Mellon MS 32

 ALCHEMICAL MISCELLANY, in Latin, Greek, and Italian
 North Italy (perhaps Pisa?), unsigned, about 1542 and later

 32.1 John of Rupescissa. De consideratione quinte essentie.
 32.2 Rhemigius Burgensis. Quaestio de medio demonstrationis
 termino.
 32.3 Simone Porzio. De animae immortalitate quaestio.
 32.4 Francesco Petrarca. Dialogus de coniugii claritate.
 32.5 Anonymous. Alchemy and recipes, in Latin.
 32.6 Anonymous. Properties of various fruits and nuts, in
 Italian verse, and Seasons for planting, in Italian
 prose.
 32.7 Anonymous. Notes on logic, provenance of elements of
 this manuscript, and a game of divination.

Paper codex in Latin, Greek, and Italian, 4to., 225 x 162, of which ff.
114-115 are stubs only of leaves cut away, f. 1 unnumbered, ff. 2-40 numbered
1-39/40 (the last leaf having been numbered 39 on recto and 40 on verso), ff.
41-53 correctly numbered in ink in an old hand; f. 54-119 with correct
foliation in modern pencil, counting the mentioned stubs; the correct
foliation is supplied first, the old foliation following it in parentheses
where it occurs in the description below. No signatures, catchwords on most
pages where text occurs, but without special indications at quire-endings.
Written throughout in single columns with varying numbers of lines in several
different italic cursive hands without bordering lines, in inks varying from
light brown to nearly black. Collation: (1-5)^^8, (6)^^7, (7-14)^^8,
(15)^^8-2. Paper of at least two batches, one watermarked with crossed arrows
surmounted by a six-pointed star, the other of crossed keys in a cartouche,
neither identified with certainty; the paper as far as f. 58 with three
vertical folds on each page.

BINDING: Original north Italian binding of black leather, the sides outlined
in blind rules, a rectangular panel on each cover ruled in gold with a square
Arab knot tool gold-stamped outside each corner ofthe panel, traces of holes
for four thong ties on each cover, the backstrip divided into five
compartments by raised bands, a gold-stamped cinquefoil in each compartment,
the back and sides repaired, edges stained black.

PROVENANCE: Compiled (?) by Luca Antonio Vonucelli, who gave it to Mariano de
Campo, public notary of Pisa, and operarius of the church of Sancta Maria de
Spina, who added to it and then gave it to Camillo Quarantotto, perhaps a
physician; signature of Clemente Quarantotto, presumably a relative ofthe
last-named (all sixteenth century, according to notes on ff. 1r, and 54v);
Libreria Leo S. Olschki, Florence, with bookplate and number 44274; Denis
Duveen, with his inked number 52; Mellon MS 113 acquired with the Duveen
collection. De Ricci-Bond 24 (113).

CONTENTS

First pastedown: [A part of a parchment leaf from a twelfth-century Italian
codex, probably a Gospel Lectionary, containing an extract from the Gospel of
St. John written in Latin in a Rotunda antiquior hand, bound in upside down
to the sense of the contents, twenty-seven long lines and fragments of two
others, with a rubric and a plain initial in red, followed by four larger
letters written in black, but stroked red; without later annotations, margins
trimmed; Olschki bookplate at upper left, Duveen number written on the
bookplate.]

f. 1r: [Originally blank, but now with complex sixteenth-century ownership
inscriptions:] + Iste liber ist lucae antonij vonucellis quem dono dedit ma- |
riano de campo notario publico pisano sancte mariae | de spina operario ./.
[then, in another similar hand:] Et ipse cominus marianus | mihi Cammillo
quarantocto dono dedit. | [Below, in a modern hand is the pencil note:] dated
1542 | on f. 40. [otherwise blank; verso blank.] f. 2 (1)r, headline: Liber
de Quinta Essentia primus: | [line 1:] Dixit salomon sapientiae capitulo 7.
deus dedit mihi horum | scientiam veram ... f. 31(30)r, 8: ... nihil
efficacius spasmum sedat | quam nobilissima quinta essentia . vel aqua
ardens. | Finis libri De Quinta | Essentia. | [remainder of f. 31(30) blank.]
  [32.1: John of Rupescissa, De consideratione quinte essentie, TK 407, etc.]

