Manuscript in Italian in multiple hands, containing medical formulas, home remedies, etc. Late 16th - late 17th cent

Late 16th to later 17th Century Notebook of Drugs, Home Remedies and Cures

[Medical manuscript.] Collection of medicinal formulas, home remedies, cures, etc., written in Italian in multiple cursive hands. [152]ff., including 30 blanks. N.p., later 16th - later 17th century. 164 x 114 mm. 16th century limp vellum, worn, top of spine and back cover damaged. Some dampstaining and soiling throughout, but overall good.

This intriguing early medical manuscript may have been a physician's notebook or a collection of household remedies compiled by one or more families; in any case, the notebook was used and added to from the late sixteenth to the late seventeenth centuries. The earliest date we have found in the manuscript is 1563 (on the verso of the third leaf); the latest date we have noted is 1669 (recto of leaf 123). The first several leaves appear to contain a discussion of ulcers and fistulae; a table of contents appears on leaves 40 - 41; and the following several leaves contain a list of materia medica including chamomile, quinine, cinnamon, fenugreek, anise, etc.