| Description | 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. |
| CustodialHistory | The manuscript apparently remained in a Cistercian monastery in Westphalia until 1853. It came into the hands 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. |
| FindingAids | 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' (London and Oxford, 1969); handlist at University College London Special Collections. |