Title: Magisterium Naturae, et Artis. Opus Physico-Mathematicum.

Publication: Brescia: J.M. Ricciardi, 1684-86 [Vols.I & II] & Parma: H. Rosati, 1692 [Vol. III].

Reference No:   MU-RBL00046

Book Description

"Questa Importantissima Opera"

57 engraved plates. Tables in the text. 6 p.l., 526 pp.; 17 p.l., 512, [17] pp.; 4 p.l., 571, 23,
[1] pp. Three vols. Folio, cont. vellum over boards (occasional minor foxing). Brescia: J.M.
Ricciardi, 1684-86 [Vols. I & II] & Parma: H. Rosati, 1692 [Vol. III]. First edition, and a fine
and large set, of this monumental encyclopedia of physics, designed to complement Lana's Prodromo
by explaining various theories advanced in it. Libri stated, in one of his catalogues, that one
"would require an explanatory volume to give an idea of this work, which is truly a cyclopaedia
of all sciences connected with natural philosophy."Thorndike (Vol. VII, pp. 610-13 & pp. 693-94)
points out how Lana emphasizes the more occult principles of natural philosophy, experimentation
and demonstration.These three large volumes contain descriptions of perpetual motion machines,
the pendulum, problems of motion and percussion, hydraulics, elasticity, alchemical and chemical
experiments, distillation, machines, the vacuum, sound and acoustics, electricity and magnetism,
meteorological instruments, etc., etc., etc.The attractive plates depict numerous experiments and
scientific instruments.A nice and fresh set.¤ Riccardi, II, 13?"questa importantissima opera, che
può considerarsi come una estesa enciclopedia fisico-meccanica." Wheeler Gift Cat. 197?"Book
xxii...treats at great length of motion due to electric attraction and repulsion; Book xxiii.,
the same for magnetic attraction; magnetic clocks, p. 409; sympathetic compasses, p. 412; the
compass and the dipping needle, Book xxiii., p. 227."

Title: D.O.M.A. Syntagmatis selectorum undiquaque et perspicue traditorum alchymiae arcanorum.
Tomus primus. In quem congesta sunt commentaria chymia hactenus desiderata: insertis passim
scholiis, & commentationibus ipsis, ad penitissima huius philosophia & medicina ducentibus.
1615.- IDEM. D.O.M.A. Syntagmatis arcanorum chymicorum. Tomus secundus. In quem congesta sunt:
partim nova, eaque penitiora spagyrorum secreta, partim prioris tomi nonnulla explicatius
tradita, & inter ea etiam enigmatica quercetani, aliorumque hermeticorum non pauca studiose
investigata, declarata & iudicata. 1613.- IDEM. D.O.M.A. Appendix syntagmatis arcanorum
chymicorum. In qua praeter arcanorum nonnullorum expositionem & illustrationem, quorundam item
medicorum hermeticorum, & mysticorum descriptionem, continentur defensiones gemina, primum eorum
qua ab Henningo Scheunemano, & iuniore Gramano sunt impugnata, postea qua in transmutatoria
metallorum à Nicolao Guiberto, Lotharingo, M.D. quibus fieri potuit viribu sunt attentata.1615.

Publication: Frankfurt, Nicolaus Hoffmann, for Petrus Kopf, 1613-1615.

Reference No:  MU-RBL00040

Book Description

(12), 480, (8); (12), 453 (=450), (15); (12), 279, (13) pp. Folio. 3 works in 3 vols.
Contemporary marbled calf, spine ribbed in 7 compartments with gilt ornaments, red and green
sprinkled edges. Good copy of a rare work.- (Some browning; one quire (Ii 3-Ii 4) in first vol.
loose; few small tears without loss of text).

