Mellon MS 11

 ALCHEMICAL MISCELLANY, in Latin
 North Italy, unsigned, about 1450

 11.1 John of Rupescissa. De consideratione quinte essentie.
 11.2 Anonymous. Alchemical verses.
 11.3 Conradus de Hildensee. Versus.

Paper codex in Latin, 8vo., 133 x 103, ff. 40, the last two blank, old pen
foliation partly preserved in lower, outer margins; no signatures, catchwords
written by the scribe in the center of the lower margin of the last leaf,
verso, in quires (1-3) . Collation: (1-4)^^10. Written space approximately
114 x 80, vertical bordering lines only, sometimes in ink and sometimes in
plumbate, single column, 28-34 lines. No headlines, no color except for a
single initial in red on f. 1r, spaces left for capitals with guide-letters.
Heavy abbreviation, standard forms; ink mainly light brown. Written
throughout by a single scribe in a small late-gothic cursive hand. Occasional
notes and underlinings by a coarser and later Italian hand, perhaps the same
which foliated the volume. Watermarks in the folds and trimmed, not
identified.

BINDING: Nineteenth- or twentieth-century binding of black leather, the sides
ruled in blind, the back in compartments, the bands divided by gilt rules,
title lettered in gilt in a compartment: "RER.PHYS. | LIB-ALIQVOT.' The edges
of the binding tooled in gilt with a roll of quatrefoils within lozenges, red
edges, marbled endpapers, the comparatively slight manuscript padded into the
rather thick binding with blank paper, much-used parchment endleaves, perhaps
part of the original binding, preserved.

PROVENANCE: Written by a follower of St. Francis of Assisi, according to the
headline quoted below; early ownership unknown; Denis Duveen, with his
bookplate and inked number 40 inside front endleaf, acquired from Baptiste
Galanti (bookseller), Paris; Mellon MS 115, acquired with the Duveen
collection. De Ricci-Bond 26 (115).

CONTENTS

Front parchment guard leaf: [The leaf seems to have been cut from a document
and the recto has many traces of large capital letters and various scribbles,
plus a modern inked number 3. Verso blank. ]

Flyleaf: [Blank.]

f. 1r, headline: In Nomine domini nostri Yhesu Christi Et beate Virginis
marie et sanctissimi patris mei franciscj Assisij. |

f. 1r, 1: Primus liber de consideratione quinte essentie...

f. 1r, 4: Dixit salomon in libro sapientie capitulo 7. Deus dedit michi
scientiam | veram... [Ends f. 34v, 30:] ... absentia Aqua ardens Et sic est
finis Deo gratias Amen | Ad honorem et laudem omnipotentis dei Amen - |
[Beginning on f. 35r, 1, is a table of chapter headings for both books of the
text just completed, ending f. 36v, 10. Remainder of f. 36v and f. 37r
blank.]
  [11.1: John of Rupescissa, Liber de consideratione quinte essentie, TK 4S8;
DWS 292; T III, pp. 725-730, etc.]

f. 37v, 1: ARtus est hominis que constat sex elementis | Cuj. p[rimum?]. si
addideris .s[ecundum]. in .m[ercurium]. muta bene si scis | [Ends f. 37v,
21:] Ergo sit inuictus. rex omnipotens benedictus. [remainder blank.]
 [11.2: Anonymous, Alchemical verses, unidentified, although versions of the
same poem have already been noted in MSS 5.16 and 9.5.]

f. 38r, 1: Cogitur exire spiritus de corpore Jovis. | Albus per ignem quam
modo collige talj. [Ends f. 38r, 24; remainder of ff. 38, 39, and 40 blank.]
  [11.3: Conradus de Hildensee (Hilsenser?), Versus (de secretis alchemiae),
according to TK 230; Corbett II, p. 149; DWS 801.]

End parchment guard leaf: [Recto blank, verso has illegible scribbles.]

SUMMARY: A relatively early but straightforward copy of Rupescissa, enlivened
by two short poems at the end. The first of these describes mutation in
cryptic terms, concealing the nature of the substances involved by using the
first letters only as a sort of code, which has probably been successfully
read, as shown in the transcription above; this is the longest of the three
versions found in the Mellon MSS of a poem which, despite its popularity, has
apparently not been noted in the literature. The second poem, attributed to
Conradus, is found in a few other manuscripts of the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries; it too describes the alchemical process rather cryptically and
subtitutes the traditional "secret" or poetical names of the elements for
their chemical names. Thus the whole compilation contains texts which have
little to do with practical chemistry; rather, they emphasize the mystical,
poetic aspect of the art, one of the trends which was to develop and expand
greatly in the centuries following the writing of this codex. The date
attributed to MS 11 may be somewhat conservative; the codex might date from
not long after 1440.