RENAISSANCE MAN:

The Reconstructed Libraries of European Scholars, 1450-1700

Series One The Books and Manuscripts of John Dee, 1527-1608

Parts 4 to 6: John Dee's Annotated Books from the Library of the Royal College of Physicians, London

Publisher's Note

Renaissance Man: The Reconstructed Libraries of European Scholars, 1450-1700 seeks to bring together on microfilm the surviving volumes and manuscripts of some of the finest libraries in Renaissance England. Series One focuses on the great library of John Dee (1527-1608), philosopher, mathematician, astrologer and theologian. Under the guidance and general editorship of Julian Roberts and Dr Elisabeth Leedham-Green this project aims to reconstruct Dee's Library based on the findings published in John Dee's Library Catalogue, edited by Julian Roberts and Andrew G Watson, (The London Bibliographical Society, 1990).

Part 1 covers John Dee’s Manuscripts from the Bodleian Library, Oxford Highlights include Dee’s private diary, 1577-1601, his record of experiments, Thomas Norton’s The ordinal of alchemy, 1577, Geoffrey of Meaux’s On the causes of the Black Death, Chaucer’s Treatise on the astrolabe and Sir John Mandeville’s Travels. Many manuscripts contain Dee marginalia, notes and symbols.

Part 2 comprises John Dee’s Manuscripts from Corpus Christi College, Oxford This features many arabic mathematical texts and the heavily annotated works of Roger Bacon. These include works on the spheres and on spirits, romances, saint’s lives, commentaries, grammars and rhetoric.

Part 3 brings together John Dee’s Manuscripts and Annotated Books from Cambridge University Library
The copy of Henricus Herpf’s Theologia mystica is heavily annotated and shows signs that it has been read closely, while a work of Pomponius Gauricus contains clusters of notes on ‘Symmetria’, ‘Perspectiva’ and ‘Chimica’ including instructions for making and polishing a steel glass. Authors represented include: Albumazar, Averroes, Roger Bacon, Georgius Benignus, Demetrius Chalcondylas, Democritus, Diogenes Laertius, Dionysius Areopagita, Pomponius Gauricus, Jacques Gohory, Wigandus Happellius, Felix Hemmerlin, Hermes, Henricus Herpf, Elias Levita, Amadeus Meigret, Albertus de Marchesiis, Augustinus Sebastianus Nuzenus, Proclus, Ps. Albertus Magnus, Ps. Avicenna, Rasis, Cornelius Duplicius Scepper, Johannes Trithemius, John of Vienna, and Johannes Voerthusius.

Subjects range from astrology and astronomy, through grammar and ethics, to philosophy and theology. There are also many scientific works. Dee’s library incorporated many of the major traditions of thought. The influence of the Arab world can be seen from the texts of Albumazar, the 9th century astronomer; Averroes [Abul Walid Mohammed Ben Ahmed Ibn Roshd], the Muslim doctor, born in Cordova and famed for his works on Aristotle; and commentaries on Ptolemy. The Hebrew traditions are shown in the works of Elias Levita and a number of other Hebraica. The central influence of the Greek philosophy can be seen in the works of Diogenes Laertius, who wrote extensively on Epicurus and Democritus and Proclus.

Neoplatonism is well represented with manuscript texts of De sex rerum principiis, khalid rex et Morienus romanus and Liber gratiae by Hermes Trismegistus, and De mystica theologia by Dionysius Areopagita. A copy of De secretis naturae by Roger Bacon is also featured, and he was clearly an important influence on Dee’s own thought, as well as sharing the common fate of being accused of necromancy.
These sources will enable scholars to better understand the Renaissance world view and help to reveal the antecedents and underpinnings of Humanism.

Parts 4-6 bring together the largest surviving group of Dee's printed books from the holdings of the Dorchester Library at the Royal College of Physicians, London.

"This great library was always at the disposal of Dee's fellow scientists among his friends and pupils. If one believes that the first essential and the true centre of any university is its library, Dee's circle might truly be termed the scientific university of England during the period from about 1560 to 1583." [see F.R. Johnson, Astronomical Thought in Renaissance England (Baltimore, 1937), p139]. Many of John Dee's books were stolen from him in 1583. The chief thief seems to have been Nicholas Saunder. What happened when Dee left for Poland in September 1583 is set out in pp48-52 of John Dee's Library Catalogue, edited by Julian Roberts and Andrew G Watson, (The London Bibliographical Society, 1990).

