Public-domain ebook
Language: en26,813 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: History - Other·History - Ancient·History - Medieval/Middle Ages
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #67792.
Lynn Thorndike’s A History of Magic and Experimental Science, Volume 1 is a scholarly survey of the intertwining of occult practice and nascent scientific inquiry from the first thirteen centuries of the Common Era. The work opens with an exhaustive list of abbreviations that maps the myriad manuscript collections, printed editions, and reference series he will draw upon, ranging from the British Museum’s “Additional Manuscripts” to the “Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum” and the “Catalogus codicum astrologorum Graecorum.” After this meticulous preface, Thorndike explains his system of designating individual manuscripts and proceeds to a “List of Works Frequently Cited,” outlining the sources that will underpin each chapter’s discussion of figures such as Roger Bacon, Albertus Magnus, and early Arabic alchemists. The introductory material signals a book that is as much a bibliography as a narrative, offering a roadmap for readers who wish to trace the primary texts behind the history of magical and experimental thought.
The prose is dense, academic, and rooted in early‑20th‑century scholarship, reflecting Thorndike’s background as a historian of medieval science. His style is methodical, peppered with Latin titles and precise cataloguing language, which will appeal to specialists in the history of science, medievalists, and librarians familiar with manuscript studies. Readers who enjoy detailed source criticism, the evolution of intellectual traditions, and the careful weaving together of occult and scientific strands will find this volume a rewarding, if demanding, reference work.
The opening · free to read
Abhandl. Abhandlungen zur Geschichte der Mathematischen Wissenschaften, begründet von M. Cantor, Teubner, Leipzig.
Addit. Additional Manuscripts in the British Museum.
Amplon. Manuscript collection of Amplonius Ratinck at Erfurt.
AN Ante-Nicene Fathers, American Reprint of the Edinburgh edition, in 9 vols., 1913.
AS Acta sanctorum.
Beiträge Beiträge zur Geschichte der Philosophie des Mittelalters, ed. by C. Baeumker, G. v. Hertling, M. Baumgartner, et al., Münster, 1891-.
BL Bodleian Library, Oxford.
BM British Museum, London.
BN Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris.
Borgnet Augustus Borgnet, ed. B. Alberti Magni Opera omnia, Paris, 1890-1899, in 38 vols.
Brewer Fr. Rogeri Bacon Opera quaedam hactenus inedita, ed. J. S. Brewer, London, 1859, in RS, XV.
Bridges The Opus Maius of Roger Bacon, ed. J. H. Bridges, I-II, Oxford, 1897; III, 1900.
CCAG Catalogus codicum astrologorum Graecorum, ed. F. Cumont, W. Kroll, F. Boll, et al., 1898.
CE Catholic Encyclopedia.
CFCB Census of Fifteenth Century Books Owned in America, compiled by a committee of the Bibliographical Society of America, New York, 1919.
CLM Codex Latinus Monacensis (Latin MS at Munich).
CSEL Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum latinorum, Vienna, 1866-.
CU Cambridge University (used to distinguish MSS in colleges having the same names as those at Oxford).
CUL Cambridge University Library.
DNB Dictionary of National Biography.
EB Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th edition.
EETS Early English Text Society Publications.
EHR English Historical Review.
ERE Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. J. Hastings et al., 1908-.
HL Histoire Littéraire de la France.
HZ Historische Zeitschrift, Munich, 1859-.
Kühn Medici Graeci, ed. C. J. Kühn, Leipzig, 1829, containing the works of Galen, Dioscorides, etc.
MG Monumenta Germaniae.
MS Manuscript.
MSS Manuscripts.
Muratori Rerum Italicarum scriptores ab anno aerae christianae 500 ad 1500, ed. L. A. Muratori, 1723-1751.
NH C. Plinii Secundi Naturalis Historia (Pliny’s Natural History).
PG Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series graeca.
PL Migne, Patrologiae cursus completus, series latina.
PN The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, ed. Wace and Schaff, 1890-1900, 14 vols.
PW Pauly and Wissowa, Realencyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft.
RS “Rolls Series,” or Rerum Britannicarum medii aevi scriptores, 99 works in 244 vols., London, 1858-1896.
TU Texte und Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der altchristlichen Literatur, ed. Gebhardt und Harnack.
Individual manuscripts are usually briefly designated in the ensuing notes and appendices by a single word indicating the place or collection where the MS is found and the number or shelf-mark of the individual MS. So many of the catalogues of MSS collections which I consulted were undated and without name of author that I have decided to attempt no catalogue of them. The brief designations that I give will be sufficient for anyone who is interested in MSS. In giving Latin titles, Incipits, and the like of MSS I employ quotation marks when I know from personal examination or otherwise that the wording is that of the MS itself, and omit the marks where the Latin seems rather to be that of the description in the manuscript catalogue or other source of information. In the following List of Works Frequently Cited are included a few MSS catalogues whose authors I shall have occasion to refer to by name.
LIST OF WORKS FREQUENTLY CITED BY AUTHOR AND DATE OF PUBLICATION OR BRIEF TITLE
The book keeps going
Reading is free forever. Sign up and watch scenes appear while you read.
Scenes Storieta drew for other classics.
New illustrated classics
Once or twice a month: the latest books to get full character casts, scene art, and free comic editions. No account needed.
