Manuscript Pharmacopeia

Manuscript Pharmacopeia, 382pp, mostly written in Latin, containing numerous receipts in a volume that was then owned in the mid 18th Century by an Apothecary with additions of further receipts and family accounts in both Latin and English. Nottingham? 1650 & 1753-68.

Folio, 382 ruled in manuscript pages with formulae written in a neat very small mid 17th Century hand, together with numerous unnumbered pages, mostly blank but some with early and then mid-18th Century manuscript notes and formulae, the whole bound in mid 17th Century full old-style calf, one board detached the other nearly detached.

Many of the pages include a manuscript heading in Latin listing medical conditions in alphabetical order. Entries have been made underneath these headings, which range from being fairly extensive to minor, or no entry at all. The dating of this manuscript, aside from the handwriting styling, can be confirmed by the remains of a personally printed slip pasted to the end paper which reads " . . . so Dea . . . . 650", indicating a date of ownership to 1650. The original hand is exclusively in Latin and there is evidence of one or two later hands prior to the 18th Century entries.

The volume contains a later ownership accreditation on a loose end paper: "Mary Twells November 1753", together with added formulae and a selection of family accounts, written in English. Evidence within these notes indicate that Twells family owned an Apothecary, probably near Nottingham. Also includes detailed receipts in mid-18th Century hand for Sir Edmond Stafford's Powder and Sir Walter Raleigh's Cordial.

c.1650-1768

1 volume

A R Heath Manuscript and Rare Book Dealer, 05/02/2013.

The manuscript appears to have had two owners, the first of whom made entries from c.1650. Other details about the original owner are not known. The volume was acquired by Mary Twells in 1753, Nottingham. The Twells family owned an apothecary, which appears to have been based near Nottingham.

Original owner unknown, c.1650; acquired by Mary Twells in 1753, Nottingham.