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Harley MS 3808

Record Id:

040-002049641

Hierarchy Root Ancestor Record Id:

036-002049631

MDARK:

ark:/81055/vdc_100000000807.0x00013d

LARK:

SLARK:

Format:

ISAD(G)

Reference (shelfmark):

Harley MS 3808

Title:

Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen XIX-XXII

Scope & Content:

The manuscript is the tenth 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 commantary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen XIX-XXII. Avicenna's text: table of contents rubric (f. 1r) 'Fen xix.^e tercii de dispositionibus vesice / et urine sunt duo tractatus', incipit: 'Tractatus primus de dispositionibus / vesice est', explicit: 'Capitulum .xxii. de cura', rubric 'Tractatus primi de dispositionibus / vesice sunt xxvii. capitula / Capitulum primum de anathomia vesice', main text incipit: 'Quemadmodum / deus excelsus / creavit feci / vasa aggre/gativa', explicit (ff. 246v-247r): 'Et ex exemplaris / eius sunt nenuphar et oleum / et ficus decocte coniunctim et singulariter'. Commentary: incipit (f. 1v): 'Quemadmodum deus. In hoc / capitulo primo agit de utilitate ve/sice', explicit (f. 247r): 'et ultimum de sanguine mortuo sub ungue / repetens que hic dixit. // Expletus est tractatus secundus de doloribus / horum membrorum Et cum ipsius complemento / completur fen xxij … Ego Jacobus despars de tornaco natus / magister in medicina parisius exposui ad longum totum primum librum canonis avicenne / et totum tercii Et prima fen quarti Incipiens / anno domini ml^occcc^oxxxij. Et finiens anno / liij quarta die augusti … Hunc scripturis meis finem / ultimum imponens sic iugiter imprecor fontem / omnis communioni summam deitatem', followed by a prayer in French verse that does not appear in the printed edition 'Prince du monde redempteur / Aceulz ton paradis otry … pour arquerir ioie sans fin'.

The text corresponds to Fen XIX (ff. 1r-50v), XX (ff. 50v-100r), XXI (ff. 100v-202r), XXII (ff. 202v-247r), preceded by tables of contents (ff. 1r, 50v, 100r-100v, 202v).

Decoration:

Four 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: 'Q'(uemadmodum) of a physician receiving a patient (f. 1r); 'S'(ubliminis) of a physician examining his patient's penis (f. 50v); 'D'(ico) of a physician examining a pregnant woman (f. 100v); 'O'(portet) of a physician examining his patient's stomach (f. 202v). The historiated initials are in the style of the Master of Jacques de Besançon. Puzzle initials in red and blue (ff. 90v, 132r, 160v, 218r). 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
040-002049641

Is part of:

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

Harley MS 3808 : Jacques Despars, Commentary on Avicenna, Canon Medicinae, Book 3, Fen XIX-XXII

Hierarchy:

032-002045828[3800]/036-002049631[0010]/040-002049641

Container:

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

Record Type (Level):

File

Extent:

284 folios.

Digitised Content:

http://www.bl.uk/manuscripts/FullDisplay.aspx?ref=Harley_MS_3808 (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. iv + 248 (the flyleaves include 2 parchment leaves pasted onto paper leaves and 2 modrn paper flyleaves; f. 248 is an original lower parchment pastedown). Modern foliation in pencil '1-248' (including last flyleaf as f. 248; f. 247v blank).

Collation: i-xx¹², xxi⁸.

Layout: Pricked from recto 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. 248r and bearing the title 'Expositio domini Jacobi despars / in tercij canonis Avicenne / fen xix. xx. xj. et xxij', late 15th century (f. 248r).

No. '205' (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. 1).

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.10 / 3808', and '2/III E' in pencil (f. ii recto).

Material Type:

Archives and Manuscripts

Legal Status:

Not Public Record(s)