Mellon MS 44

 ANDREAS OBERLENDER
 Ein kunstlich undt gerecht Probier Buechlein, 1532
 Germany, an unsigned copy of the original, about 1600

Paper codex in German, 4to., 175 x 145, ff. 148, of which f. 1 is ruled but
otherwise blank and pasted down, f. 2 is ruled but otherwise blank, f. 3 is
unnumbered and contains a title on the recto (verso blank), and f. 4 is blank
but ruled; ff. 5-123 are correctly numbered 1-119 by the copyist, and the
remaining ff. 124-148 are unnumbered. In the following description the
correct folio number is cited first, with the copyist's foliation where
applicable following the correct foliation and in parentheses. No signatures,
catchwords at every page. Collation: (1)^^8+1, (2)^^6, (3-10)^^10-6,
(11-12)^^10, (13-16)^^10-6, (17)^^10, (18)^^6+1 . Written throughout in
single columns, 105 x 98, averaging 16 lines without headlines, right and
left bordering lines often in red ink, but without ruling, by a single
copyist writing a practiced German secretary hand, partly in a modified
Fraktur, partly in a more italic cursive, and occasionally (as in the title
page) in a formal gothic script; a few additions at the end in a later hand;
brown inks, red inks used for tabular data and infrequent sketches of
alchemical apparatus in the text; no corrections noted, standard
abbreviation. Paper with an unidentified, complex circular watermark in the
folds; lower margins slightly wormed at beginning, not affecting text.

BINDING: Original stiff parchment over paper boards, remnants of two thong
ties on the upper cover, slits for similar ties, now missing, on the lower
cover; front cover lettered in very faded gothic script, apparently by the
scribe: "PROBIER BUCH | ANDREAS OBERLENDER | 1532 |." A title has also been
supplied by a modern hand in old style on the backstrip. Plain edges.

PROVENANCE: Original ownership unknown; penciled marks and price inside front
cover in an American bookseller's hand; Denis Duveen, with his inked number
79, acquired from Dr. Ernst Weil (bookseller), London, 1949; Mellon MS 104,
acquired with the Duveen collection. De Ricci-Bond 22 (104).

CONTENTS
 f. 1v, pastedown: [Penciled notes in a recent hand by an American
bookseller; Duveen's characteristic number in blue ink; otherwise blank
except for bordering lines in red. Facing leaf, f. 2 blank except for
bordering lines in red.]

f. 3r: [Written as a title in a bold and practiced gothic script:] Ein
[flourishes] | Kunstlich undt Gerecht Pro= | bier Buecheln uff Allerley |
Ertz undt Metall. Durch | [flourishes] | Andreas Oberlender | 1.5.32. [sic] |
[ff. 3v-4v blank except for red bordering lines.]

f. 5(1)r, 1: Wie man Capellen aschen machen | soll: | Nimb aschen, der durch
zuvor Laugen gemacht | ... [With this process begins a group of almost two
hundred fifty alchemical procedures relating to metallurgy and mining
processes. The group ends on f. 121(117)v with a procedure headed:] Das Bley
auss den Teste zubringen, Thomas | Gregorius: | Nimb rein englischen Kalck
... [On f. 122(118)r is a table of alchemical terms and their symbols,
followed on the next pages through f. 131r by an alphabetical index of
contents to the preceding; ff. 131v-132v are blank. On f. 133r occurs a new
title:] TRACTAT von Saltzwer- | genn. | Wie man alle Saltz sollen oder Saltz-
| wasser durch unterschiedene Arts Probie= | ren ... [This brief tract ends
on f. 142v, not transcribed; there are small drawings in red of vessels on
ff. 136r and 137r. F. 143r is blank except for bordering lines; a later hand
has added a supplement beginning on f. 144r:] Hans Knabens Figirung der
solarischen [Sulphur] | ... [Ends f. 144v, 3:] Dieser hans knabe gewohnt an
der schlesischen | grentze im Maerischen gebuerge in | einem Staett- | lein
mit Nahmen kaemerstatt nicht weit von | Troppau. [flourish.] | [Remainder
blank. A brief "Bergarbeit" has been copied in the same hand, followed by
four brief recipes, on ff. 145r-146r, not transcribed. Ff. 146v-147v are
blank except for bordering lines; two recipes are written in the same hand on
f. 148r-148v, not transcribed. Final pastedown, of more recent paper and a
modern insertion, is blank.]
 [Andreas Oberlender, Probter Buechleln, 1532, an unsigned later copy
executed about 1600, with a few additions, not otherwise identified.]

SUMMARY: Although the 1532 date has long been accepted as the date of this
copy, it seems certain that MS 44 is a transcript executed toward the end of
the sixteenth century of an unidentified original. On f. 42(38)v is a process
ascribed to a certain Bernhard shaller [sic] of Nuernberg, dated 15 November
1544; Thomas Gregorius is mentioned on f. 121(117)v, "Aldendorffin Hessen" on
f. 139(135)v, and Hans Knabe, "who lived in a little town called Kaemerstatt
not far from Troppau," on f. 144(140)v. All of these individuals are
unidentified. A metallurgical experiment book of the type circulated among
those interested in alchemy, mining, and metallurgy in the sixteenth century,
this text treats at length several minerals with a metallic luster such as
marcasite, especially crystallized iron pyrites, which were often used
ornamentally, in costume jewelry, at the time of composition of this codex,
when they were considered semiprecious materials. Andreas Oberlender has not
been identified, and the text may be unpublished. MS 44 is to be compared
with the 1557 "Das Vade mecum" by Caspar Harttung vom Hoff, MS 38 of the
Mellon collection, and the "Kunstbuechlein" by A.S., dated 1562, MS 40. MS 92
is also similar, both because it has a large number of metallurgical recipes,
and because it has long been considered a compilation by a certain Wachsmuth,
dated 1553, while in reality it is a much later copy.
R.P.