| Item Description: | Michael Laird, bookseller, description: Unpaginated, written on surprisingly thick paper. Fol. 1 torn along lower margin with loss of text, staining and soiling throughout, some gatherings loose or loosening, spine partially defective, boards worn at corners but perfectly sound. One (blank?) leaf between text and Table torn away, apparently without loss of text. Preserved in a cloth case. Provincial Swiss veterinary manuscript, signed and dated by the scribe. Jaques Noblet, a Swiss Veterinarian, resided in the miniscule rural village of Changins, in the Canton of Vaud, near Nyon on the Lac Leman, approximately 30 km north of Geneva. On the verso of the final blank is the name of Louis Noblet, probably the son and/or successor of Jacques. This curious manuscript is a sort of "grimoire" of medical remedies that, judging from the occasional dirt and grime, must have literally been used in the field. That it survives at all is remarkable. Some of the curatives may have been copied from medical books, others involve folk medicine such as bleeding, pulverizing oyster shells, Venitian soap, and other unusual concoctions. Although the text of the manuscript ends decidedly with the word "Fin," the verso of the first leaf begins with "Chapter 4," suggesting the absence of several leaves. Loosely inserted is one printed sheet recording other Veterinary remedies. If indeed the present manuscript contains copies of previously published texts, we have been unable to find them. |
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