Astrological-divinatory text, consisting of a fortune-telling game which matches birds to zodiacal signs

Date:
Middle 15th century
Reference:
MS.79
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Credit

Astrological-divinatory text, consisting of a fortune-telling game which matches birds to zodiacal signs. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

Written in a neat French gothic script, capitals picked out in red.

Contents

1. ff. 1r-8v Anonymous astrological-divinatory text

A fortune-telling game which matches 12 birds to zodiacal signs ff. 1r-7r, followed by instructions for playing the game ff. 7v-8v. On f. 1r are sketches of birds with names, and the qualities associated with each bird, and the zodiacal sign. One of the birds is a bat, classified as a bird in medieval encyclopedias

Incipit f. 1v: 'Viues competenter nec queras amplius...'

Explicit: '...deinde divide per 30 partes equales et quod remanebit erit numerus expartem'.

Publication/Creation

Middle 15th century

Physical description

1 volume 8 ff. 4to. 231/2 x 16 cm. On vellum, 18th cent. calf binding.

Acquisition note

Purchased 1936.

Biographical note

Probably written in France.

Finding aids

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).

Location of duplicates

This material has been digitised and can be freely accessed online through Wellcome Collection catalogue.

Ownership note

Covers stamped in gold with the arms of Louis François de Villeneuve-Trans (1784-1850), archaeologist and historian.

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Identifiers

Accession number

  • 69327