Pseudo-Serapion, Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus, in Italian, imperfect at the end
Pseudo-Serapion, Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus, in Italian translation, copied on paper, in Italy, Veneto, mid 15th century; imperfect at the end and possibly also wanting a supplementary quire at the beginning [index] as suggested by the lack of quire signature 'a'. The Italian text is an anonymous translation of a pharmacological text in Latin. The latter was in fact a translation made around 1290 by Simon Januensis (Simon of Genoa) and Abraham ben Shem-Tob of Tortosa (Abraham Iudaeus Tortuosensis or Abraham of Tortosa) of a 13th-century Arabic treatise on simple drugs, traditionally attributed to a Pseudo-Serapion (also known as Serapion the Younger). The Arabic original has been recently identified as the Kitab al-Adwiya al-mufrada (Book on Simple Drugs) by the Arab physician Ibn Wafid (d. 1067) of Toledo: see P. Dilg, 'The Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus of Pseudo-Serapion: An Influential Work of Medical Arabism', in Islam and the Italian Renaissance, ed. C. Burnett and A. Contadini (London: The Warburg Institute, 1999), pp. 221-31, with bibliography on Simon of Genoa and Abraham ben Shem-Tob; P. E. Pormann, 'Yuhanna ibn Sarabiyun: Further Studies into the Transmission of his Works', Arabic Sciences and Philosophy, 14 (2004), pp. 233-62 (pp. 236-8). The treatise discusses pharmacological simples and their medicinal properties combining information provided by Dioscorides and Galen and various Arab authorities. The text is divided in two parts: in the first part the simples are classified according to their medicinal properties, whereas the second lists 462 simples according to their origin: vegetal, mineral or animal, with each cathegory organised in alphabetical order. Ibn Wafid's original Arabic text survives imperfect in a single manuscript, now San Lorenzo de El Escorial, Real Biblioteca del Monasterio de San Lorenzo de El Escorial, and a number of fragments: see Ibn Wafid (m. 460/1067). Kitab al-Adwiya al-mufrada (Libro de los medicamentos simples), trans. and ed. by L. F. Aguirre de Cárcer with notes and glossary, 2 vols (Madrid: Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas, 1995), with an introduction on Ibn Wafid and his works in vol. 1, pp. 21-33. For the Latin text, see eTK, A digital resource based on Lynn Thorndike and Pearl Kibre, A Catalogue of Incipits of Medieval Scientific Writings in Latin (Cambridge, MA: Mediaeval Academy, 1963; with supplements in 1965 and 1968; online at https://medievalacademy.site-ym.com/?page=Books#etk), no. 1077G. For Simon Januensis (Simon of Genoa) (fl. 1288-1303), subdeacon of Pope Nicolaus IV, 'capellanus medicus' and canon of Rouen, and his works, see Mirabile (http://www.mirabileweb.it/author/simon-ianuensis-fl-saec-xiii-post-med--author/19643, and http://www.mirabileweb.it/title/de-simplicibus-title/5567; accessed on 1 October 2016) and Text-inc Person Index (http://textinc-person.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/catalog/4978; accessed on 1 October 2016); for Abraham Iudaeus Tortuosensis (fl. end of 13th century) and his works, see C.A.L.M.A. Compendium Auctorum Latinorum Medii Aevi, ed. M. Lapidge and others (Firenze: Sismel, 2000-), vol. 1 (2003), p. 9, and Mirabile (http://www.mirabileweb.it/title/de-simplicibus-title/3124; accessed on 1 October 2016). The Latin text was printed for the first time in Milan by Antonius Zarotus, 4 August 1473 (ISTC is00467000) and again in Venice by Reynaldus de Novimagio, 8 June 1479 (ISTC is00468000), and Bonetus Locatellus, for Octavianus Scotus, 16 December 1497 (ISTC is00466000, together with other medical and pharmacological texts by Serapion the Elder, Galen, Johannes Platearius and Matthaeus Platearius). A fragment of the beginning of Part I of the Latin text, can be found in Wellcome MS. 536, ff. 65r, column 1, line 48, - 66v, column 2, last line. Contents: ff. 1r-266v: Pseudo-Serapion, Liber aggregatus in medicinis simplicibus, in Italian translation, imperfect, breaking in the middle of Part II, chapter 451, 'Grassi e sugnacci' [corresponding to the 'De pinguedine et adipe' chapter in the Latin version]. f. 1r, column 1: Prologue, Incipit: [rubric in red] Inome [sic] di dio e della gloriosa uer-gine madre madonna sancta maria e di tutta la corte di uita eterna amen. Qui incomincia il- [sic] glorioso