.If your Reader Pass was issued before this date, you will need to visit the Library in London or Yorkshire to renew it before you can request items online. All manuscripts and archives must be consulted at the Library in London.
This catalogue record may describe a collection of items which cannot all be requested together. Please use the hierarchy viewer to navigate to individual items. Some items may be in use or restricted for other reasons. If you would like to check the availability, contact our Reference Services team, quoting the Reference (shelfmark) above.
- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Paper.
Dimensions: 180 x 150 mm (text space: 160 x 120 mm);
Foliation: ff. 501 ( + 5 unfoliated paper flyleaves at the beginning and 8 at the end).
Script: Cursive. Colophon: 'Finis coronat opus 1713' (f. 501r); copied by Peter Smart, M.A. of London.
Binding: Post-1600 white parchment binding with tooled and gilt decoration.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin:
London, England.
Provenance:
This manuscript was compiled and copied by Peter Smart, M.A. of London: in 1713: see ff. 404v, 501r and the date '12 March 1713' inscribed in the decoration of the title page (f. 1r): his hand identified with that of Harley MS 6486, Hermetis Trismegisti: Sponsalia Generalia, containing a heading reading 'composed by C. R., a German of the Order of the Rosie Cross about years past and from the Latin MS faithfully translated by Peter Smart, Master of Arts, 1714.'
The Harley Collection, formed by Robert Harley (b. 1661, d. 1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician, and Edward Harley (b. 1689, d. 1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts.
Edward Harley bequeathed the library to his widow, Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (b. 1694, d. 1755) during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (b. 1715, d. 1785), duchess of Portland; the manuscripts were sold by the Countess and the Duchess in 1753 to the nation for £10,000 (a fraction of their contemporary value) under the Act of Parliament that also established the British Museum; the Harley manuscripts form one of the foundation collections of the British Library.
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), III (1808), no. 6485.
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), p. 306.
Dr John Dee, The Rosie Crusian Secrets. Their Excellent Method of making Medicines of Metals also their Lawes and Mysteries, ed by E. J. Langford Garstin (Wellingborough: Aquarian 1985) [edition of the text].
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)