Paston, Margaret

  • Paston, Margaret
Date:
Late 17th century
Reference:
MS.3777
  • Archives and manuscripts
  • Online

Available online

view Paston, Margaret

Public Domain Mark

You can use this work for any purpose without restriction under copyright law. Read more about this licence.

Credit

Paston, Margaret. Public Domain Mark. Source: Wellcome Collection.

About this work

Description

Collection of medical receipts and remedies: in Italian. Compiler's holograph MS. The identification of the writer of this MS. is based mainly on two statements. On fol. 106, line 10 she speaks of 'Mi lord yarmouth mio Padre', and on fol. 91, line 4 of 'Sig. Girolamo mi marito'. In Francis Worship's 'Account of a MS. genealogy of the Paston Family in the possession of the Duke of Newcastle', 1852, on p. 50 it is stated that Margaret the eldest daughter of Sir Robert Paston, first Earl of Yarmouth [1631-1683] married Hieronimo Alberto di Conti, and 'that he was a noble Venetian'. In the MS. there are several references to 'Casa mia Paston [ff. 18, 19, 36v, 39v]. The MS. can be dated towards the end of the 17th cent. for on fol. 3 the year 1684 is mentioned, and on fol. 27v is a reference to James II as King. Towards the end of the MS. the writing appears to change, and the writer speaks of herself as elderly. Very many of the receipts are of English provenance and some are attributed to members of the 'Collegio de' Virtuosi', which doubtless refers to the Royal Society, with some of whose members, including those in the highest Court circles, she seems to have been in personal contact during the first ten years after the accession of Charles II. In many cases she speaks of having compounded the medicines herself, and shows considerable knowledge of practical pharmaceutical processes; she also apparently had a private laboratory. Produced in Venice?

Publication/Creation

Late 17th century

Physical description

1 volume 128 (wrongly numbered 127) ff. + 12 ll. folio. 31 × 22 cm. Modern vellum binding. Fol. 55 has been dropped in the foliation, and fol. 127 doubled: a leaf has been cut out at the end of the text.

Contributors

Acquisition note

Purchased 1911.

Biographical note

The compiler was one of the last surviving members of the family which produced the famous 'Paston Letters'.

Location of duplicates

Microfilm reference: AMS/MF/220.

Finding aids

Database description transcribed from S.A.J. Moorat, Catalogue of Western Manuscripts on Medicine and Science in the Wellcome Historical Medical Library (London: Wellcome Institute for the History of Medicine, 1962-1973).

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatusAccess
    Closed stores

Permanent link

Identifiers

Accession number

  • 27090