Albumasar (d. 886)

Tractatus de revolutionibus nativitatum. Introductorium majus. [Incomplete] Preceded by Messahala. De interrogationibus. On the first leaf, in the lower margin, is a pen-drawn circular diagram added by a contemporary owner. MESSAHALA. De interrogationibus Fol. 1 Precepit massehalla ut constituas as/cendens per gradum suum ... 3v, col. 1 ... et dat ei habundanciam/ire et furoris explicit. [Added by a later hand: 'tractatus de interrogationibus'.] Albumasar. De revolutionibus nativitatum. 3v (red) Incipit tractatus de Revolutionibus natiuita/tum Extractus ex libro albumazar./Quum tempus breue est operandi et opus/reuolucionis... Fol. 11v, col. 2 ... sine difficultate/possit redire noticiam. explicit (red). Albumasar. Introductorium majus in astronomia. 12 Hic liber maioris in astronomia commenti/albumasar et alalu iudiciorum dic/tatus quadrifariam partitur... 14v, col. 2 ... firmumque tes/timonium stelle participis quam de/The two works by Albumasar were first printed in full by Ratdolt at Augsburg in 1489, and of these the 'Introductorium' was translated by Hermannus de Carinthia (Cf. Haskins: 'Studies in mediaeval science'. Ch. III). The work by Messahala was first printed at Venice in 1493 in an edition of Ptolemy's 'Centiloquium' etc.

Early 14th Century

1 volume 14 ll. folio. 28 x 21 cm. On vellum, modern vellum binding. On the outside of the upper cover is pasted a small vellum strip containing the titles of the three works, probably cut out from an original fly-leaf. Written in a neat gothic hand in double columns of 50 lines to a column. Capitals, paragraph marks, and headings in red.

Purchased 1936.

Database description transcribed from 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).