f. 32 (31)r, headline: Rhemigij burgensis Quaestio | De medio demonstrationis
termino. | [line 1:] Scientia ea rerum cognitio est...

f. 40v, 19: ... demonstrationes conficiendas | admonent. veram finem facio,
ne nimis materia se fundat oratio [?]. | In studio patauino composuimus |
atque eam publice examinauimus | Die 4 mensis iulij M.D.Xlij | [below, in the
lower right margin in the position of a catchword:] Rhemigij [f. 42 blank.]
 [32.2: Rhemigius Burgensis, Quoestio de medio demonstrationis termino,
composed and publicly debated in the Studium at Padua on 4 July 1542,
possibly a holograph, not otherwise identified.]

f. 42r, headline: [possibly in a different although similar hand:]
Excellentissimi Philosophi Simonis Portij de | animae immortalitate Quaestio ex
suis | lectionibus . 3 . de anima excerpta. | [line 1:] Officium sapientis
multiplex a plurimis accepimus... [Ends abruptly with a catchword "est" on f.
52v; f. 53r has a headline for this work and foliation, but is otherwise
blank; f. 53v blank.]
 [32.3: Simone Porzio (1469-1554), an extract, ending imperfectly, from
Lectiones de anima, Quoestio tertia, with quotations in Greek from various
writers, unidentified.]

f. 54r, headline: [In a later sixteenth-century italic cursive, probably that
of Mariano de Campo, who wrote the remainder of the codex, except as
otherwise noted below:] De coniugij claritate. dialogus francisci petrarcae. |
[line 1, in the same hand, seven lines only of a dialogue between "Ga." and
"Ra." Remainder of f. 54r blank.]
  [32.4: Francesco Petrarca, Dialogus de coniugii claritate, a fragment,
unidentified.]

f. 54v: [Blank, except for the inscription in large letters in an italic
cursive:] Clementis quarantoctus | Opus [flourishes.] f. 55r, headline: Jesus
maria + | [line 1:] Et si non me Lateat dilectissime Ger. quod nullius
artifex | sine Teorica vel cum practica potest esse perfectus ... [After a
short preamble, brief medical notes, perhaps accounts of cases, are entered,
closing at foot of f. 55v, not transcribed, all apparently in the hand of
Mariano. Ff. 56r-104r are entirely blank except for a brief medical aphorism
on f. 84r, not transcribed; an isolated recipe is written on f. 104v,
headline:] + A far palle per tener in mano ...
  [32.5: Anonymous, Alchemy and recipes, in Latin, not identified.]

f. 105r, headline: Ciriegie | [Above, a superscript in the same hand,
apparently added as an afterthought:] Sette sono i fruttj che si mangiono di
fuorj | [line 1:] Ciriegia sono E cosj Ihuom m'appella | che non son buonagia
com'io son bella | ... [The poem continues, with a quatrain for each of six,
not seven, fruits: cherry, jujube, date, plum, medlar, peach; then follows a
group beginning on f. 105v, headed:] Sette sono le frutte che si mangiano di
dentro non fuori | ... [This section contains quatrains describing the
properties of five species only: Hazelnut (three verses only), al mond,
chestnut, pomegranate, and pine-cone (i.e., the kernel of the cone); then, on
f. 106v occurs the headline:] Sette sone E fruttj che si mangiano fuorj E
dientro. | [The following eight fruits, not seven, are described in verse:
the fig, pear, apple, quince, lemon, sorb-apple, mulberry, and orange, ending
on f. 107r.]

