ARNALD DE VILLANOVA.
Chymische Schrifften, darinnen begriffen I. Der Schatz aller Schätze. II. Der Philosophen Rosen-Garten. III. Das Gröste Geheimnuss aller Geheimnüssen. IV. Spiegel der Chymischen Kunst. Worbey zugleich mitangefüget V. Die edle Practica der Prophetin Mariae, Moysis Schwester. VI. Das Buch Calidis, des Sohns Jazichii, von den Geheimnüssen der Alchimie. VII. Kallid Rachaidibi, von den 3. Worten. VIII. Aristotelis Tractätlein, von der Practic des Philosophischen Steins. IX. Ludus puerorum, das Kinder-Spiel und der Weiber-Arbeit. Allen Liebhabern der wahren Alchimie zu Gefallen aus dem Latein mit höchstem Fleiss in Teutscher Sprache übersetzet, durch Johannem Hoppodamum.
Franckfurt und Hamburg: In Verlegung Georg Wolffs… .1683
Small, 8vo, pp. (xvi), 350, 1 leaf (blank). Eighteenth century half sheep, spine richly gilt in compartments, red morocco label, a fine copy. Bookplates of the Safstaholms Library and Gustaf Berndtsson.
FIRST EDITION IN GERMAN of the chemical and alchemical works by, or at least ascribed to, the Catalan physician Arnald de Villanova (c. 1240–1311), consisting of nine parts as listed on the title-page. The Latin titles of the first three works are Rosarius Philosophorum, Novum Lumen, and Flos Florum. “Arnald, born in Aragon, Spain, was one of the great authorities among the alchemists. He devoted himself to the study of chemistry, medicine, and physics and also learned Arabic and Greek. It was through him that the full tradition of the Arabian alchemists and their theories entered the mainstream of European thought. His writings were a strange mixture of mysticism and true science, and he accepted the concept of the transmutation of the elements and modified the sulphur-mercury theory of Geber” (Neville I, p. 43, note to the Opera Omnia of 1585). VD17 39:116371H (6 copies). Not in Duveen. Ferguson (I, p. 43) lists the 1748 edition (but it is not in his Books of Secrets); these were probably the only editions of Arnald’s chemical works in any vernacular language.
£4,800.00
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