Harley MS 5286

Collection of Medical Texts; 2nd half of 14th cent. Latin. Copies. A miscellany including surgical and medical treatises by Albucasis (art. 1, ff. 1-54v), Constantinus Africanus (art. 2, ff. 55-68), and Taddeo Alderotti (art. 3, ff. 68v-87v), with additional medical annotations (ff. 87v-88) and recipes (ff. 88v-90). Other medical recipes (ff. 89v-90v) and marginal notes (throughout) added by contemporary and later readers. Previous ownership, and the date and circumstances of the arrival of the MS. in the Harleian collection are unknown. The volume is mentioned in neither C. E. Wright and R. C. Wright, The Diary of Humfrey Wanley (London, 1966), nor in C. E. Wright, Fontes Harleiani (London, 1972). Owned by Edward Harley (1689-1741), 2nd earl of Oxford and Mortimer, book collector and patron of the arts, and possibly by his father Robert Harley (1661-1724), 1st earl of Oxford and Mortimer, politician. Bequeathed with the Harleian library to Edward's widow, countess Henrietta, née Cavendish Holles (1694-1755), during her lifetime and thereafter to their daughter, Margaret Cavendish Bentinck (1715-1785), duchess of Portland. Sold with the other Harley manuscripts 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 Harleian manuscripts became part of the collections of the British Library on its establishment in 1973. Harley shelfmark (f. 1) in light grey ink '142.D.6' followed by '5286' in dark brown ink, and '2/III D' in pencil. The MS. is described in A Catalogue of the Harleian Manuscripts in the British Museum (London, 1808-1812), iii, p. 258. The cataloguing of the MS. was funded by the Wellcome Trust.

Parchment; ff. 90. Modern foliation in pencil ff. '1-90' (followed here; f. 90v originally blank). Sec. fol. (f. 2) 'De suspensione'. circa 270 x 188mm. Gatherings: i-iv⁸, v⁶, vi-xi⁸, xii⁴, with fleshside out and horizontal catchwords in cartouches in the lower margin of last versos. Ruled in ink (single vertical bounding lines, but two horizontal lines in the lower margin and two vertical ones at the foredge) for double columns of 49-57 lines. Texts below top line. Written space varies: - a) ff. 1-56, circa 175-178 x 110-111mm; - b) ff. 56v-71, circa 185 x 112mm; - c) ff. 71v-90, circa 205-208 x 108-130mm. Written in Italy in a minuscule bookhand (Gothica Semitextualis Libraria), possibly by two scribes: a) ff. 1-54v; - b) ff. 55-90; additions on ff. 90-90v by 15th-cent. hands in more current script (Gothica Semitextualis under Cursiva influence); marginalia mostly by a contemporary hand in Italian Cursiva Libraria or Cancelleresca. One large puzzle initial (f. 1; 18 lines) in blue with pen-work decoration in red; large initials (ff. 2, 10v, 44; 5 to 14 lines) in blue with pen-work decoration in red and blue; initials (1-3 lines) alternately blue or red for table of contents (ff. 1-2) and chapters of art. 1 (ff. 2-54v); chapter initials (2-3 lines) in red followed by small initial touched in red for arts. 2-3 (ff. 55-89v). Titles and rubrics in red and paragraph marks in black throughout. Running titles in black marking the beginning of books (ff. 2-3, 11, 43v-44, 55, 68v-69). Drawings (ff. 1-54v) illustrating surgical instruments interspersed in the text of art. 1. Marginal maniculae and brackets in the shape of human profiles added by a medieval reader. Original repair (f. 49) of a parchment flaw; parchment damaged by heat (fire?) in lower margins of ff. 65-90. British Library binding of mottled brown calf over pasteboards with gilt-tooled spine compartments.

