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Wellcome Library

G., G. (and others)


IDENTITY STATEMENT

Reference code(s): GB 0120 MSS.2454-2456

Held at: Wellcome Library

Title: G., G. (and others)

Date(s): c 1765

Level of description: Collection (fonds)

Extent: 3 volumes

Name of creator(s): Unknown

CONTEXT

Administrative/Biographical history:

CONTENT

Scope and content/abstract:

'Recueil de divers secrets rares et éprouvés concernant la Chymie, l'Alchymie, la Médecine, la Philosophie Hermétique, le tout tiré des plus célèbres Médecins et Artistes de l'Europe. Traduit du latin et de l'italien par G.G., Interprète juré des langues orientales', with other extracts and receipts from alchemical and medical authors. The third volume contains 37 full-page symbolic alchemical water-colour drawings with 68 figures (pp. 304-369): there are two symbolic diagrams in red and black on p. 190 and illustrations of alchemical apparatus on pp. 419, 430, 547. These three MSS. have been tentatively dated c 1765, as on the fly-leaf of Vol. II is an inscription: '1762. 16 aout. Tome 2ème'. Below this is the date 1785, but by the script, they seem to have been written consecutively within a few years.

ACCESS AND USE

Language/scripts of material: French

System of arrangement:

Conditions governing access:

The papers are available subject to the usual conditions of access to Archives and Manuscripts material, after the completion of a Reader's Undertaking.

Conditions governing reproduction:

Photocopies/photographs/microfilm are supplied for private research only at the Archivist's discretion. Please note that material may be unsuitable for copying on conservation grounds, and that photographs cannot be photocopied in any circumstances. Readers are restricted to 100 photocopies in twelve months. Researchers who wish to publish material must seek copyright permission from the copyright owner.

Physical characteristics:

3 vols. folio. 301/2 × 191/2 cm. Original blind-stamped calf bindings with flaps, fitted with brass locks and clasps: that of Vol. II has been wrenched off, with damage to the binding. Some leaves have been torn out before the title-page of the first volume.

Finding aids:

Described in: S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

Detailed catalogue

ARCHIVAL INFORMATION

Accruals:

Archival history:

Immediate source of acquisition:

Purchased 1935.

ALLIED MATERIALS

DESCRIPTION NOTES

Note:

Note A In Ferguson's 'Bibliotheca Chemica', Vol. II, p. 41 there is an entry [Linthaut] which assigns this work to Christofle de Gamon. But the initials 'S.G.' are found in the description of another copy of this MS., now in Harvard University Library. This is No. 42 in W. J. Wilson's 'Catalogue of Latin and vernacular alchemical MSS. in the U.S.A. and Canada' ['Osiris', Vol. 6, pp. 358, 362, 363]. B Nos. 4, 5, 6, are found, though in a different sequence, in MS. 249 [Dorigny] in Part I of the present Catalogue. C The work by Marengus seems to be based on his 'Palladis chymicae arcana detecta', first published at Genoa in 1674 [Ferguson. op. cit, Vol. II, pp. 75, 76]. D This work does not seem to correspond with the tracts under this title ascribed to Baruch, R. Lullius, or J. Dastin. E A Latin and a German copy of this MS. are entered in this Catalogue under the heading 'SAPIENTIA Veterum'. A Latin copy is also described by W. J. Wilson, op. cit. No. 29. F This translation of a Latin or Italian 15th cent. MS.

Archivist's note: Copied from the Wellcome Library catalogue by Sarah Drewery.

Rules or conventions: In compliance with ISAD (G): General International Standard Archival Description - 2nd Edition (1999); UNESCO Thesaurus, December 2001; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.

Date(s) of descriptions: Feb 2009


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Alchemy | Chemistry
Clinical medicine | Medical sciences
Medical records | Documents | Information sources
Poetry | Literary forms and genres | Literature
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