Not all the facts are known, but a good number of Dee's books have been traced in the holdings of the Dorchester Library at the Royal College of Physicians. Many of these have the name of "Joannes Dee" bleached out and replaced by the inscription "Nich. Saunder". Dee-Saunder books are found not only in the library which Henry Pierrepont, Marquess of Dorchester (1606-1680) left to the College of Physicians in 1687 or 1688 but also among the books of Archbishop William Wake (1657-1737) at Christ Church, Oxford. Some of the latter had formerly been part of the Dorchester Library as they are listed in the 1664 catalogue of the Dorchester Library. For further details please see John Dee's Library Catalogue, edited by Julian Roberts and Andrew G Watson, (The London Bibliographical Society, 1990).

Information on the acquisition of the Dorchester Library by the College of Physicians is to be found in an article by J Roy entitled The History of the College Library: The Dorchester Library (Royal College of Physicians, Vol.4 No.3 April 1970) and in William Munk, The Roll of the Royal College of Physicians of London, Volume I: 1518 to 1700 (Royal College of Physicians, London 1878). Both refer to the Marquess of Dorchester as “Henry Pierrepoint”.

Many puzzles still remain. Was the thief Nicholas Saunder originally in Dee's circle? What were the motives for his action ? It seems that around 500 books were stolen by Saunder or spoiled by John Davis, but this was only a small part of the total library. Many books and manuscripts were dispersed later, some were passed on to Dee's friend, John Pontois, to John Woodall, to Arthur Dee, or to Patrick Saunders, Dee's servant, who was finally elected to the College of Physicians at Michaelmas 1620. (Patrick Saunders is no relation to Nicholas Saunder). Saunders left his books in his will to his son, also Patrick, who like his father went on to practise medicine in London.

The books in the Library of the Royal College of Physicians, clearly identified as belonging to John Dee, carry many of his annotations and marginalia. It is known that Dee annotated more books in the earlier part of his career up to 1583. The annotations are of three kinds. There are signs (the pointing hand and the "flower sign" which both occur in his library catalogue); underlinings of key words or key passages of text; or marginal notes - often the occasional word or phrase penned beside the text. There are also important biographical and bibliographical notes, written for the most part before 1560, either on fly leaves, title pages or at the end of volumes. Many such examples are reproduced in this microfilm edition of Dee volumes from the Dorchester Library. The annotations reveal much about Dee's interests, his reading habits and sometimes they even give details of particular events in Dee's life, nativities and other occurrences. They also inform our understanding of general reading practices and the management of knowledge in the Renaissance period.

Part 4 of this microfilm project includes 4 manuscripts and 58 bound volumes with copious underlinings, marginalia and annotations in Dee’s hand.

A good example is folio 87 at the end of De Revolutionibus in Giralamo Cardano’s De supplemento almanach - see pages 66-67 in this guide. There are well illustrated manuals on military conduct and deportment such as Bernardino Rocca’s Du Maniement et Conduite de l’Art Militaire (Paris 1571) and Francesco Ferretti’s Della Osservanza Militaire (Venice 1568). The Introductio geographica by Petrus Apianus, published in Ingolstadt in 1533, contains interesting drawings of navigational instruments - one of these is depicted on page 16 of this guide. The title page of this work is illustrated on page 20 of this guide.

There are many works on mathematics, astrology and astronomy such as:

• Euclid’s Geometrica with a sixteenth book on the Elements of Geometry by Flussas and John Dee’s Mathematicall Praeface (1574?)
• Guido Bonatti’s De astronomia tractatus (Basileae 1550)
• Andreas Alexander’s Mathemalogium (Lipsiae 1504)
• Lucius Bellantius, De astrologica veritate (Basileae 1554)
• Ptolemy’s Astrologica (Basileae 1559)
• Other highlights are Antoine Mizauld’s Planetologia (Lyon 1551) with many Dee underlinings and marginalia, Dee’s Parallaticae commentationis praxeosque nucleus (London 1573), Dee’s copies of the Antwerp (1553) and Cologne (1578) versions of De principiis astronomiae et cosmographiae by Reinerus Gemma Frisius, and Guillaume Postel’s De Universitate (Paris 1563) and his Cosmographia (Basileae 1561).

Authors represented in Part 4 of this project include:

Camillo Agrippa, Petrus Apianus, Archimedes, Arnaldus de Villa Nova, Andrea Bacci, Petrus Beausardus, Lucius Bellantius, Johannes Blanchinus, Thomas Boderius, Guido Bonatti, Charles de Bouelles, Martinus Borrhaus, Girolamo Cataneo, Girolamo Cardano, Volcherus Coeiter, Giovanni Andrea dalla Croce, John Dee, Francesco Feretti, Girolamo Fracastoro, Reinerus Gemma Frisius, Lucas Gauricus, Paschasius Hamellius, Cyprianus von Leowitz, Achille Marozzo, Gervasius Marstallerus, Philipp Melanchthon, Antoine Mizauld, Antoine Du Moulin, Sebastian Muenster, Valentinus Nabod, Jordanus Nemorarius, Dominius Marius Niger, Petrus Pitatus, Guillaume Postel, Proclus, Ptolemy, Heinrich Rantzau, Bernardino Rocca, John of Seville, Johannes Taisnier, André Thevet, Hermes Trismegistus and Johann Tritheim.

