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Harley MS 3803
- Record Id:
- 040-002049636
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 036-002049631
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000138
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3803
- Title:
-
Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen I
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript is the fifth volume of the 11-volume 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 3, Fen I. Avicenna's text: four verses (f. 1r) 'Sancta sedes anime caput est ratione fruentis / Particulas cuius docet hec fen et utilitates / Causas signa mala quibus obviat atque medelas / Dignior obiecto quid presidet in microcosmo', table of contents rubric 'Liber tercius canonis abohali abvicem / de egritudinibus particularibus membrorum / tocius corporis a capite usque ad pedes continet / xxii fen', incipit: 'Fen prima de egritudinibus capitis et causis / et signis et curis earum continet .v. tractatus', explicit (f. 1v): 'Capitulum .xiii. de cura eius', rubric 'Capitulum primum tractati primi fen prime / tercii est de utilitate capitis et partibus ipsius', main text incipit: 'Inquit gal[ienus] / intentio in / creando caput', explicit (f. 259v): 'evacuationem euacu/antes ex materia faciente ipsas proprie'. Commentary: incipit (f. 2r): 'Inquit galienus. In hoc capitulo primo / agit de causa creationis capitis', explicit (f. 260r): 'velo/cis digestionis subtiliative hec serapion // Explicit fen prima / tercii canonis avicenne'. A table of contents (ff. 1r-1v).
Decoration:
One large historiated initial in blue with white tracery and spray border in colours and gold with foliate tendrils, small leaves, flowers and berries: 'I'(nquid) of a physician examining patient's head (f. 1v). Puzzle initials in red and blue (ff. 62v, 114r, 151v, 208r). Initials and paraphs in alternating blue and red. Sentence initials touched in yellow. Rubrics in red throughout.
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Harley Science Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
036-002049631
040-002049636 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MSS 3799-3809 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae.
Harley MS 3803 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen I - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3800]/036-002049631[0005]/040-002049636
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
260 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3803 (digital images currently unavailable)
- Thumbnail:
-
- Languages:
- Latin
- Scripts:
- Latin
- Start Date:
- 1475
- End Date:
- 1475
- Date Range:
- 1475
- Era:
- CE
- Access:
-
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- User Conditions:
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 395 x 285 mm (text space: 285 x 180 mm).
Foliation: ff. iv + 1* + 260 (+ 1 unfoliated original parchment flyleaf after f. 1*, the four flyleaves include 2 unfoliated original parchment leaves pasted onto paper leaves and 2 modern paper leaves; f. 1* is an original upper pastedown). Modern foliation in pencil '1*, 1-260' (including first flyleaf as f. 1*; f. 260v ruled but blank).
Collation: i-xxi12, xxii8.
Layout: Pricked from recto (see Harley MS 3800, 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:
Parchment label from the original binding glued onto f. 1*v and bearing the title 'Expositio domini Jacobi despars / in tercii canonis avicenne / fen prima', late 15th century (f. 1*v).
No. '200' (old shelfmark?) in brown ink at the lower right corner of f. [2*r].
Gui II Arbaleste (d. 1570), counsellor in the Parliament of Paris and bibliophile: his arms and motto 'Ingenium superat vires' (f. 1v, superimposed within decorated 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.5 / 3803', and '2/III E' in pencil (f. ii recto).
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)