Contents as follows:

1. ff. 1-54v. Albucasis, Chirurgia; 14th cent. Latin translation. Copy. A copy of the surgical treatise by Abú Al-Kásim Khalaf 'Abbás Al-Zahráwí (d. circa 1013), known in the West as Albucasis or Als-aharavius, in the Latin translation by Gherardo da Cremona (1113/4- 1187). The treatise was originally written by Albucasis as the last of the thirty in his illustrated summa of medical and surgical practice entitled Kitāb al-Tasrīf. However, its translation by Gerard of Cremona is often copied independently, and had therefore an independent tradition in Western medieval manuscripts. Rubric (f. 1) 'Incipit cyrurgia rasis sive Abocasis', preface inc. 'Incipit cyrurgia Rasis quam / trastulit [sic] gerardus cremo/nensis de arabico in latinum', expl. 'et fractura cranei'; table of contents inc. 'Prima pars cyrugie Rasis / E qualitate nocumenti et iuvamenti cauterii', expl. (f. 2) 'De specibus dislocationis … aut fractura aut contrictione'; rubric 'Cyrurgia Rasis quam trastulit [sic] magister Gerardus cremonensis / de arabico in latinum', introduction inc. 'Postquam complevi / vobis o filij librum / hunc qui est pos/tremus scientie in / medicina', expl. (f. 2v) 'ne nominemini medi/ci mali'; rubric 'De iuvamento et nocumento cauterij', text inc. (f. 2v) 'Et ante quidem quam rememorer illius operationis', expl. (f. 54v) 'et magis salvum / tuo corpori apud illos in tuo tempore. Explicit deo gratias. Amen. Amen'. The text is divided into three books (ff. 2v, 10v, 44), and accompanied by drawings representing the surgical tools described in the text. Mentions of the present MS. in L. Thorndike and P. Kibre, Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin, rev. ed. (London, 1963; The Mediaeval Academy of America Publication, 29; with supplements in 1965 and 1968), p. 1068k; its electronic version on CD-ROM ed. (Ann Arbor, MI, 2000=eTK), no. 1068K. Gerard of Cremona's translation of Albucasis's treatise was printed for the first time by Bonetus Locatellus at Venice for the heirs of Octavianus Scotus on 27 Jan. 1500/1501: see HCR 4813; Klebs, 'Incunabula scientifica …' (1938; repr. 1963), p. 166, no. 497.1; GW 11707; Goff G 564; ISTC ig00564000 [BL copy at 167.d.2(3)], together with treatises by Guy de Chauliac, Hali, and David Armenicus. For an edition of the original text in Arabic with English translation see M. S. Spink and G. L. Lewis, Albucasis. On Surgery and Instruments. A definitive Edition of the Arabic Text with English Translation and Commentary (London, 1973), and its review by E. Savage-Smith, 'Some Sources and Procedures for Editing a Medieval Arabic Surgical Tract', in History of Science, 14, pt. 4, no. 26 (1976), pp. 245-264, with extensive bibliography. For Albucasis and its work see also M. Tabanelli, Albucasi. Un chirurgo arabo dell'Alto Medio Evo…(Firenze, 1961); S. K. Hamarneh and G. Sonnedecker, A Pharmaceutical View of Abulcasis al-Zahrāwī in Moorish Spain (Leiden, 1963); I. A. Nabri, 'El Zahrawi (936-1013AD), the father of operative surgery', Annals of the Royal College of Surgeons of England, 65, no. 2 (1983), pp. 131-134, with further bibliography (in English and Arabic). For Gherardo da Cremona see Dizionario Biografico degli Italiani, 53 (1999), pp. 620-633, with extensive bibliography