libro del sarapione delle me-dicine senplici [sic] raccolto e traslatato [sic] dassimone giannensis cioe da noi interpretato abus mam giudeo tortuensis de lingua Latina. prolago [end of rubric] / [P]Ooi [sic] che io uidi il libro di Diascorides el libro di Galieno raccolti nelle medicine senprici [sic] sopra questo quello che e necessario dalla loro sciença ... f. 2v, column 1, lines 13-18: Prologue, Explicit: E ordinai li loro capitoli secon-do lalfabeto arabico. Addio per pieta-de adomando aiutorio sopra lo suo gran-de uigore e sopra la sua grande lau-de. incominciando la prima parte di questo libro. f. 2v, column 1, line 19: Part I, Incipit: [rubric in red] Qui comincia la prima parte di questo libro sermone della sustançia delle medicine. E prima delle medicine di sub-tile sustançia. [end of rubric] / [L]E medicine di sottile substançia anno [sic] natura solamente per loro ... f. 25v, column 2, lines 2-4: Part I, Explicit: ... Se alcune sono di piante e di metalli. e delle naturali. col laiuto di-dio. f. 25v, column 2, line 4: Part II, Incipit: [rubric in red] Qui comincia la seconda parte del libro Serapione nelle medicine senpliti [sic] sermone par-ticulare in ciascuna Medicina della diuisione. delle medicine di tre generaçioni [end of rubric] / [line 10] [I]n primo chelle medicine si diuidono in tre parti la prima delle quali e delle medicine che si prendono di metalli. e di pietre ... Transposition of text on ff. 26v-27v, corresponding to chapters 2 ('Mace'), 3 ('Chapello venero et chiamasi coriandro de poçço'), 4 ('Sparago di pietra .1. Alyon.c.c.'), and part of chapter 5 on oil ('De ulivo dimestico e delle ulive sue'; 'Morchia dolio'), due to a mistake by the scribe who signalled it with notes in the upper margins and red maniculae to the left of the first lines of ff. 26v and 27v respectively; the correct sequence of text is as follows: f. 26r, f. 27v, ff. 26v-27r, f. 28r. ff. 265r, column 2, lines 2-3, - 266v, column 2, line 38: Part II, chapter 451, beginning and breaking at f. 266v: [f. 265r] [rubric in red] Grassi e sugnacci [end of rubric] / [S]Euini Vrbacim .1. grasso essugnaccio Galieno dice che quando lanimale e humido ... [f. 266v] poi lo metti nel uaso e cuocilo nel uino odoroso di quella medesima quan-[titade] ...
1 volume On paper. Watermarks: 1) ecclesiastical hat, wide, but short string, with head end delimited by means of outline of brim (height 55 mm; width 42 mm; distance between chainlines 61 mm) in quire 1: no identical match in Piccard; similar in design, but not in measures to Briquet 3387 (height 53 mm, width 58 mm, distance between chainlines 66 mm; Florence, 1465; variants: Venice, 1464-1473, Siena, 1465-1469 etc); 2) ecclesiastical hat, wide, but short string, with head end delimited by means of outline of brim (height 58 mm; width 48 mm; distance between chainlines 57 mm) in quires 2-5 and 15-19: similar in design, but not in measures to Piccard 31974 and 31975 (Central Italy, 1465), and Briquet 3387 (see above); 3) ladder (height 60 mm; width 21 mm; distance between chainlines 55 mm) in quires 6-14 and 20-27: similar in design, but not in measures to Piccard 122756 (height 61 mm; width 27 mm; distance between chainlines 65 mm; Venice, 1471) and Briquet 5904 (height 58 mm; width 19 mm; Venice, 1451) and 5908 (height 54 mm; width 19 mm; Rome, 1457-1461). 266 leaves, plus one parchment flyleaf at the beginning; foliation '1-266' in black ink, late 15th or early 16th century, followed here. 341 x 238 mm; written space 250/258 x 159/160 mm; ruled for two columns, in light brown ink, in single vertical bounding lines, 37 horizontal ruled lines for 38 written lines (above top ruled line) to the column, three pricking holes (one in the upper margin to the left of the inner left vertical bounding line, two in the lower margin, the first in the lower left corner and the second just below the last line of script either to the left or to the right of the right vertical bounding line; all applied from the recto of leaves). Collation: 18, 2-610, 78, 8-2710; with parchment sewing guards at centre of quires; alpha-numerical quire signatures 'b1-b3'-'z1-z5', '[et]1-[et]5', '[con]1-[con]5', '[rum]1-[rum]5', '2a1-6a5', '2b1-6b5' in brown ink in the lower right corner of rectos of quires, with peculiar sequence in the last two quires; quires 8 and 9 show double signatures, with out-of-sequence signatures 'b1-b5' and 'c1-c5' alongside the correct ones 'j1-j5' and 