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Harley MS 3805

Record Id:

040-002049638

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

036-002049631

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x00013a

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3805

Title:

Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen IV-XII

Scope & Content:

The manuscript is the seventh 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 IV-XII. Avicenna's text: seven verses (f. 1r) 'Aure melos capimus nostre precepta salutis … O pars digna suo tot prebens munera toti', table of contents 'Fen quarte tercij que est de aure et egri/tudinibus eius sunt xxv. capitula', incipit: 'Capitulum primum de anathomia auris', explicit: 'Capitulum .xxv. de terrore auris ex vocibus', rubric 'Fen quarte tercij de dispositionibus auris / sunt capitula xxv. / Capitulum primum de anathomia auris', main text incipit: 'Auris est mem/brum creatum / auditui', explicit (f. 344r): 'alharon et galle immature aggre/gentur cum melle'. Commentary: incipit (f. 1v): 'Auris est. In hoc capitulo primo agit / de officio et compositione auris', explicit (f. 344r): 'fun/datam papillam suggendo fortiter exterius / trahere // Explicit fen xii.a tercij canonis / avicenne Sint deo gratie'. The text corresponds to Fen IV (ff. 1r-33v), V (ff. 34r-72v), VI (ff. 73r-97v), VII (ff. 97v-121v), VIII (ff. 121v-128v), IX (ff. 128v-156r), X (ff. 157r-284v), XI (ff. 285r-333r), XII (ff. 333r-344r), preceded by tables of contents (ff. 1r, 33v, 72v, 97v, 121v, 128v, 156v, 285r, 333r).

Decoration:

9 large historiated initials in blue or red with white tracery and spray borders in colours and gold with foliate tendrils, small leaves, flowers and berries: 'A'(uris) of a physician examining his patient's ear (f. 1r); 'C'(um) of a physician examining his patient's nose (f. 34r); 'O'(s) of a physician examining his patient's lips (f. 73r); 'I'(am) of a physician examining his patient's teeth (f. 97v); 'D' of a physician examining the throat of a kneeling patient (f. 121v); 'D' of a physician examining his patient's neck (?) (f. 128v); 'C'(anna) of a physician examining a naked patient (f. 157r), 'C'(or) of a physician holding a heart (f. 285r); 'M'(amulla) of a physician examining female patient (f. 333r).

Puzzle initials in red and blue (ff. 58v, 205r, 229r, 256v). 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
040-002049638

Is part of:

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

Harley MS 3805 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen IV-XII

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3800]/036-002049631[0007]/040-002049638

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

345 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3805 (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:

Physical Characteristics:

Materials: Parchment codex.

Dimensions: 400 x 280 mm (text space: 285 x 180 mm).

Foliation: ff. vi + 1* + 344 (+ 1 unfoliated parchment flyleaf after f. 1* and 2 unfoliated ruled blank leaves after f. 344; f. 1* is the original upper parchment pastedown; the flyleaves include 2 unfoliated original parchment flyleaves and 4 modern paper flyleaves). Modern foliation in pencil '1-344' (including the front pastedown as f. 1*; f. 344v is blank).

Collation: i-xxviii¹², xxix¹⁰, with traces of two quire signatures (see f. 207r).

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 pasted onto f. 1*r and bearing the title 'Expositio domini Jacobi despars / in tercii canonis avicenne fen / quarta quinta sexta septima / octava nona decima undecima / et duodecima', late 15th century (f. 1*r).

No. '202' (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.7 / 3805', and '2/III E' in pencil (f. ii recto).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)