Beschreibung:

Sigismund Otto (compiler) Arzneibuch or Pharmacopoeia of Sigismund Otto, in German, manuscript on paper [Germany], 1590. A compilation of medicinal recipes and treatments for a wide variety of different ailments, assembled by Sigismund Otto, and drawing on various 16th-century medical texts and publications, including by Melchior Sebizius (1539–1625), doctor and rector in Strasbourg. 193 x 166mm 180 + viii leaves, of which 81 written, pagination 1-356 followed here, varying numbers of lines in a cursive German Schrift in two separate hands, headers often underlined in red, 20th-century index on paper 8 leaves added at end (browning and foxing and some offsetting of text). Vellum over pasteboards, manuscript title on spine (cockled, soiled and warped). Provenance: (1) Sigismund Otto: inscription on f.1: ‘Artznei Buch 1590. Opusculum non magnarum, sed necessarium rerum per Sigismundum Otthonem collectum’. (2) Early 20th-century German newspaper clipping tipped in at the back. Content: Arzneibuch, or Pharmacopoeia, containing recipes for the cure of a variety of illnesses and ailments, including for when a person is struck ('Wann einen Menschen der Schlag gerühret […] ist bewerth an dem alten Jägermeister Paul Gröbeln’), a recipe for Cinnamon water (‘Zimmentwasser’, f.15), a cure for colic (f.27), Doctor Longobart’s cough powder (‘Doctor Longobarts Pulver welsches dienet […] Vor den Husten, f.31), a recipe for ‘Carfunckelwasser’ (f.49), a balm and a tonic for a blow (f.50), a cure for sleeplessness (‘Wann ein Mensch nicht schlaffen kann’), and one for rotten gums (‘Vor Wese der Zehne undt faules Zahnfleisch’), a rejuvenatory tonic for the old ‘Ein wunderbarlich gleichstem Göttliches und heimliches waßer Zumachen, welches alle alte verlobte Leüthe Verjüngen, auch alte und neue schaden heilen Kan’, a powder for the stomach and the chest (‘Köstlich magen und Brust Pulver‘), cures for severe ailments affecting children (‘Schwerengebrechen der kinder’, f.67), medicinal recipes in the time of plague (‘In zeit der pest’, f.75); follows a brief treatise dated St Gall, 1590 regarding gold: ‘Dise Goldtberg undt Goldtwäschen zufinden, hatt ein Venetianer mit Nahmen Gratianus Gündell dem Jacob Schaden bey dem Er sich 18 Jahr auf gehalten […]’ and where to find it ‘Frauenstein bey Freyberg […] Das rothe Wetterhaus [...] Der Eisenberg im Böhmen [...] Brun in Böhmen [...] Radebergh [...] Neunmarck [...] Gera und Weida [...] Weidenstein [...] Hammerberg [...] Schnegrube [...]’ (ff.83-105), a remedy for nose bleeds ('Wieder das Bluten aus der Nasen‘ f.149), a cure for worms (f.187), in children and old people (‘Für die Würme der Kinder und alten Leutt’ f.237), how to tell the age of a horse (‘Wie man das Alter eines Pferdes erkennen soll’ f.335), with reference on f.337 to Melchior Sebizius (‘Melchior Sebizius Silesius Der Artzney Doctor 1580, f.151’).