Subjects covered range across many disciplines:

• mathematics, alchemy, astrology, astronomy and navigation
• philosophy and theology
• history, classics and politics
• military and naval arts and science
• medicine, anatomy and the para-medical sciences
• the study of metals, minerals and mechanics
• music

Places of publication include: Antwerp, Basel, Brescia, Frankfurt, Ingolstadt, London, Lyon, Noriberg, Paris, Rome, Venice and Wittenberg.

Part 4 also provides four manuscripts as well as the significant array of printed books. These manuscripts are John Ashenden's Summa de accidentibus mundi, 1347-1348,; Ranulf Higden's Polychronicon: A chronicle of England beginning with Julius Caesar and ending with the year 1333; a Book of Hours and the Wilton Psalter.

Part 5 covers another 46 bound volumes. Again, many of these are heavily annotated. The example depicted on page 68 of this guide comes from a volume by Petrus Bonus Lombardus. The title page reads: “Introductio in Divinam Chemiae Artem integra magistri Boni Lombardi Ferrariensis Physici” and is signed "Joannes Dee" with the following annotation: "Et Preciosa Margarita Novella". Also heavily annotated by Dee throughout are the two volumes of Cicero’s Opera (Paris 1539). The page with the ship illustration comes from De natura deorum, Liber II (page 213) - see illustration on page 69 of this guide.

Authors represented in Part 5 of this project include:

Giovanni dall’ Agocchie, Joâo de Barros, Matthaeus Beroaldus, Giovanni Boccaccio, Johann Carion, Jacob Carpenter, Laonicus Chalcondyles, René Chopin, Nicetas Acominatus Choniates, Cicero, Natale Conti, Charles de L’ Ecluse, Charles Estienne, Cesare d’ Evoli, Lucius Annaeus Florus, Giacomo di Grassi, Nicephorus Gregoras, Lodovico Guicciardini, Franciscus Irenicus, Johannes Silesius Langius, Petrus Bonus Lombardus, Giovanni Marienello, Marius Nizolius, Pierre d’ Oudegherst, Ovid, Heinrich Pantaleon, Paracelsus, Francesco Patrizi, Pausanias, Plotinus, Johannes Jovinianus Pontanus, Porphyry, Guillaume Postel, Christophe de Roffignac, Morienus Romanus, Walther Hermann Ryff, Francesco Sansovino, Paulus Scalichius, Julius Caesar Scaliger, Girolamo Vielmi, Johannes Voerthusius, Matthew of Westminster and Joannes Zonaras.

Subjects covered again range across many disciplines:

• Alchemy and Botany
• Angels and Magi
• Philosophy and Theology
• History of Rome
• History of Britain, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Etruria and the Holy Roman Empire
• Military and Naval Arts and Science
• Medicine, Anatomy and the Para-Medical Sciences
• Memory
• Women
• Latin Language and Literature, Saxon Grammar and historical dictionaries

Places of publication include: Antwerp, Anvers, Basel, Florence, Frankfurt, Lausanne, London, Lyon, Paris, Rome, Venice and Wittenberg.

Particular items of interest in Part 5 include:

• Antoine Mizauld’s Phaenomena (Paris 1546)
• Guillaume Postel’s De Etruria (Florence 1551)
• Charles l’Ecluse, De Simplicibus Americanis: eiusdem historia aromatum Indiae orientalis (Christophe Plantin, Antwerp 1574) with Dee’s note on tobacco on page 27.
• Johann Carion’s Chronica (Wittenberg 1576) reveals the influence of Philipp Melanchthon and others in his circle.
• The three volumes of the works of Johannes Jovinianus Pontanus (Basileae 1538), bought during Dee’s stay in Louvain in 1549-1550, with the crowned double-headed Habsburg eagle stamped on the binding.
• Julius Caesar Scaliger’s Exotericae Exercitationes (Paris 1557) with a heavily annotated section on angels (folio 462 onwards).
• Charles Estienne’s Dictionarium historicum & poëticum (Lyon 1579) with its passages and poetry on people, places, flowers, rivers, mountains and regional landscapes.

Part 6 adds a further 53 bound volumes.

