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Libra Esoterica

[Medical and philosophical compilation]

Author not recorded

  • First published:
  • 18th century
  • Languages: English, Greek, Hebrew
  • Content type: ManuscriptPrimary source

Collection of works copied by Charles Rainsford that includes texts on the Druze people and their religion, classical philosophers, and a final section of medical recipes and remedies. Also includes a partial list of contents (p. 30). There is a cracked but intact red wax seal on p. 80.

Provenance

Why this book is in the catalog

Included because retained bibliographic metadata links this work to Alchemy and Hermeticism and Occultism and esotericism.

  • Occultism and esotericism

    Controlled discovery queries from colenda matched “Occultism”. Retained metadata contains “Occultism” in the subject metadata and “occult” in the cataloging notes.

    • Occultism· via Colenda Digital Repository — University of Pennsylvania Libraries
    • Occultism· in subject
    • occult· in cataloging note
  • Alchemy and Hermeticism

    Controlled discovery queries from colenda matched “Alchemy”. Retained metadata contains “Alchemy” in the subject metadata and “alchemist” in the cataloging notes.

    • Alchemy· via Colenda Digital Repository — University of Pennsylvania Libraries
    • Alchemy· in subject
    • alchemist· in cataloging note

Membership records how this book met the catalog’s discovery criteria — relevance to a tradition, not a judgment of the book’s claims.

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Editions

One edition cataloged here.

University of Pennsylvania digitized manuscript

138 leaves : paper ; 193 x 158 (165 x 115) mm bound to 200 x 168 mm; Binding: Contemporary parchment.; English, with some Greek and a few words in Hebrew.; Ms. codex.; Origin: Written in Gibraltar[?] in the second half of the 18th century.; Pagination: Paper, 138 leaves; [1-240, 1-3, 3-35]; contemporary pagination in ink, upper outer corners.; Purchased with support from the B. H. Breslauer Foundation.; Script: Written in a cursive script in the hand of Charles Rainsford.; Title supplied by cataloger.

1750English, Greek, HebrewPublic download

Subjects

5 subject headings

Identifiers & provenance

How this record was assembled, and the authority identifiers it carries.

Identifiers

Colenda
  • ark:/81431/p3862bc7r

Cataloged from

Cataloging notes

  • Colenda collection: Charles Rainsford Collection of Alchemical and Occult Manuscripts (University of Pennsylvania)
  • Penn Libraries catalog identifier: 9962935813503681
  • Physical location: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, Manuscripts, Ms. Codex 1696
  • Provenance: Formerly owned by Charles Rainsford (British army officer, fellow of the Royal Society, and alchemist); bequeathed by Rainsford to Hugh Percy, Second Duke of Northumberland.; Northumberland, Hugh Percy, Duke of, 1742-1817, former owner.; Owned by the 2nd through 12th Dukes of Northumberland, ms. 610-614, Alnwick Castle, Northumberland, 1809-2014 (bookplate, inside upper cover; stamps throughout).; Rainsford, Charles, 1728-1809, former owner.; Sold at auction at Sotheby's (London), 15 July 2014, as part of Lot 411.
  • Rights: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/NoC-US/1.0
Catalog id
colenda:81431-p3862bc7r
Edition coverage
Multi source partial
Retrieved