Mellon MS 17

 RAMON LULL
 Ars inventiva (veritatis)
 Spain (probably Mallorca), unsigned, about 1475

Parchment and paper codex, in Latin, folio, 288 x 214, ff. 140, correctly
numbered in pencil in a modern hand, signatures a-g^^20 in upper right corner
of first eleven leaves of each quire, in each of which the outer and inner
sheets (ff. 1, 10, 11, 20) are of parchment, the remainder of paper (a second
set of numerals only in the lower right corner, both sets partly trimmed away
by the binder); catchwords in lower margins at quire-endings, that at the end
of quire "f" incorrect, apparently due to the omission of the word on the
following page; each page faintly bordered in ink, 200 x 138, 32-35 long
lines to a page, no headlines; neatly written by one scribe in a regular
Spanish gothic book cursive, considerably abbreviated with standard forms
plus typically numerous lines above and parallel with the text indicating
unspecified abbreviations; rubricated throughout, and with larger capitals in
red or blue with filiform decoration; ink brown with considerable bleeding
and a little corrosion confined to the paper leaves; rare correction by the
scribe and a few brief notes by early readers; parchment rather thick,
sometimes yellow, and with some imperfections; paper apparently of one run,
but watermark difficult to see except on f. 138, where a hunting horn
suspended from a string is visible, close to Briquet nos. 7690 and 7692.

BINDING: Apparently original binding of rather thick, unbeveled oak boards,
backed with yellow-dyed, untanned hide, the upper board wholly or partly
replaced, a strip of reddish-brown goatskin fastened to the boards at the
edge of the backing hide with asterisk-headed iron nails, the strip on the
upper board modern; back with four thick bands, strengthened in the
eighteenth century with parchment and lettered: "Sc. III | Codex | de arte |
inventiva | [flourish] | X | No 5"; two heart-shaped brass attaches on lower
cover, their edges outlined with a wavy line produced by a graver, two
cut-out recesses on the fore-edge of the upper cover for the clasps, now
fitted with modern replacements of hide and brass; plain edges.

PROVENANCE: Certainly written and bound in Spain or on Mallorca, whence comes
the document partly preserved inside the lower cover, but original owner not
identified; belonged in the eighteenth century to an unidentified Iberian
library (shelf mark quoted above); acquired from C. A. Stonehill, Inc.
(bookseller), New Haven, 1957; Mellon MS J=147. De Ricci-Bond 37.

CONTENTS

Front pastedown: [Inside front cover a piece of rough yellow parchment is
pasted down; at its top in a fifteenth-century hand is: "Ars inventiva
Raymundi" (wormed).]

Front flyleaf: [Recto blank; verso blank save for a red-ink drawing of a male
bust with high collar, the face strongly shaded, fifteenth to sixteenth
century?]

f. 1r, headline: Jhesus. | Deus potentissime et benignissime cuius sapientie
et amoris non est numerus neque finis | ut te cognoscere sciamus et amare [.]
Incipit ars inventiva. de prologo. | Ars pr‘sens ab arte demonstrativa
descendit et licet existencia illius | et istius sit una et eadem modus tamen
earum procedendj est diversus, | quam illa per terminos jn litteris redactos
procedit ista vero suis | propriis terminis seu principijs contenta est nec
alia nota literarum indi- | get sicut illa ... [f. 1v, 2:] ... De divisione
huius librj [.] | Dividitur pr‘sens opus in quatuor distinctiones. Quarum
prima est de ffiguris. Se- | cunda de condicionibus principiorum...

f. 137r, 26: et spiritu sancto vivjt et regnat deus benedictus per infinita
secula seculorum amen. | [two-line space.] Deo gratias. |
  [Ramon Lull, Ars inventiva (veritatis): printed Valencia, 1515, Mainz
(1729). The prologue and incipit of this manuscript correspond exactly with
the Valencia edition. See E. Longpre, art. "R. Lulle," in Dict. de theol.
cath. IX, cols. 1071-1141, Paris, 1927; C. Ottaviano, "L'Ars compendiosa de
R. Lulle," in Etudes de Phil. Med. XII, Paris, 1930; J. Avinyo, Les Obras
autentiques del beat Ramon Lull, Repertori Bibliografic, Barcelona, 1935.]

f. 137r, 30: [A reader about 1500 has added a question in six lines,
beginning:] Utrum creaturarum perfectia [sic] sit ultimum quod potest facere
dei omnipotencia...

f. 137v, 1: [In the same hand:] Utrum melius sit esse quam non esse...
   [Unidentified reading notes. Futher notes in this style and handwriting,
related to the subject matter ofthe text, particularly on being, occupy most
off f. 138r-140r, ending f. 140r, 14. f. 140v blank.]

End pastedown: [Inside the lower cover is pasted part of a document in a
cursive gothic hand dealing with the sale or division of some property,
involving Johannes Mulet, his wife Pareta, Jacobus Mulet, Petrus Mulet, and
others. A portion, possibly all, of the year date is preserved; it reads,
"Quadringentesimo [sic], Quinquagesimo" or 1450, but may have originally
included a final letter-equivalent of another digit indicating any of the
years between 1451 and 1459, now cut away. At the foot of the preserved
portion is a substantial fragment of the sign manual and inscription of a
public notary of Mallorca, Petrus Martorellus, transcribed as follows:]
(sig)num mei Petri martorelli, auctoritate Regia notarii publici
Maioric(ensis) [the abbreviation sign in "Maioricensis" wormed] ...

SUMMARY: Though the binding has been repaired, the codex does not seem to
have been rebound, and wormholes through the Mallorcan document cited above
have also damaged the board, indicating that the document has been in its
present position for some time. The preserved fragment of a Mallorcan deed
ofthe mid-fifteenth century is at the least suggestive of the possibility
that this codex was written on the home island of the author, Mallorca's most
distinguished historical personage. The styles of writing and binding suggest
that the whole product is not much later than the date of the document. The
genuine philosophical and logical text by Ramon Lull contained in MS 17 is in
no sense an alchemical work; on the contrary, it underlines its author's
place among the serious investigators of Aristotelian logic in the Middle
Ages, and stands in contrast to his later reputation as an alchemist,
frequently evidenced in other manuscripts in the Mellon collection by
alchemies spuriously attributed to Lull. Manuscripts of this work, like those
of most of the genuine writings of Lull, are rarely met with, and the present
example has the special beauties of finely written Iberian manuscripts of its
period.