Authors represented in this final part from the Royal College of Physicians include:

Aristeas, Cornelius Bonaventura Bertramnus, Barnabe Brisson, Gabriele Buratelli, David Chytraeus, Robert Constantin, Augustinus Caelius Curio, Carolus Degrassalius, Lodovico Dolce, Euripides, Michael von Eytzinger, Simon Fontaine, Gilbert Génébrard, Antoine Geuffroy, Laurentius Grimalius Goslicius, Herodian, Thomas Kirchmeyer, Ramon Lull, Niccolò Machiavelli, Giovanni Marinello, Petrus Martinius, Pedro Mexia, Antoine Mizauld, Sebastianus Foxius Morzillus, Sebastian Muenster, Jacob Naclantus, Marcus Antonius Natta, Jeronimo Osorio da Fonseca, Onofrio Panvino, Caspar Peucer, Petrus Pomponatius, Guillaume Postel, Quintilianus, Innocenzio Ringhieri, Alessandro Sardi, Guillaume de Saluste du Bartas, Lucius Annaeus Seneca, Josias Simler, Petrus Suffridus, André Thevet, Johann Tritheim, Johannes Velcurio and Thomas Walsingham.

Subjects covered range across many disciplines:

• Alchemy
• Philosophy and Theology
• History of Rome
• History of Britain, France, German and Italian states and principalities, the Holy Roman Empire, Africa, and the Mediterranean
• The Turks and the Ottoman Empire
• Geography and Exploration
• Women
• Latin and Greek Language, Classical Culture and Literature

Places of publication include Antwerp, Anvers, Basel, Frankfurt, Geneva, London, Lyon, Paris, Rostock, Venice and Wittenberg.

Particular items of interest in Part 6 include:

• Antoine Mizauld’s Phaenomena (Paris 1546) and his Meteorologia (Paris 1547)
• Guillaume Postel’s De Originibus (Oporin 1553)
• Antoine Geuffroy’s Aula Turcica (Basel 1577) with descriptions of the Turkish empire, its customs, culture and religions
• Herodian’s De Romanorum Imperatorum (Basel 1553)
• Euripides, Tragoediae (Frankfurt 1562)
• Machiavelli’s Princeps (Basel 1580)
• Thomas Kirchmeyer’s Sophocles Tragoediae Septem, with much underlining of the ‘Sententiae’
  André Thevet’s Cosmographie Universelle, 2 volumes (Paris 1575)
• Sebastian Muenster’s La Cosmographie Universelle, or Cosmographia, edited by François de Belleforest, 2 volumes (Paris 1575), with excellent woodcut illustrations of medieval towns and cities - Saint Denis, Chartres, Chateaudun, Blois, Orleans, Auxerre, Chaumont en Bassigny, Beauvais, Saint Omer, Calais, Nevers, Bourges, Tours, Loches, Angers, Rouen, Dieppe, Le Havre, Caen, Poitiers, Angoulème, Perigueux, Clermont, Treves, Metz, Dijon, Maçon, Lyon, Nice, Marseille, Avignon, Naples, Goa, Calecut, Mombassa, Cairo and Jerusalem. There are also good chapters on navigation, mathematical calculations and instruments.

This project will prove of great interest to scholars exploring the history of collecting printed books. It also provides much detail for those interested in Dee's marginalia and annotations; it provides excellent source material for everyone interested in knowing what books were available to Dee, his friends, colleagues and students. Finally, it brings together a wide range of material for students of the Renaissance, both in England and on the continent of Europe.

SUPPORTING COMMENTS:

“When it was catalogued in 1583 Dee’s library was Elizabethan England’s largest and - for scientific subjects at least - most valuable collection of books and manuscripts.... The collection was the result of extraordinary commitment and energy in the preservation, collection, and management of textual information and as such it is central to an appreciation of both Dee’s life and the period in which he lived. It is not only a monument to Dee’s scholarly interests and achievements; it is one of the greatest monuments of English Renaissance culture. ”
Dr William H Sherman
Department of English, University of Maryland,
writing in John Dee: The Politics of Reading & Writing in the English Renaissance
(University of Massachusetts Press, 1995)

“Dee stood in the middle of the sixteenth century, at the watershed between magic and science, looking back at one and forward to the other. Central to all these interests was a great library, the largest that had ever been built up by one man in England. Dee’s omnivorous reading (demonstrated by his characteristic annotation) and the availability of his library to others fed many of the intellectual streams of Elizabethan England....”
Julian Roberts
Consultant Editor for this microfilm project,
Former Keeper of Printed Books, Bodleian Library, Oxford
and co-editor, with Andrew G Watson, of
John Dee's Library Catalogue (The London Bibliographical Society, 1990).

“These projects will be of immense benefit to Renaissance scholars … to make available copies of the more significant books and manuscripts owned by certain well-known people, is a marvellous service.“
Laetitia Yeandle
Folger Shakespeare Library

“The Renaissance Man project is an exciting development which will prove of inestimable value to scholars of the Renaissance concerned with the circulation of texts and the uses made of them, with printing and publishing history, or with the intellectual background of individual scholars.“
Dr Elisabeth Leedham-Green
Consultant Editor for this microfilm project and
Fellow, Darwin College, University of Cambridge

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