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Harley MS 3757
- Record Id:
- 040-002049589
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 040-002049589
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x00010a
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3757
- Title:
- Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3
- Scope & Content:
-
The volume contains book 3 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). Rubric (f. 3r) 'Dictio prima tertii libri canonis in medicina / de universis egritudinibus capitis / Capitulum .i. de utilitatibus capitis et partibus ipsius', incipit: 'Inquit galienus intencio in creando / caput non est cerebrum', explicit (f. 243v): 'prope dicende sunt egritudines que non apropri/antur membro', rubric 'Explicit liber tertius'.
The text is preceded (ff. 1v-2v) by a table of contents, added by three 15th-century hands and related to the medieval foliation in Roman numerals on versos, including a marginal note (f. 2r) 'de universis egritudinibus continens fen xxii'. Before this foliation and the table of contents were added a quire (ff. 79r-87r) from another 14th-century manuscript was inserted in the volume in order to supply the text of fen VI-VIII and the last chapters of fen V (see f. 77v) that had been left out in the present copy. The last two quires (ff. 218r-243v) were copied by a late14th/early 15th-century hand.
Avicenna's text is followed by a note on fever added by a 15th century hand (f. 244r), incipit: 'Utrum febrium pestilentialium quarta causa primitiva est virtualis infectio regionalis etherize aut infectio elementaris / regionis aut alias curabilis sit aliquo naturali ingenio causa convicta / Conclusio prima. Possibile est in febre pestilentiali pulsum et urinam non multum esse alteratam a dispositione normali', explicit: 'et practice medicine operans / perfectem curat febrem pestilentialem', and a note relating to the end of the world, 'Inpertinens / Probabiliter sustinetur istum mundum non forse finiendum ante magnum platonis completum, qui est 36000 annorum / a tempore creationis mundi computando … Sequitur diem novissimum in 20000 annis et ultima non posse esse'.
Copies of the complete Canon in Latin translation are Additional MS 14424, Royal MS 12 G.vi, Harley MS 3799-3809, Sloane MS 1933 (ff. 184r-275r, imperfect), Sloane MS 2157, Sloane MS 3095; Books 1-2, 5, and 4 in Harley MS 3744 (ff. 6r-135r, 138r-154v); excerpts in Harley MS 3407 (ff. 92r-101v), 3594 (ff. 7r-53r), 4087 (ff. 39r-108v). Gerard's translation of the Canon was possibly printed for the first time by Philippus de Lavagnia at Milan on 12 Feb. 1473: see H 2200; Osler, Incunabula medica… (1923), p. 55, no. 35; BMC VI 700; GW 3155; ISTC ia01417500 (a British Library copy is IC.26105). According to ISTC this edition precedes that of Strasbourg by the R-Printer (Adolf Rusch) published after Feb. 1473: see H *2197; William Osler, Incunabula medica:A Study of the Earliest Printed Medical Books, 1467-80 (Oxford, 1923), p. 115, no. 186; Arnold C. Klebs, Incunabula scientifica et medica (Bruges: 1938; repr. Hildesheim: 1963), p. 68, no. 131.1; Fredrick R. Goff, Incunabula in American Libraries: A Third Census of Fifteenth-Century Books Recorded in North American Collections (New York: The Bibliographical Society of America, 1964), A1417; GW 3114; ISTC ia01417700 [The British Library copy is IC.657]. For Avicenna and the Canon see N. G. Siraisi, Avicenna in Renaissance Italy : the Canon and medical teaching in Italian universities after 1500 (Princeton, NJ, 1987); D. Jacquart, 'Lectures universitaires du Canon d'Avicenne', in Avicenna and his Heritage. Acts of the International Colloquium, Leuven - Louvain-la-Neuve, Sept. 8-11, 1999, ed. by J. Janssens and D. De Smet (Leuven, 2002), pp. 313-24; D. Gutas, 'Medical Theory and Scientific Method in the Age of Avicenna', in Before and after Avicenna. Proceedings of the First Conference of the Avicenna Study Group, ed. by D. C. Reisman (Leiden, 2003), pp. 145-62, all with further bibliography; for Gerard see 'Gherardo da Cremona' in Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 53 (1999), pp. 620-33, with extensive bibliography.
Decoration:
Large historiated initial 'I'(nquit) in red, green, and blue with marginal extension, showing Avicenna in red cloak and black hat holding a flask (14 lines; f. 36). 2 large initials in pink set against square blue grounds with marginal extension, inhabited by monks with animal heads(5-6 lines; ff. 52r, 73v) and 6 large foliate initials in red, pink, green, and yellow, set against a blue ground, with marginal extensions (3-7 lines; ff. 44r, 68v, 77v, 91r, 189r, 192v). 1 puzzle initial in red (4 line, later addition; f. 110r). Large initials (3-7 lines; later addition; ff. 116v, 118v, 142r, 159v, 167r, 178v, 181v, 187r, 199v, 210r) in red. Chapter initials in alternating blue and red with contrasting pen-flourishing (2-3 lines; ff. 3r-217v). Paragraph marks in alternating red and blue (ff. 3r-217v). Rubrics in red throughout, with indications for the rubricator in the lower margin of pages (see ff. 17v, 73v etc.), mostly cropped away; running titles in red throughout; horizontal catchwords enclosed in triple roundels of red and green. Initials, rubrics and running titles in red (ff. 79r-87v and 218r-243v).
Marginalia include maniculae and a face (f. 15v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Harley Science Project - Hierarchy Tree:
- [{ "id" : "040-002049589", "parent" : "#", "text" : "Harley MS 3757: Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3" , "li_attr" : {"class": "orderable"} }]
- Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
040-002049589 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MS 3757 : Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3 - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3758]/040-002049589
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
246 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3757 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1300
- End Date:
- 1499
- Date Range:
- 1st quarter of the 14th century-15th century
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment codex. Some small parchment flaws.
