The James Catalogue of Western Manuscripts

I. Two small leaves, formerly the cover of some tracts now bound in R.14.44.
The name Laurence Sadler is on one, and the note
Empt. Lend. Feb. 24, Anno 1628. pret. 4 ^s.

II. Cent. xv, 8.5 x 5.75.
On the fly-leaf are the names Elizabeth and James R.
i. p.3 Ask þ ^e comyn verkerys þ ^t holde ham soo wyse what ys þ^e erthe and what ys the vete
It is in English and Latin and contains passages in verse.
Apparently it ends on p.25.
tam de lapide albo quam rubro.
Expl. opus d. Johannis snell de Wigmor.

III. p.27 In another hand
1. Erat autem quidam rex volens alios arare potentes.
An Alchemical parable, followed by others.
2. p.34 Inc. tractatus mag^ri Reginaldi de Noua Villa
In isto opuscule loquitur de secretis nature.
In seven chapters, ending p.40.

IV. Seven leaves 7.25 x4.75. Cent. xiii, xiv, discoloured.
Epistola Aristotelis philosophi quam misit Alexandro. Oportet te Alexander cum a lecto surrexeris.
Apparently unfinished. Ends: frigid' et humid' quod p...

V. In a larger hand. Cent. xv: 8.75x5.75: same hand as no. III.
Begins imperfectly
p.43 et vide tociens donee totum intelligas
The next section is headed
Modus proiciendi,
and ends
dici et esse socius antiquorum.
Expl. practica Magri Arnoldi de Nona villa.
Another paragraph
p.45 Uterum (sic) anima intellectiua humana sit corruptibilis
The next tract begins
p.46 Cum gaudeant uti breuitate moderni
It is on the transmutation of the "inferior planets" (i.e. metals), contains passages in verse, and ends (p.76)
Ut duo que fuerant unum quasi corpore fiant. Amen.
Signed (as much else in this book) with the letter K.
English receipts
fforto make hynke of lombardie
p.77 fforto make ynke to merke w^t wolle sakkes
Others are to make red lead, "vertgrece, fyne azure, parchemyne, velyme," etc.
More than one hand occurs.
p.117 is blank.
On p.119
Thyse bene the namys of the meyerys and schryvys in the tyme of kynge henry the v^te beryyd at Westmest^re.

VI. Another hand, 39 lines to a page.
p.121 The symbols of the metals, in red
In sekyng oute of the sothenesse of this craft y^t men callys alkemye.
The hand changes at p.140 and proceeds
Now ys to schoe phylosoferys stonys and the perfytenes of tham.
Passages in verse occur, and on p.152 is the same line as on p.76: ut duo que fuerant, etc.
On pp.153, 154 are miscellaneous receipts.
These are continued on p.155 in the first hand of this tract.
The second hand resumes on p.176 and continues top.192.

Mooney, L. R., The Index of Middle English Prose Handlist 11: Manuscripts in the Library of Trinity College, Cambridge [IMEP] (Cambridge, 1995), pp. 46-9 and 155

Grund, P., "Mistical Wordes and Names Infinite": An Edition and Study of Humphrey Lock's Treatise on Alchemy (Uppsala, 2004)

Ryley, H., Re-using manuscripts in late medieval England: repairing, recycling, sharing (Woodbridge, 2022)

Timmermann, A., 'Alchemy in Cambridge: An Annotated Catalogue of Alchemical Texts and Illustrations in Cambridge Repositories', Nuncius, 30 (2015), p. 444