gems, ancient lapidaries, France, Sidrac, early gemology, early mineralogy

The encyclopedia titled Fontaine de toutes sciences du philosophe Sidrac includes, at the end of its text, a lapidary that describes 24 stones in 24 articles, typically introduced by a short prefatory notice listing the number and names of the stones to be discussed. The table of contents at the beginning of the encyclopedia refers to the headings and numbers of all articles in the work, including those of the lapidary. This study’s classification of the manuscripts and printed editions of the French text of Sidrac is based on comparing the sequence of the 24 stones across the table of contents, the prefatory notice, and the lapidary itself. The “correct order” follows biblical tradition (Exodus 28:17–21 and Revelation 21:19–20) and is supported by the article arrangement in the Lapidaire Chrétien en vers (a source for Sidrac) and the Lapidaire du roi Philippe (which draws on Sidrac). This comparison yields four principal manuscript families. A common scribal mistake—misplacing stones 13 and 14 after 17 in the prefatory list—likely occurred near the time Sidrac was composed and affects three families (II, III, and IV), marking the first major textual development. Close in time to the original composition, but later than the prefatory error, is the complete reordering of the lapidary in family IV. Other, more minor textual changes—slightly later but already present in late 13ᵗʰ-century witnesses—are also analyzed. Grouping the manuscripts by stone sequence bridges the traditional divide between the short and long redactions of Sidrac. The findings largely—but not entirely—align with R. Manchal’s partial classification from 1927 and B. Weisel’s full classification from 1933. Comparing the three classification methods reveals useful overlaps that could inform a future edition of the French text of Sidrac.