2. ff. 55-68. Constantinus Africanus, De regimine stomachi; 14th cent. Latin. Copy. A treatise on the anatomy and disorders of the stomach derived from Arab sources and written by Constantine the African (circa 1020-1098/9), a monk of African origin at Monte Cassino in Italy, who dedicated it to Alfanus, archbishop of Salerno between 1058 and 1085. Constantinus is renowned for a medical compendium entitled Pantegni or Pantechni, an adaptation and translation into Latin of part of the Kitāb Kāmil ('the complete' - or 'perfect' - 'book of the medical art) written before 977-978 by Haly Abbas (Άlī Ibn Al-Άbbās Al-Mağūsī). Title (f. 55) 'Incipit liber Constantini de stomaco', inc. table of contents '1. De stomaci compositione et utilitate', expl. '25. De vomitu et abominatione et causis ipsorum et cura', rubric 'Incipit prohemium libri De stomacho', inc. preface 'Reverendissimo domino salernitane Ecclesie / archiepresuli Constantinus africanus / cassiensis [sic] monachus debite subiectionis / obsequium / Vestre sanctitati altitudini / dilectissime pater confiteor'; rubric 'De stomaco compositione et utilitate', inc. main text 'Oportet nos intelligere quia prima / actio nature que fit in corpore', expl. (f. 68) 'Pisces vero cito corruptioni / obedientes. Similiter et melones et lupi/ni. cepe. Xilocaratte omnia indigestibilia. / Explicit Liber Constantini qui / vocatur de regimine stomaci. Deo gratias. / Amen'. The text is listed in Thorndike and Kibre, A Catalogue… , cit. above, p. 1012j; eTK, no. 1012J, but the present MS. is not mentioned. The text was printed for the first time in Lyon in 1515 (ff. 178r-186v) together with the Opera omnia Ysaac edited by Andrea Thurinus [BL copy at 543.h.1]. For Constantinus see Constantinus Africanus (11th cent.) and his Arabic Sources. Texts and Studies, ed. F. Sezgin (Frankfurt am Main, 1996; Institute for the History of Arabic-Islamic Science, Islamic Medicine, 43); Constantine the African and Άlī Ibn Al-Άbbās Al-Mağūsī. The Pantegni and Related Texts, ed. C. Burnett and D. Jacquart (Leiden, 1994; Studies in Ancient Medicine, 10).

3. ff. 68v-87v. Thadeus de Florentia, Consilia; 14th cent. Latin. Copy. A selection of 33 consilia taken from the collection of 185 consilia or medical recommendations written by Taddeo Alderotti of Florence (1223-1295), professor of medicine at the university of Bologna, and known therefore also as Thadeus de Bononia. Title (f. 68v) 'Incipiunt consilia Magistri Tha/dei de Bononia ad egritudines infrascriptas', marginal rubric 'De debilitate visus / cum materiam', inc. 'Dieta eius sit talis primo enim caveat ab aere / superflue', expl. (ff. 87-87v) 'Cura lepre / Visis signis lepre ad curam cognita / egritudine adcedamus. Cuius quidem cura triplex / est ... vel ad/ponatur ruptorium ex cantaridibus et fermento / Expliciunt consilia Magistri T. De bononia'. With marginalia by a contemporary reader. The MS. is mentioned in Thorndike and Kibre, A Catalogue… , cit. above, p. 428h; eTK, no. 0428H. For editions of the consilia, see T. Alderotti, I 'Consilia, trascritti dai codici Vaticano lat. n. 2418 e Malatestiano D. XXIV', ed. G. M. Nardi (Torino, 1937); Consilia di Taddeo Alderotti. XIII secolo, ed. P. P. Giorgi and G. F. Pasini (Bologna, 1997; Istituto per la Storia dell'università di Bologna, Opere dei Maestri, viii), 95 consilia with Italian translation. Taddeo's text is followed (ff. 87v-88) by two additional notes, inc. 'Nota que corvini morbi triplex est signum Antigonisti/cum. Organicum et medium', expl. 'Sunt ergo in universo .xi. con/siderationes generales adtendende in remotione / discrasie facte'.

4. ff. 88v-90, 90-90v. Medical recipes; 14th cent. Latin. Copies. Forty-five medical recipes for the treatment of eyesight, hæmorrhoids, stones, etc., inc. (f. 88v) 'Collirium ad visium clarificandum et nebulas et / muscas expellendum', expl. (f. 90) 'Potio ad quartanam experta … ad potandum an accensionem .4. uncibus', followed (ff. 89v in the lower margin, 90-90v) by a few more recipes added by other contemporary and later hands.

Medicine and Surgery: Collection of surgical and medical treatises: 14th cent., 2nd half: Lat: Copies.