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Harley MS 3804
- Record Id:
- 040-002049637
- Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:
- 036-002049631
- MDARK:
- ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x000139
- LARK:
- SLARK:
- Format:
- ISAD(G)
- Reference (shelfmark):
- Harley MS 3804
- Title:
-
Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen II-III
- Scope & Content:
-
The manuscript is the sixth 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 3, Fen II-III. Avicenna's text: 3 verses (f. 1r) 'Dan horum nervi robur sentire moveri / psallere gignere par praxis genus omne loquelam / Quorum signa mala causas curas docet hec fen', table of contents 'Fen secunde tercii de egritudinibus nervorum / sunt novemdecima capitula', incipit: 'Capitulum primum de egritudinibus nervorum in generali', explicit: 'Capitulum .xix. de cura eius', rubric 'Fen 2e tercij de dispositionibus / nervorum sunt capitula xix. / Capitulum / primum est de passionibus nervorum in generali', main text incipit: 'Nervorum quidem / ipsorum originem / et divisiones', explicit (f. 167r): 'et mellilotum et ca/momilla et similia'. Commentary: incipit (f. 2r): 'Nervorum quidem. In hoc capitulo primo agit / de traditis alibi super re nervorum', explicit (f. 167r): 'apponere oculis calefacientia / cum modica stipticitate/ Deo gratias // Explicit expositio tercie fen / tercij canonis avicenne'. The text corresponds to Fen ii (ff. 1r-54) and Fen iii (ff. 54v-167r) and includes (ff. 1r, 54r-54v) two tables of contents.
Decoration:
Decorated borders and two large historiated initials (13 lines; ff. 1, 54v). Puzzle initials (5 lines; ff. 92v, 125, 141) in red and blue, marking the beginning of treatises. Round diagrams (f. 61v).
- Collection Area:
- Western Manuscripts
- Project / Collection:
- Harley Collection
Harley Science Project - Hierarchy Record Ids:
- 032-002045828
036-002049631
040-002049637 - Is part of:
- Harley MS 1-7661 : Harley Manuscripts
Harley MSS 3799-3809 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae.
Harley MS 3804 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen II-III - Hierarchy:
- 032-002045828[3800]/036-002049631[0006]/040-002049637
- Container:
- View / search within Archive / Collection: Harley MS 1-7661
- Record Type (Level):
- File
- Extent:
-
167 folios.
- Digitised Content:
- http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3804 (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:
- Letter of introduction required to view this manuscript
- Physical Characteristics:
-
Materials: Parchment codex.
Dimensions: 400 x 280 mm (text space: 285 x 180 mm).
Foliation: ff. iv + 1* + 167 (the flyleaves include 2 parchment leaves pasted onto a paper leaf and 2 modern paper leaves; 1* is the original parchment upper pastedown). Modern foliation in pencil '1*, 1-167' (including first front flyleaf as f. 1*; f. 167v blank).
Collation: i-xiv12.
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 / secunda et tercia', late 15th century (f. 1*v).
No. '201' (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. 1r, 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.6 / 3804', and '2/III E' in pencil (f. ii recto).
- Publications:
- A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum, 4 vols (London: Eyre and Strahan, 1808-12), II (1808), nos. 3799-3809.
- Material Type:
- Archives and Manuscripts
- Legal Status:
- Not Public Record(s)