Mellon MS 4

 ANONYMOUS
 Medical and Alchemical Recipes, in Italian
 North Italy (Genoa?), unsigned, about 1385

Parchment codex. 145 x 113, ff. 70, correctly numbered in ink in a later
hand, of 72 originally, the final 2 ff. cut away. Collation: (1-8)^^8,
(9)^^8-2. No signatures, catchwords at quire-endings within penwork frames;
each leaf faintly ruled in plumbate with single bordering lines right and
left, 93 x 76, 20 lines to the page throughout, no headlines; pricking fully
preserved; neatly written by one scribe in a rotunda (littera Bononiensis)
with some admixture of Gothicoantiqua forms; minimal abbreviation, standard
forms; red ink for capitals and headings for most procedures, dark brown or
blackish ink for the remainder; faint guide letters for capitals in margins
are frequent; rare correction, occasional words written marginally in a
contemporary Rotunda plus a few sixteenth-century scribbles, mostly smudged;
parchment of irregular thickness with some holes, a few repaired by
stitching.

BINDING: Bound ca. 1500 in North Italian dark brown calf over thick, beveled
wooden boards, sides triple-framed with multiple blind fillets, a ribbon of
interlaced ropework inside the outermost frame, irregular knotwork ornament
in center of each cover, five brass nailhead studs on each cover, chased
brass catch on lower cover, trace of clasp on upper; back with two raised
bands decorated with blind fillets (back and hinges restored), modern leather
label.

PROVENANCE: Belonged, perhaps originally, to Maestro Chirico di Maestro
Michele da Doreno, goldbeater of Genoa, ownership inscription on front
pastedown; ca. 1550 to Cosimo del manistero di Sosunno (?), blurred
inscription in lower margin of f. 65r; ca. 1930 to Joseph Martini
(bookseller), Lugano, with his pencil collation note and price on front
flyleaf, recto; Denis Duveen, acquired from H. P. Kraus, Inc. (bookseller),
New York, with his inked number 4; Mellon MS 91, acquired with the Duveen
collection. De Ricci-Bond 21 (91).

CONTENTS

Pastedown: [Written in an informal cursive, brown ink:] Ihs [?] | Questo
libro e di Maestro Chirico de Maestro michele da | doreno battiloro genovese
| [The handwriting may date 1375-1425. This leaf, conjugate with the flyleaf
following, covers and is glued down to the original pastedown and has not
been lifted.]

Flyleaf, recto: [Collation note signed by Joseph Martini, cost code, price,
and circled "33," all in modern pencil. Verso blank.]

f. 1r, 1: Alpanno delliocchi. | BAttitura doro rimuove il panno deliocchi |
Contra elefanciam. cioe una specie dilebo- | ra. Battitura doro vale data
incibo o- | vero inbeveraggio:... [These recipes are followed by short
descriptions of the remedial properties of various fruits, nuts, etc., all
unidentified, ending f. 33v, 8; f. 33v, 9:] Collirio docchi che lavoro beata
theodora ma- | dre di sancto Cosma, et damiano. Ad cacciare | angni [sic]
obscurita docchi et aricevere veduta | et dimostrare occhi belli. Toj laruta
et lara- | dice del fincchio... [Followed by other specifics against eye
trouble. Ends f. 34r, 17; f. 34r, 17:] A fare stella nella fronte | del
cavallo. Dovetu vuoi fare la stella | bagna prima con aqua... [Followed by
various horse remedies. Ends f. 36r, 4; f. 36r, 4:] Setu vuoi li | levare [?]
lo sparviero deipidocchi. Toi un nodo | di querza chesia nato quello anno...
[A group of miscellaneous, unidentified recipes, for removal of oil or grease
from cloth or paper, to make two white waters, to make a depilatory, etc.
Ends f. 37r, 17; f. 37r, 17:] Ala obscurita digliochi: | Ungi liocchi di
grasso divolpe... [A long series of unidentified recipes, mostly very short,
for the eyes, teeth, etc. Ends f. 54v, 9; f. 54v, 9:] Ca- | pitolo
inconservazione et tutela al dolore dele | giunture et flegma et collera. |
SE la matera sera flegmaticha... [A longer recipe, followed by four other
rather long procedures, then several miscellaneous shorter ones, including a
group relating to the hair. Ends f. 62r, 11; f. 62r, 12:] Capitolo del
filosopho Hermes. nellerba | overo arbore che detta burith. overo bo- | risa.
overo lunario. overo lunaticha. | BOrith nascie senza foglie... [Ends f. 63r,
11:] Questa sitruova a | bologna almonte delaguardia. et a vero- | na.
nellalpi. nelluogo che detto campo | dabraham. et in romagna abrettinoro. |
et incarfagnana. inellalpi [sic] cheve unca- | stello. Deo gracias. | [Since
Bologna heads the list of places where the plant is to be found, and because
an actual place in the town is indicated, this text may be of Bolognese
origin; f. 63r, 16:] Ad fondere il cristallo | Adri il taso solo adla
fiamma... [followed by procedures for blue, green, topaz, and garnet glass,
plus one for making glass "run." Ends f. 64r, 14; f. 64r, 15 ] Ad fare acquai
ardente. | Toi taso dottimo vino... [followed by miscellaneous recipes and
specifics, closing with three formulae for making ink. Ends f. 70v, 13:]
Explicit. Deo gracias. | [Writing erased below the explicit has not been
read; on the end pastedown are two notes in cursive writing of the period of
the manuscript, perhaps part of a recipe, and modern pencil marks, perhaps by
Joseph Martini.]
 [Anonymous (with the exception of two short recipes attributed in the text
to St. Theodora and Hermes), Medical and alchemical recipes, in Italian, none
identified in the literature consulted.]

SUMMARY: The whole text has been written consecutively without any
demarcation of the divisions supplied here. The extremely miscellaneous
contents of the codex suggest that it was a personal compilation, possibly of
a goldbeater (like its probable second owner, whose inscription on the front
pastedown has been transcribed above). Mundane, practical matters are dealt
with, including remedies for various human and equine ailments, as well as
recipes useful in preparing varicolored glass, acids, and inks. However, a
mystical element is introduced with the remedy for eye trouble ascribed to
Theodora, mother of the martyred physicians Saints Cosmas and Damian; and a
hint of alchemy is suggested by the unidentified chapter attributed to Hermes
in the text describing "burith" or "borisa," apparently the moneywort, to
which supernatural virtues are ascribed. Even into this early vernacular
manuscript, then, devoted as it is to home remedies and practical chemical
processes, the mystical, cryptic elements of alchemy have been
introduced.