Gerbier, Sir Balthazar (1591?-1667)

  • Gerbier, Sir Balthazar, 1591?-1667
Date:
1654
Reference:
MS.2505
  • Archives and manuscripts

About this work

Description

Secretum virtutis et scientiarum speculum. Miroir de la vertu. Et quelques secrets utiles aux Princes et aux Peuples. Première partie.

Author's holograph calligraphic MS., with three original crayon drawings. The drawings are on paste-board, and depict Christ and St. Thomas (fol. 8), Saul at the Gate of Damascus (fol. 10), and Susanna and the Elders (fol. 12). Each of the drawings is protected by a blue silk guard. On fol. 16 are two pen-drawings of an explosive mine. Pasted on the verso of the second leaf is an engraved portrait of Gerbier (16½ × 12 cm.), by Jean Meyssens [1612-1672] after Vandyck. This seems to be the portrait from C. de Bies' 'Gulden Cabinet' 1662, listed in J. F. van Someren's 'Beschryvende Catallogus' 1888-1891, Vol. 2, p. 279, entered as No. 1968b.

On fol. 13 is a separate title: 'Formulaire touchant l'art de la plume et d'un language et chifre secret très utile aux princes, du desseign, de la géometrie, de l'architecture militaire ... et de la philosophie naturelle expérimentale, en examples de secrets très rares er utiles. Première partie'.

Of the various subjects mentioned in this title not all are treated in the actual text: and this includes 'Loix, status [sic], ordonnances et coustumes pour un nouvel Estat' (ff. 18-23): there are also 'Secrets de chimie' (ff. 24-27), which, in spite of this heading, contain medical receipts.

Publication/Creation

1654

Physical description

1 volume 27 ll. atlas folio. 33 × 231/2 cm. [45 × 35 cm.] Late 17th cent. calf gilt panelled binding: the upper cover inscribed in gold, within a gilt ornamental panel 'Formulaire de langue d'ecritve [sic] et desein [sic]'. A foliation has been added in pencil. Part of the text is of smaller dimension (33 × 231/2 cm.) and laid down on sheets measuring 45 × 35 cm., the original dimensions of the volume. These comprise ff. 2-13, 21, 23v, and all contain purely calligraphic texts, some with elaborate borders and arabesque decorations.

Acquisition note

Purchased 1920.

Biographical note

The contents of this MS. are apparently unpublished, and it seems to have been made up and bound after the author's death. He was a Dutch-French painter and architect who first came to England in 1616 and became Keeper of York House. He was knighted by Charles I in 1628, and was Master of Ceremonies in 1641. In 1643 he went to France and returned to England at the Restoration [see the Dictionary of National Biography].

Finding aids

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

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Identifiers

Accession number

  • 85227