f. 107v, headline: Gennaio. | [line 1:] Di questo mese si semina ... [The
text on this page and on f. 108r is written in two columns, noting the
various seeds which can be sown or planted in different seasons of the year,
continuing through f. 109v, in single column again beginning on f. 109r, and
in a scrawling hand beginning with the heading for April, possibly still the
hand of Mariano despite the different appearance. Ff. 110-111 blank.]
 [32.6: Anonymous, Properties of various fruits and nuts, in Italian verse,
and Seasons appropriate for planting and sowing, in Italian prose,
unidentified.]

f. 112r, headline: +. [line 1:] Res primae intentionis dicuntur ... [Ends foot
of f. 112r; f. 112v-119r blank.]
  [32.7a: Anonymous, Notes on logic, in Latin, unidentified.]

f. 119v: [Three notes written in a thin and practiced italic hand, very
heavily abbreviated, on the right side of the page, separated by rules:]
All'excellentissimo Misser Gabriello saloppia | scrittj de Rhemigio manu
propria | [rule] A Misser Gianinno [?] siciliano [paragraph sign?] quin - |
ternj de portio. | [rule] A Misser Rhemigio li scritti del | portio in libro
[word or words not read]. | [rule.]
  [32.7b: Anonymous, Notes on the provenance of various parts of the present
volume (?).]

f. 119v, 7: [In Mariano's hand:] Il giuco d'indovinare qual scacho alcuno
sara indovinato [canceled] | immaginato di .16. che s'ordinano cosj ...
[Sixteen dots are ordered in two vertical rows of eight each; the description
of the game continues, closing on f. 119v, 17.]
 [32.7c: Anonymous, Description of a game of divination, in Italian, written
in Mariano's hand, not identified.]

Lower pastedown: [A fragment of the same manuscript which occurs as the first
pastedown; twenty-five lines and part of one other, no decoration, no color.]

SUMMARY: In addition to the routine copy of Rupescissa's popular tract on the
Fifth Essence (the latest copy of the work in the Mellon collection; see also
MSS 9.29, 11.1, 14.1, 21.1, 24.7, and 26.1), MS 32 contains several
interesting and unusual elements. Although Rhemigius Burgensis (from Borgo
San Sepolcro?) has not been identified, there seems little reason to doubt
that his Quoestio was publicly debated in the Paduan Studio in 1542 as the
colophon records. Another Quaestio is by a well known writer, Simone Porzio
(1496-1554), a Neapolitan scholar and physician who spent one period of his
career at Pisa, where this manuscript was owned in the sixteenth century, and
where most probably it was written; the text, which may be unpublished, deals
with a favorite renaissancc topic, the immortality of the soul, and cites
suitable Greek authorities. In addition to a short tract by Petrarch and some
recipes, the codex also contains a charming Italian poem on the virtues of
various fruits, and prose directions for planting. The provenance note at the
beginning and three scratch notes at the end, difficult to read, seem to
disclose the origin of the manuscript. The first records the gift of the
volume to Mariano de Campo, Pisan notary and operarius of the church of Santa
Maria de Spina, surely in the same city; Mariano appears to have written the
inscription, and many additions to the original group of texts in the volume
are in the same hand. Mariano in turn presented the codex to Camillo
Quarantotto ("Quarantoctus" in the text), the writer of the entry recording
this gift only. The three notes on f. 119v are puzzling. The first seems to
say that holograph materials of Rhemigius were given (? The verb is absent)
to Misser Gabriello Saloppia; the next states that quinternions of (i.e.,
written by?) Porzio are (of? That is, were supplied by?) Gianino Siciliano;
and the last seems to report that some writings by Porzio (their title has
not been transcribed) came from Rhemigius. The pastedowns in the original
binding have been cut from a large and noble Italian twelfth-century
Lectionary manuscript containing excerpts from the Evangelists. MS 32
combines a diversity of components, including speculative alchemy, a few
recipes, humanistic tracts in classical tongues, and a bit of vernacular
poetry; to some extent it is therefore reminiscent of MS 14 of the
collection.