Engraved allegorical titles in vols. I and II, depicting Hippocrates, Hermes, Galenus and
Aristotle around the title vignette, below the title 5 small illustrations show alchemic scenes,
woodcut printer's device on title and on verso last page vol. III, numerous woodcut figures in
text in vols. I & II, 1 woodcut plate and 3 double-page tabels in woodcut borders in vol. II.
Ferguson II, p. 33; Poggendorff I, p. 1449; R.C. Hogart (ed.), The Manly P. Hall Collection (Los
Angeles 1986), nr. 95 (only appendix); not in Duveen or Caillet; Thornton, Scientific books,
libraries & collectors, p. 116-8; see also DSB 8 (New York 1981), pp. 309-12. There is a German
translation of the Alchimia with an extensive commentary by Friedeman Rex, published in 1964.
First seperately published editions of these very rare works on alchemy by the well-known German
chemist Andreas Libavius.The first work is a second issue of the first edition. In the dedication
is shown that it was first issued in 1611 and for the second time in in 1615. The third work, the
supplement, is very rare on its own and even more in combination with the Syntagmatis volumes. In
the first to works Libavius elaborates on his experiences and his results in chemics, illustrated
with many woodcut illustrations of various sorts of chemical glassware, vessels and other
chemical devices, and after that he criticizes and comments on the writings of Palmarius, Croll,
Quercetanus (Duchesne) and many others. In the third volume, the appendix, he mentions some
controversies with Paracelsus, the Rosecrucians, Henning Scheunemann and Nicolas Guibert. In the
same year two other supplements or appendixes were published, but the three are hardly ever found
together.Andreas Libavius or Libau (1540-1616)was born at Halle, studied medicine, history and
philosophy and graduated doctor of medicine at Basel in 1588. He was an enthusiastic chemist and
wrote many works on this subject which all reflect his moderate and indepent views. He was the
first tp prepare ammonium sulphate and discovered stannis chloride, known as Spiritus fumans
Libavii, described for the first time in the second volume of the present work. As his main work
can be named the Alchemia (1597 & 1606), which is considered as the greatest and most beautiful
of all books on chemistry in the 17th century and in fact is the first real textbook of chemistry
and alchemy. The Syntagma selectorum, Syntagma arcanorum tomus secundus and Appendix
philosophicae novae can be considered as the completion of the Alchemica and are mainly devoted
to polemics. It is also a kind of commentary which was printed for the first time as an appendix
to the 1606 edition of the Alchemia. Libavius questions and refutes quite some methods of other
alchemists, which cost him a lot of friends and respect, whereas he earned the admiration of
others at the same time. He was not a blind follower of Paracelsus and more than once showed his
controversies with the Paracelsists, Galenists and other famous alchemists. His works are of an
unusually clear and highly systematic style.Although he had no pupils of his own, many adepts of
chemsitry used his books throughout the 17th century.

Title: Bericht, von Bergwerck, wie man dieselben Bawen, und in guten Wolstandt bringen soll,
sampt allen barzu gehörigen Arbeiten, Ordnung und rechtlichen Process.

Publication: Zellerfeldt : [Privately printed for the author] 1617

Reference No: MU-RBL00047

Book Description

Folio (325 x 210 mm). [xii] leaves, 343 (i.e., 363) pp. Superb woodcut title page, 16 double-page
plates within elaborate woodcut borders, tables, ornamental initials. Contemporary blindstamped
vellum, rebacked; some leaves browned. First edition of one of the rarest treatises on mining and
metallurgy by Löhneyss (1552-1622), the Inspector General and Superintendent of Mines for the
Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel. He here describes mining and metallurgical techniques as well as
regulations, procedures, and machinery used, all brilliantly illustrated. Also portrayed in some
of the plates are alchemical processes, although Löhneyss was generally considered an adversary
of alchemy. His opinions on the formation of the earth and its metals were considered enlightened
for the period. Of special interest is the printing of this book. Löhneyss decided to establish
his own private printing press at Zellerfeldt and employed Moses Thym to design and cut the
splendid woodcut plates. 

Title: De secretis naturae sive quinta essentia libri duo. His accesserunt, Alberti Magni... De
mineralibus & rebus metallicis libri quinque. Quae omnia solerti cura repurgata rerum naturae
studiosis recens publicata sunt per magistrum Gualtherum H. Ryff...