Dimensions: 405 x 260 mm (text space: 250-290 x 145-165 mm; ff. 79-87: 272 x 160-165 mm; ff. 218-245: 277-280 x 158-162 mm).
Foliation: ff. vi + 246 (all unfoliated flyleaves are modern paper leaves). Medieval foliation at centre of lower margins in brown ink '1-231' (ff. 3r-78r, 88r-243r; repeating no. 56; excluding added leaves ff. 79r-87r); a later medieval foliation 'i-ccxli' (ff. 3v-243v) added in black ink at the same time as and relating to the table of contents (ff. 1v-2v); modern foliation in pencil '1-246' (including inserted paper slip and original back pastedown foliated respectively as ff. 244r and 246r; f. 245r is blank).
Collation: Gatherings (flesh-side out), now on guards: i2, ii-vii10, viii6, ix10, x10-1 (i cancelled; inserted later from a different manuscript), xi-xxv10, xxvi8-1 (vii cancelled; includes a paper slip inserted later on guard at the place of vii), with horizontal catchwords inscribed in coloured roundels in the lower margin of last versos (excluding inserted and last two gatherings); gatherings xxiv-xxv with alphabetical and numerical leaf signatures; gatherings xxiv-xxvi possibly added later.
Layout: Traces of pricking (from rectos: see ff. 178r-187r); ruled in ink and metal point (single vertical bounding lines) for double columns of 50-58 lines. Text below top line. Gathering x (ff. 79-87) ruled in ink (single vertical bounding lines) for double columns of 51 lines. Text below top line. Gatherings xxiv-xxvi (ff. 218-245): ruled in ink (single vertical bounding lines) for double columns of 52 lines.
Script: Gothic. Written in dark brown or black ink by several scribes.
Binding: British Museum/British Library binding with the Harley arms and motto gilt-tooled at centre of covers.
- Custodial History:
-
Origin: Italy (Bologna?).
Provenance:
Added fragment of a bifolium from a chronicle relating to the elections of kings and bishops, early 13th century (f. 246), formerly perhaps a part of a cover for a different volume, used here as last flyleaf; it bears a note dated 20 January 1365 'Anno domini mo ccco lxiio. 20 die Januaris / ....' (f. 246r)
Nicholas of Cusa [Nicholaus von Kues, or Nicholas Cusanus] (b. 1401, d. 1464), theologian, bishop of Brixen in Tyrol in 1450 and cardinal in 1449, founder of the hospital of St Nicholas at Cues on the Mosel: left his entire library to the hospital in his last will dated 6 August 1464; probably owned by him: his marginal annotations (ff. 44v, 46r, 95r, 95v, 97r, 127r, 128r, 156r, 157r, 158r, 158v, 159r, 167r, 167v, 174r, 184v, 186r) (see Winau 1965); but not identifiable in the inventory of the cardinal's possessions made after his death (see G. Mantese, 'Ein notarielles Inventar von Büchern und Wertgegenständen aus dem Nachlass des Nikolaus von Kues', Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der Cusanus-Gesellschaft, 2 (1962), 85- 110).
The Hospital of St. Nicholas, Cues on the Mosel in Germany: its ownership inscription: 'Liber hospitalis sancti Nicolai prope cusam' (f. 3r).
Nathaniel Noel (fl. 1681- c.1753), bookseller: bought, together with other manuscripts formerly in the Hospital library by Edward Harley for the Harley Collection
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; inscribed as usual by their librarian, Humfrey Wanley '18 die Januarij, A.D. 1723/4' (f. 1r).
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. Harley shelfmarks in brown ink '119.C.15 / 3757', and '2/III F' in pencil (f. iii recto).
- Publications:
-
A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: [n. pub.], 1808-12), III, no. 3757.
Remigio Sabbadini, ‘Niccolò da Cusa e I conciliari di Basilea alla scoperta dei codici’, Rendiconti della Reale Accademia dei Lincei, 20 (1911), 3-40 (pp. 39-40, n. 2).
Paul Lehmann, Mitteilungen aus Handschriften, 2, Sitzungsberichte der Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, Philosophisch-historische Abteilung, 2 (Munich: Bayerischen Akademie der Wissenschaften,1930), pp. 3-55 (p. 20, 26).
B. L. Ullman, 'Manuscripts of Nicholas of Cues', Speculum, 13 (1938), 194-97 (p. 196).
Rolf Winau, 'Medizinische Handschriften aus dem Besitz des Nikolaus von Kues im British Museum', Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der Cusanus-Gesellschaft, 5 (1965), 137-61 (pp. 154-156).
The Diary of Humfrey Wanley 1715-1726, ed. by Cyril Ernest Wright and Ruth C. Wright, 2 vols (London: Bibliographical Society, 1966), II: 1723-1726, p. 253 n. 12.
C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani: A Study of the Sources of the Harleian Collection of Manuscripts in the British Museum (London: British Museum, 1972), pp. 120-121.
Hermann J. Hallauer, 'Habent sua fata libelli. Von der Mosel zur Themse: Handschriften des St. Nikolaus-Hospitals in der Bibliotheca Harleiana', Mitteilungen und Forschungsbeiträge der Cusanus-Gesellschaft, 17 (1986), 21-56 (p. 36 n. 115).
S. Krämer and M. Bernhard, Mittelalterliche Bibliothekskataloge Deutschlands und der Schweiz. Ergänzungsband 1. Handschriftenerbe des deutschen Mittelalters, 2 vols. (Munich, 1989), I, p. 159.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)