ProvenanceFormer Academy manuscript number 18/5 (see inside front cover).
MaterialVellum
DecorationFigurative
BindingsBound in calf with fine-blind tooling. Gilt lettered on on spine "Irish Ms. Astronomy, etc."
Dimensions10½" × 7½"
Online since2006
NotesThe pagination is not contemporary with the manuscript. Note that pagination here ([302]-[317]) corrects erroneous pagination ([301]-315) of RIA catalogue. The leaves have been detached from their conjugates (as far as can be judged from the bound MS) and interleaved with Vellum. There are no chasms, but the manuscript is only a fragment of a larger manuscript, and the one text it contains is incomplete. The Vellum is stained and discoloured on outer margins, and pp. 302 [301] and 317 [315] are defaced as if the fragment had spent a considerable time detached from its manuscript. Tiny holes in some leaves seem to have been made by a needle. There are geometrical drawings and some rubrication throughout. The writing is in double column. Inside front cover is pasted a slip of Paper bearing a note : "This half copy of an Irish Translation of Messahalah's De orbibus coelestibus contains blank leaves inserted for its preservation, and not as representing lacunae in the text. Mr. Maxwell H. Close informs me that the text, so far as it goes, is consecutive. 1 July 1902. G. A. Cole. Librarian."
RightsCopyright Royal Irish Academy; Copyright image source Irish Script on Screen, School of Celtic Studies, DIAS.
DescriptionRIA MS 23 F 13 is a Gaelic manuscript from the 14th or 15th century. Location and scribe are unknown. Written on vellum the entire manuscript contains a copy of the initial twenty-seven chapters of the Irish Astronomical Tract deriving from Messahalah, a Jew of Alexandria who wrote in Arabic circa 800. For another copy, which is complete, see RIA MS B ii 1. Beg. Gloria Deo principio sine principio .i. gloir de Dia da tosach gan tosach. The text appears to be independent of that in RIA MS B ii 1 but both manuscripts are strikingly similar in general lay-out, geometrical drawings, etc. Text ends at a point corresponding approximately (owing to defaced state of p. 317 [315] it is not possible to be more definite) to ed. Maura Power, Irish Texts Society, xiv, p. 110, 1. 15. This manuscript is one of three used in the preparation of the edition. Other copies of this astronomical Tract are avaiable at: RIA MS 3 A 7, RIA MS 3 A 8, RIA MS 3 A 9, RIA MS 3 A 10, RIA MS 3 B 32.
ReferencesPower (Maura) (ed), An Irish Astronomical Tract, based in part on a mediæval Latin version of a work by Messahalah [i.e. the "De Scientia Motus Orbis," translated by Gerardus Sablonetanus, and edited by J. Stabius, 1504] London, Irish Texts Society, 1914. This Manuscript is one of three used in the preparation of the published edition.
"Note that pagination in the images ([302]-[317]) corrects erroneous pagination ([301]-315) of RIA catalogue, below."
Catalogue of Irish Manuscripts in Royal Irish Academy
1217
23 F 13
Astronomical Tract
14-15th centt. ? Vellum. Ga, 10½ × 7½ Ff. 8, paginated [301]-315.
The pagination is not contemporary with the ms. The leaves have been
detached from their conjugates (as far as can be judged from the bound
ms.) and interleaved with vellum. There are no chasms, but the ms. is
only a fragment of a larger ms., and the one text it contains is
incomplete. There is no subscriptio. The vellum is stained and
discoloured on outer margins, and pp. [301] and 315 are defaced as if
the fragment had spent a considerable time detached from its ms. Tiny
holes in some leaves seem to have been made by a needle. There are
geometrical drawings and some rubrication throughout. The writing is in
double column. The lining is effaced. Bound in calf with fine
blind-tooling; gilt-lettered on spine: "Irish Ms. Astronomy, etc."
Former Academy no. 18/5 (see inside front cover).
Inside front cover is pasted a slip of paper bearing a note : "This half
copy of an Irish Translation of Messahalah's De orbibus coelestibus
contains blank leaves inserted for its preservation, and not as
representing lacunae in the text. Mr. Maxwell H. Close informs me that
the text, so far as it goes, is consecutive. 1 July 1902. G. A. Cole.
Librarian."
The entire ms. is occupied by a copy of the initial twenty-seven
chapters of the Irish Astronomical Tract deriving from Messahalah. For
another copy, which is complete, see B ii 1 (1216, supra). Beg.
Gloria Deo principio sine principio .i. gloir de Dia da tosach gan
tosach. The text appears to be independent of that in B ii 1, but; both
mss. are strikingly similar in general lay-out, geometrical drawings,
etc. Text ends at a point corresponding approximately (owing to defaced
state of p. 315 it is not possible to be more definite) to ed. Maura
Power, I.T.S., xiv, p. 110, 1. 15. This ms. is one of three used in the
preparation of the edition.
