Citation/reference: New York Public Library. Spencer Collection. Dictionary catalog and shelf list, vol. II, p. 904.
Content: Conrad Kyeser called his composition Bellifortis (Strong in war), a work that was written when Kyser was exiled and imprisoned at an unknown location in Bohemia, which explains the alternate title Das Puch Exulis (The Book of Exile).
Content: This manuscript was interleaved in the 16th century. Original ms. of this text survives in Gottingen, in a codex which Kyeser dedicated to King Rupert in 1405.
Content: Earliest surviving treatise on war produced in Germany. This ms. has the original Latin (dactylic hexameter) and translation into German prose.
Content: Translation is in early form of modern high German, from S. of river Main.
Content: Layout: Up to 26 lines of writing (most pages have miniatures); no visible ruling. Gatherings of twelve.
Content: Decoration: 132 pen and ink drawings, colored and heighted with silver foil (now oxidized), some of which include human and animal figure. Above drawings of weapons etc. 2- and 3-line red initials, rubrics, red slashes as placemarkers.
Content: Paper: Watermark a flower, similar to Briquet 6383, which is ca. 1410-15 and found in Italy/ Netherlands. Interleaves: serpent similar to Briquet 13808; shield with 2 stars similar to Briquet 1013, watermarks date to the 16th or very early 17th c., from Prague & SE Austria.