Bibliographical notes on histories of inventions and books of secrets.

  • John Ferguson
Date:
1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Bibliographical notes on histories of inventions and books of secrets. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by The University of Glasgow Library. The original may be consulted at The University of Glasgow Library.

    30/428 (page 14)
    refer to the French edition by Count De L’Escalopier. A copy of that edition has now come into my hands, and one cannot but be satisfied with the very handsome way in which it has been got up. There are two titles, in Latin and French respectively. They are as follows : Theophili | Presbyteri et Monachi | Libri III. | Seu | Di^ersarum Artium Schedula. | Opera et Studio | Carol! De L’Escalupier. | Lutetioe Parisiorum. | Excudebant Firmio Didot Fratres, | Via Jacob, 56. | MDCCCXLIII. Th4opblle | Pretre et Moine. | Essai Sur Divers Arts, [ Public | Par Le C‘® Charles De L’Escalopier, | . . . | Et Precede | D'Une Introduction, | Par J. Marie Guichard, | Paris, I J. A. Toulouse, . . . 1843. It is a handsome finely printed 4to, pp. [4] LXXii; i leaf, facsimile of MS. ; 314 [i, I blank]. This edition contains some preliminary remarks by L’Escalopier on the time at which Theophilus lived, on the nature of his book, and on the scope of the present edition. This is followed by Guichard’s elaborate introduction upon the history and contents of the book, and its bearing upon the state of the fine arts in the 12th or 13th century. Then follows the Latin text, with various readings from the MSS., and a parallel French translation. The notes with which the volume closes are arranged alphabetically, and form a sort of brief glossary, though, as the editor remarks, there is much in Theophilus which still requires elucidation. The edition is indispensable for the history of the practical art secrets of the Middle Ages, but even its bibliography would require a dissertation to itself. II. The following is the most valuable addition I have been able to make to the list of histories of inventions :— Original Treatises, dating from the xiith to xviiith centuries, on the Arts of Painting I in oil, miniature, mosaic, and on glass; of gilding, dyeing, and the preparation of colours and artificial gems ; preceded by a general introduction ; with transla- tions, prefaces, and notes. By Mrs. Merrifield. ... In two volumes. London : John Murray, Albemarle Street. 1849. 8vo. Vol. I. pp. cccxii. 1-321 [i] Vol. II. pp. V. [i] [323—5] 326-920. This work ought to have been included among the histories long ago, but it has become rare, and it is only recently that I have been able either to see or get a copy. During all these investigations I have come across no book