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Credit
Medical Recipe Collection, England, 15th Century. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.
Medical Recipe Collection, England, 15th Century
- Date:
- 15th century
- Manuscripts
- Online
About this work
Description
Collection of medical recipes [written in the area of Worcestershire, first quarter of the 15th century]. Coloured drawings serve as extravagant decoration for the catchwords.Contents1. ff. 1r-3r Coloured drawings, partly obliterated, of St Anthony by an oak tree, with a pig and a deer (f. 1r.), St James, seemingly chopping down a tree with his bare hand (f. 1v.), St John the Baptist with an oak tree and rabbits (f. 2v.), a bishop between two candles (f. 3r.). 2. ff. 3v-7v Contents list, recording 129 recipes found on ff. 8r.-53v., followed by a coloured drawing of a swaddled baby in a cradle on rockers (f. 7v.).3. ff. 8r-61v Recipe collection'Medicine for hede ache. Make lye of betoyne other of verveyne other of chervile other of wermot ...' (includes, ff. 54r.-57v., '?ys was sent from alle ?e leches and alle ?e ficyciens of mount pelery to dame Isabel ?e quene of engelonde ...'). 4. f. 61v Prayer to St Kenelm [patron saint of Winchcombe Abbey, Gloucs.], added in a 15th- century anglicana script.
Publication/Creation
15th century
Physical description
1 volume
Textura script, with section headings in red, and initial letters in red and blue. Membrane. 1 volume: 140 ? 110 mm., 61 folios (foliation of c. 1500 continuous from folios 3-61). Written space 90 ? 65 mm., 17 lines. Collation 1 6 + 1 after 4 (folio5), 2 4 + 1 after 3 (folio 11), 3 6 + 1 after 3 (folio 14) wanting 1 and 4, 4 6 + 1 after 3 (folio21), 5 6 + 1 after 5 (folio30), 6 6 + 1 after 1 (folio 33), 7 6 + 1 after 3 (folio42), 8-9 8. Medieval binding of wooden boards sewn on four double thongs pegged into the boards. Clasp missing.
Textura script, with section headings in red, and initial letters in red and blue. Membrane. 1 volume: 140 ? 110 mm., 61 folios (foliation of c. 1500 continuous from folios 3-61). Written space 90 ? 65 mm., 17 lines. Collation 1 6 + 1 after 4 (folio5), 2 4 + 1 after 3 (folio 11), 3 6 + 1 after 3 (folio 14) wanting 1 and 4, 4 6 + 1 after 3 (folio21), 5 6 + 1 after 5 (folio30), 6 6 + 1 after 1 (folio 33), 7 6 + 1 after 3 (folio42), 8-9 8. Medieval binding of wooden boards sewn on four double thongs pegged into the boards. Clasp missing.
Language note
In Latin, English.
Ownership note
16th-century ownership inscriptions of 'Andrewe Wylkynson, Surgeon' (ff. 34r., 60r.) and of 'Henry Dyngley' (f. 12r.) [Henry Dyneley/Dineley or Dingley, d. 1589, of Charlton, Worcs. Cf. Western MS. 244, Oxford Bodleian MS Rawlinson C 506 and British Library, Royal MS. 17.A.xxxii].Inscription 'Liverpool May 1782' (f. 39r.).Acquired by Sir Norman Moore (1847-1922), whose grandson sold it at Sotheby's 25 June 1985, lot 71.
Location of duplicates
This manuscript has been photographed in its entirety: images are held on the Wellcome Images website under the references L0064445 to L0064580. Wellcome Images also holds earlier photographs of several illustrations within the manuscript plus external images of the binding (image references L0049299-L0049312 and L0060580).
Publications note
Laura Esteban-Segura, "The Dialectal Provenance of London, Wellcome Library, MS 5262", Studia Anglica Posnaniensia 49.3 (2014), pp.79-90. The article can be freely viewed online.
Exhibitions note
Exhibited in "Expecting: Birth, Belief and Protection" at Wellcome Collection, London, 24 October 2025 - 19 April 2026.
Type/Technique
Where to find it
Location Status Access Closed storesMS.5262By appointment Manual request Note