'k1-k5'; catchwords supplied in different style by each of the six scribes of the manuscript. Secundo folio: [I]Npercio che Written by six different, but contemporary Gothic cursive hands, some making use of some humanistic letter forms; scribe 1: ff. 1r-29r, line 4: confident cursive Gothic bookhand, supplying horizontal catchwords at centre of the space below the second column in the lower-margin, within decorative frame in red ink (see ff. 8v, 18v, 28v), written space 252/256 x 159/160 mm, 38 written lines (above top ruled line); scribe 2: ff. 29r, line 4, -37r: heavy hand mixing Gothic and humanistic features (such as uncial and caroline d; g with open and closed lower bow), 37 written lines (below top ruled line); scribe 3: ff. 37v-58v: small and upright formal humanistic hand with some Gothic features (such as g with open lower bow), supplying a catchword descending vertically below the written lines to the right of the inner right vertical bounding line (f. 38v), written space 250 x 159/160 mm, 37 horizontal ruled lines, 36/37 written lines (either above or below top ruled line), rubrics in pink rather than red, often written at the centre of the line when short, and paragraph marks in the same pink ink; scribe 4: ff. 59r-66v: a confident, regular and elegant Gothic chancery bookhand (cancelleresca libraria), with some elements from mercantesca script (see groups 'che', 'cho'), supplying a horizontal catchword in the lower right corner (f. 66v), written space 257 x 159 mm, 37 written lines (below top ruled line), rubrics in brick-red; scribe 5: ff. 65r-96v: a Gothic cursive hand, with some elements from mercantesca script (see groups 'che', 'cho'), irregular in size and ductus, supplying horizontal catchwords in the lower right corner of leaves, to the immediate right of the inner right vertical bounding line (see ff. 76v, 86r in faint red, 96v cropped), written space 257 x 159 mm, 37 written lines (below top ruled line), rubrics in brick-red; scribe 6: ff. 97r-266v: a square and thin formal humanistic hand, supplying horizontal catchwords at centre of the lower margin within the two vertical bounding lines separating the two columns (see ff. 106v, 266v), written space 257 x 158 mm, written lines 37 (on ff. 97r-136v, below top ruled line) and 38 (on ff. 137r-266v, above top ruled line), rubrics in brick-red. Four-line ornamental initial 'P' on f. 1r, in foliate design of pink, yellow, green and blue on ground of gold, the bow of the letter filled with a three-leaf decoration in pink and purple against a ground of blue highlighted in white, foliate decoration extending into the inner margin, terminating in small coloured leaves and gold bezants on black sprays; decorated frame, in pink with decorative highlighting in brown within a laurel wreath with blue and pink ribbon, for coat-of-arms (never inserted) in the bas-de-page of f. 1r; two-line (but occasionally three-line as on ff. 91r-93r) initials in alternating red and blue, with contrasting pen-flourished decoration in purple and red with small guide-letters to their left throughout; rubrics in red or pink (ff. 37v-58v). Marginal notes supplied in black ink by the scribe and maniculae in red to the left of the first lines of text on ff. 26v and 27v highlighting the transposition of text due to scribal error. Peculiar marginal maniculae in light brown ink on ff. 40v, 136r, 150r and 151r, and rubric also in light brown ink in the inner margin of f. 158r supplied by a contemporary reader; no other marginal annotation or nota signs. Binding: blind-tooled dark brown leather (goat skin?) over wooden boards (beech), slightly bevelled along inner edges, sewn on four double-split alum-tawed-skin spine-bands, with traces of endbands with alum-tawed-skin core, parchment upper pastedown and conjoint flyleaf, square grooves at the fore-edge of the upper board for two straps for fastening clasps (all wanting) secured with three round-headed metal rivets (wanting), traces of trilobate shaped metal catches secured by three metal nails (all wanting) at the fore-edge of lower board, traces of round corner- and centre-bosses, Italy, Veneto, 3rd quarter of the 15th century; spine leather partially wanting and with signs of old parchment repairs.
Materia Medica; Medicine, Arabic; Botany
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Format: Archive, Institution: n/a, Identifier: b19645946, Digicode: digwms, Collection code: MS.746