While investigating the oldest books in our collections, I stumbled upon the following description of a volume in our Young Collection: ‘Tscep vol wonders’, printed around 1514. The description on the library catalogue was tantalisingly brief, so I referred to the bibliography of the Young Collection, the Bibliotheca Chemica (Glasgow, 1906). It promised ‘a treatise on astrological physic, …[which] contains sections on the temperaments of man under the planets, the planets and their influences, diseases, and the preparation and properties of the quintessence’ and gave descriptions of decorative woodcuts. So it was with great excitement that I entered the store to take this modest volume off the shelf. I wasn’t disappointed.
This book full of wonders contains many woodcut illustrations of the signs of the zodiac and scenes of myth, legend and religion. The elaborate colophon illustration shows a knight grasping a sword in his hand, with a great fish or serpent on his right; above there is a scroll with the motto: ‘Ick lass ghedincken’ and is the printers’ device of Thomas van der Noot of Antwerp. The book is printed in Dutch with initials and highlighted passages rubricated in red on black gothic printed text. There are some annotations in the margins, also in Dutch.
Take a look at some of the wonderful illustrations in this book in our flickr gallery.
The Young Collection contains a fascinating range of books and manuscripts on alchemy and science dating from the 15th century, and holds many secrets, even to its custodians!
Carol Stewart, Senior Library Assistant
