<p style='text-align: justify;'>This is an outstanding example of a manuscript that benefits from an accessible digital version, as its wealth of subject matter makes it of potential interest to a variety of projects. It is a miscellany full of different texts, in which medical writings, poems, theology, fables, proverbs, a French-Latin glossary of names, forms of letter-writing, notes on the properties of plants, and other textual excerpts all sit side-by-side between the covers. Most of the manuscript is written in a clean bookhand, with extensive rubrication and some decoration, meaning that this is not simply an informal commonplace book. Rather, its contents were planned out, and the book itself was produced at some cost. Blank pages allowed for the addition of new material by later hands. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>I became aware of this manuscript when I was working on the wide but poorly documented textual tradition of a lapidary I have since termed the <i>Techel/Azareus Complex</i>. The background to this text dates back to Greco-Roman Antiquity, when gemstones were engraved with various mythological motifs. These stones turned up occasionally during the Middle Ages - many still survive in museums and other collections today - but the subjects and iconography had grown unfamiliar (for some examples, see <a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://www.christies.com/en/stories/ancient-engraved-gems-collecting-guide-80af80d1d070411d83be8e8c2620ef39'>G. Max Bernheimer's guide</a>). The lapidary in question begins in some versions (including the present manuscript, f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(416);return false;'>204v</a>) with the assertion that this book describes the properties of the sigils that the Israelites made while wandering in the desert. However, the descriptions that follow are recognizably the Greco-Roman figures we find on Classical cameos and intaglios. The discovery of such stones appears to have prompted speculation about the magical properties they might possess. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The lapidary is instantly recognizable by entries that begin with the phrase 'Si inveneris...' ('If you find...'), followed by a description of the iconography, precision about the kind of stone it is engraved on, and a list of the wondrous effects it can produce. But no two copies of this lapidary are quite the same. As the text was transmitted, the arrangement of its contents shifted, and material was both added and omitted. This is not uncommon in texts like lapidaries, herbals, and recipe collections. However, this text had a particularly remarkable tendency to incorporate other lapidaries into it, thereby creating an ever-widening network of related material. The version in this manuscript at Cambridge University Library is no exception. On f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(419);return false;'>206r</a>, the text switches to a treatment of the general properties of unengraved stones, which surely originated separately, before continuing with descriptions of the engraved ones on f. <a href='' onclick='store.loadPage(420);return false;'>206v</a>.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>The presence of this text in the collection does not necessarily mean that the compiler possessed any such stones, although of course it is possible. Other texts in the volume reveal an interest in the special properties of stones and plants, many of which concern their ability to heal various ailments. In this respect, the <i>Techel/Azareus Complex</i> is no different. We cannot say whether the compiler's concern was more practical or theoretical, but the later addition of medical recipes on blank pages does suggest that the owner(s) of this book had a continuing interest in cures and remedies.</p><p style='text-align: justify;'>While I was carrying out my research on the <i>Techel/Azareus Complex</i>, there were simply too many references to lapidaries in manuscript catalogues, usually containing nothing but the generic title 'De lapidibus' ('On stones'). I couldn't view them all. I had to prioritize the manuscripts I had a reasonable belief would contain the right text, whether through more details in the catalogue description or by the presence of certain other texts that sometimes accompanied it. In this case, I had a reasonable certainty of what I would find in Cambridge, because John M. Riddle was gracious enough to send me his handwritten notes on this text, where he listed this present manuscript. Even so, I probably could not have justified the trip if I had not had a list of several Cambridge manuscripts I also needed to see for this and other projects. If I were starting on that same project today, it would be an entirely different experience thanks to the progress in digitizing manuscripts. </p><p style='text-align: justify;'>Dr Katelyn Mesler<br /><a target='_blank' class='externalLink' href='https://www.hadw-bw.de/forschung/forschungsstelle/bibelglossare-als-verborgene-kulturtraeger'>Bibelglossare als verborgene Kulturträger</a><br />Heidelberger Akademie der Wissenschaften</p>
