IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0103 MS GERM 1
Held at: University College London
Title: Collected Texts (Bavarian, 1471)
Date(s): 13th century, 1471, 16th century
Level of description: Collection (fonds)
Extent: 1 volume containing 188 leaves
Name of creator(s): Pfaldorffer | Nicholas | fl 1471 | of Ingoldstat, Bavaria | scribe
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
Unknown.
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Manuscript volume, dated 1471: Sammelhandschrift, a collection of miscellaneous texts, comprising
(1) Calendar for the year 1471 (German), followed by instructions for use and chapters on the zodiac, the seven planets, the four 'complexions', blood-letting, etc, with plain and coloured ink illustrations (some incomplete) (ff 1v-92v);
(2) Aristotelis Brief Am Kunig Alexander (letter purported to have been written by Aristotle to King Alexander, offering advice on his health, in prose and in verse, in fact part of one of Aristotle's suppositious works, the Secreta Secretorum) (ff 93r-106v);
(3) Calendar for 1439, 1458, 1477 and 1496 (Latin), accompanied by astronomical chapters, with tables and instructions for use (ff 109v-130r);
(4) Elucidarus (a summary of Christian theology by Honorius Augustodunensis, in the form of a dialogue) (ff 131r-159r);
(5) Epistel Des Juden Samuel (epistle of the Jew Samuel) (ff 160r-186v).
The content of the two calendars, (1) and (3), is nearly identical.
Folios 107r-109r, 130v, 159v and 187r-187v are blank.
Signed by the scribe, Nicholas Pfaldorffer (f 106v).The guards in the centre of each quire consist of strips cut from a 13th-century manuscript. Folio 188r has a 16th-century house charm, consisting of words taken from the Antiphon of St Agatha.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: German (Bavarian dialect) and Latin; Latin on parchment strips. Main text is Gothic cursive script; Gothic minuscule on parchment strips.
System of arrangement:
Conditions governing access:
Open.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Normal copyright restrictions apply.
Physical characteristics:
Paper manuscript, with one parchment leaf at the end and parchment strips forming the guards between quires, in contemporary binding of oak boards covered with stamped leather, protected by brass corners and bosses; clasps and back modern. One hand, except for a single 16th-century annotation. All headings and most initials in red; some blue and green initials. 22cm.
Finding aids:
Dorothy K Coveney, A Descriptive Catalogue of Manuscripts in the Library of University College London (London, 1935), which details the contents of the manuscript and discusses the constituent texts; N R Ker, Medieval Manuscripts in British Libraries, i (London and Oxford, 1969); handlist at University College London Special Collections.
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling information:
Accruals:
Archival history:
The manuscript apparently remained in a Cistercian monastery in Westphalia until 1853. It become the property of Guglielmo Libri and was sold at the Libri sale in 1861 (a cutting from the sale catalogue is pasted inside the front cover) to Mr Molini. He probably bought it for John Thomas Graves (1806-1870), mathematician and Professor of Jurisprudence at University College London, whose collection included manuscripts dating from the 15th to the 19th century, relating mainly to mathematics. Formerly Graves 4661. With the Graves ex libris. Other pressmarks: 33.a.26 (crossed through); 149.c.1.
Immediate source of acquisition:
Graves' library was bequeathed to University College London in 1870.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Existence and location of originals:
Existence and location of copies:
Related material:
Publication note:
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Note:
Archivist's note: Compiled by Rachel Kemsley as part of the RSLP AIM25 project.
Date(s) of descriptions: Sep 2001