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Harley MS 3800

Record Id:

040-002049633

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

036-002049631

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000135

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3800

Title:

Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna Canon Medicinae, Book 1, Fen IV

Scope & Content:

The manuscript is the fourth volume of the 11-volume set containing the commentary by Jacques Despars (c. 1380-1458) on 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).

The volume includes the commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 1, Fen IV. Avicenna's text: table of contents rubric (f. 1r) 'Fen quarte de modis universalibus medicacionum / egritudinum sunt .xxxi. capitula', incipit 'Capitulum primum est sermo universalis in medicando', explicit: 'Capitulum .xxxi. a quibus medicamentibus est nobis / incipiendum', rubric 'Fen quarta primi canonis est de divisione / modorum medicacionum secundum egritudi/nes universales cuius sunt xxxi. capitula / Capitulum primum est sermo / universalis in medicando', main text incipit: 'Dicemus quod / res medica/cionis ex / una trium / rerum com/pletur', explicit (f. 174r): 'cui sint / grates secundum ipsius innumera/biles misericordias. Amen'. Commentary: incipit (f. 1r): 'Dicemus quod res. In hoc capitulo primo dividitur / modum medicationis in tres', explicit (f. 174r): 'innumerabiles misericordias amen // Explicit liber primus canonis / avicenne cum commento ipsius / Sint gratie humiles et laus altissimo'. Table of contents (f. 1r).

Decoration:

One large historiated initial in blue with white tracery and spray border in colours and gold with foliate tendrils, small leaves and flowers: 'D'(icemus) of a doctor in an ermine coat, seated at a canopied lectern and lecturing two pupils at a desk in a large hall (f. 1r). The historiated initial is in the style of the Master of Jacques de Besançon. Diagrams (ff. 111r, 123v-124r, 126v-127r). Initials and paraphs in alternating blue and red. Sentence initials touched in yellow. Rubrics in red throughout. Marginal notes including anthropomorphic letters (ff. 61r, 137v). Added Gui II Arbaleste's arms and motto 'Ingenium superat vires' in the lower margin (f. 1r).

Collection Area:

Western Manuscripts

Project / Collection:

Harley Collection
Harley Science Project

Hierarchy Record Ids:

032-002045828
036-002049631
040-002049633

Is part of:

Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MSS 3799-3809 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae.

Harley MS 3800 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna Canon Medicinae, Book 1, Fen IV

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3800]/036-002049631[0002]/040-002049633

Container:

View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

174 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3800 (digital images currently unavailable)

Thumbnail:

Languages:

Latin

Scripts:

Latin

Start Date:

1475

End Date:

1475

Date Range:

1475

Era:

Access:

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User Conditions:

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Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment codex

Dimensions: 385 x 290 mm (text space: 285 x 180 mm).

Foliation: ff. iv + 1* + 174 (+ five unfoliated ruled blank leaves after f. 174 one of which fragmentary; f. 1* is the original pastedown). Modern foliation in pencil '1*, 1-174' (including first flyleaf as f. 1*; f. 174v ruled but blank).

Collation: i-xiv¹², xv^12-1 (xii cancelled). Traces of pricking (from recto) on ff. 30-31. Large historiated initial (13 lines; f. 1) with marginal extensions. Diagrams (ff. 110, 123v-124, 126v-127). Marginal notes including small anthropomorphic letters (ff. 61, 137v).

Layout: Pricked from recto (see ff. 30r-31r), and ruled in red ink (single vertical bounding lines, with extra double vertical and horizontal lines in the margins) for double columns of 65 lines. Text written below top line.

Script: Gothic hybrid.

Binding: British Museum/British Library binding with the Harley arms and motto gilt at the centre of the covers.

Custodial History:

Origin: France (Paris). The manuscript belongs to a set of 11 volumes (Harley MS 3799-3809) completed on 22 Dec. 1475 (see Harley 3809, f. 284r).

Provenance:

Leather label from the original binding pasted onto f. 1*v and bearing the title 'Expositio fen quarte primi canonis / avicenne domini Jacobi des pars' followed by 'Invent. iiij' added by a different hand, late 15th century (f. 1*v).

No. '199' (old shelfmark?) in brown ink at the lower right corner of f. ii recto.

Gui II Arbaleste (d. 1570), counsellor in the Parliament of Paris and bibliophile: his arms and motto 'Ingenium superat vires' (f. 1, lower border).

Pierre Séguier (index Seguier) (b. 1588, d. 1672), count of Gien, chancellor of France from 1635 (see Wright and Wright 1966, Wright 1972).

Andrew Hay (d. 1754?), dealer: sold to Edward Harley together with other manuscripts from the Séguier collection on 5 September 1720 (see Wright and Wright 1966, Wright 1972).

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 ‘5 Septembris, 1720’ (unfoliated flyleaf before 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 '120.C.2 / 3800', and '2/III E' in pencil (f. ii recto).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)