12TH / 13TH CENTURY MANUSCRIPT IN SPINE / FALSE PLACE OF PRINTING
Quercetanus, Josephus [Duchesne, Joseph]: Diaeteticon Polyhistoricon. Opus utique varium, magnae utilitatis ac delectationis quod multa Historica, Philosophica & Medica, tam conservandae sanitati, quam variis curandis morbis necessaria contineat. Genevae [inked over, replaced with stamped or printed text ‘Coloniae Allobrogum’] Apud Petrum Chouët, 1626.
The contemporary limp binding on this seventeenth-century dietary (first printed 1606) offers a fascinating example of recycling practices in book production, as it has a transverse spine lining made from a manuscript material copied out several hundred years prior. The four binding fragments derive from a liturgical codex from the twelfth or early thirteenth century, its sections introduced with rubricated headings and decorative initials. The content of this manuscript was apparently surplus to requirements by the seventeenth century, but the strong parchment was put to a pragmatic new use: four strips were cut up and arranged to bolster the (now visible) sewing supports, helping to secure the paper gatherings.
The original manuscript was quite possibly copied out in Spain, on the basis of the protogothic f with loop at top (cf. Derolez 2003, p. 61). As the lettering to our spine is also a characteristically Spanish feature, it seems that the binder had access to relatively local manuscript waste.
The textblock, on the other hand, originated further afield in Geneva. Interestingly, in our copy, the imprint location of ‘Genevae’ was redacted and replaced with stamped or printed text ‘Coloniae Allobrogum’. Bibliographers have noted that ‘the Geneva imprint was regarded in Catholic countries as the sign of heretical literature’ and ‘various pseudonymous designations were adopted, such as ‘Colonia Allobrogum’ to circumvent this (Compston 2021, citing Wing 1962). One could wonder how convincing our false imprint would have been, given that ‘Genevae’ has very clearly been altered. We have located at least one other copy where the same phenomenon occurs, suggesting a degree of systematic implementation of this ‘correction’ (OCLC accession no. 1041347259).
The Diaeteticon Polyhistoricon was first printed in both Latin and French versions (the latter under the title Le Pourtaict de la sante). The text favours Paracelsus’s theory of the three chemical elements over the concept of the four humours (cf. Albala 2002). Its author, Joseph Duchesne (d.1609), was the personal physician to Henry IV.
Details
Printed. One volume, 16.2 x 11 cms in binding, octavo, pp. 418 [2]. Collation: A-Cc8 Dd2 [matches CCPB]. Woodcut vignette to title page, woodcut headpieces and initials, printed marginalia.
Bound in limp vellum with fore edge cover extensions. Remnants of four ties. Spanish-style lettering to spine (Diaetetic. Polihistoric.). Front free endpaper extant, rear free endpaper excised.
Transverse spine lining made from fragments of a twelfth or early thirteenth century liturgical manuscript, possibly copied in Spain and including part of Ambrose of Milan’s In Epiphaniis Domini. The lining, structurally similar to Fragmentarium F-vkj1 and F-2ksw, consists of 4 strips of parchment deriving from a single(?) leaf. Overall size for each fragment estimated to be c.30 x c.100 mm. First third of each strip adhered to front pastedown, final third of each strip adhered to rear pastedown (both now lifted or lifting making fragments visible), central third of each strip adhered to and concealed by spine. Generally c.8 lines of text visible per strip at front pastedown portion, written in protogothic script. We note f with a loop at the top, a feature identified by Derolez as being found in Spanish manuscripts (lowermost fragment, line 4; cf. Derolez 2003, p. 61). Rubricated headings. 3 decorative initials in red and/or blue (of which 2 are partial) at front pastedown portion.
Provenance: Benjamín Bentura Remacha (1931-2019), journalist and expert on bullfighting. Initials BBR (and identifier m. 106) in blue pen to front free endpaper, armorial stamp to front free endpaper and rear pastedown (Biblioteca Bentura Ejea de los Caballeros).
Condition (textblock): browning and spotting; recurring single puncture mark in blank outer margins of several quires. Condition (binding): staining to vellum, chewing to lower corner of rear cover, ties fragmentary.
Bibliography:
CCPB000578303-8. OCLC shows copies outside mainland Europe at the Newberry Library, University of Chicago, National Library of Medicine (Maryland), University of British Columbia, Cambridge University, Trinity College Cambridge, Edinburgh University, and National Library of Israel.
Albala, Ken, Eating Right in the Renaissance (University of California, 2002), p. 42.
Derolez, Albert, The palaeography of gothic manuscript books from the twelfth to the early sixteenth century (Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 2003).