Publication: Venice, Peter Schoeffer, 1542

Reference No:   MU-RBL00062

Book Description

8vo (153 x 100 mm), pp 324 [8], with 7 half-page woodcuts and one full-page woodcut of stills and
other alchemical apparatus; margins of title very slightly frayed, some contemporary annotations,
a very attractive, crisp copy in contemporary limp vellum. £5500

Second edition of this compilation (first Strasbourg 1541), edited by Walther Ryff. The first
part is a treatise on the quintessence (pp 1-107), being a Lullian version of the De
consideratione quintae essentiae of Joannes de Rupescissa (first printed in Venice, 1514).
Although spurious, this treatise had enormous influence on the development of alchemy and is
regarded as one of the most authoritative texts on the quinta essentia. 'Although Lull himself
was opposed to alchemy ... his methods had obvious applications in the alchemical field - and
they were so applied in a host of pseudo-Lullian alchemical works, most of them composed more
than fifty years after his death. These works explain the traditional (but false) "scientific"
view which made him "Lull the Alchemist"' (DSB).
The second part comprises Albertus Magnus' De mineralibus, his principal work on mineralogy,
metallurgy, and chemistry. 'He seems to have experimented with alchemy and is said to have been
the first to isolate the element arsenic. He compiled a list of some hundred minerals, giving the
properties of each. During his many travels, he made frequent sidetrips to mines and excavations
in search of specimens. He was acquainted with fossils, and made accurate observations of "animal
impressions" and improved on Avicenna's account of their formation. Albert suggested the
possibility of the transmutation of metals, but he did not feel that alchemists had yet found the
method to bring this about' (DSB).

Adams L1704; Durling 2873; Duveen p 369; Ferguson Books of secrets 544; Wellcome 3898; NUC: DLC
NNNAM DFo WU DNLM MNS CtY PU; OCLC adds Smithsonian; University of California (San Francisco; University of Delaware, University of Chicago; and Harvard
 

Title: De Secretis nature sive de quinta essentia Libellus.

Publication: Auguste Vindelicorum, [S. Grimm & M. Wirsung], 1518. 

Reference No:   MU-RBL00063

Book Description

In-4 de 26 ff.n.ch. ; veau, dos à nerfs, encadrement de filets à froid sur les plats avec
fleurons d'angle dorés (Reliure moderne, genre ancien). 
 

  Short-title, German books, p.533; Cat. Paul & Mary Mellon, n? 8; manque à la BnF; cf. Caillet,
6858, Ferguson, II, 54 et Duveen, 369, qui citent tous l'édition de 1542 donnée par Ryff à
Strasbourg.

Edition originale, d'une très grande rareté, publiée à Augsbourg.

" Ramon Lulle repeatedly expressed his opposition to alchemy, which he considered a fraud.
According to him, there is no possibility of metallic transmutation; the changes made by
alchemists are superficial and transitory" (Sarton, cité par Mellon).

Titre dans un encadrement gravé sur bois.

Quelques rousseurs, mais bel exemplaire.

Title: XL Emblemata miscella nova. Das ist: XL underschiedliche auszerlesenen newradierte
Kunststuck: durch ... Christoff Murern vo Zürich inventiert, und mit eygener Handt zum Truck im
Kupffer gerissen: an jetzo erstlich zum nutzlichem Gebrauch und Nachrichtung allen Liebhabern der
Malerey in Truck gefertige, und mit allerley darzu dienstlichen aufferbawlichen Reymen erkläret:
Durch Johann Heinrich Rordorffen.

Publication: Zurich, Johann Rüdolff Wolffen, 1622.

Reference No:   MU-RBL00064

Book Description

(44) lvs. Small 4to. 19th-century purplish brown morocco, spine ribbed and gilt, with fully gilt
and blind-tooled borders and gilt stamps on sides, richly gilt inner dentelles, marbled
endpapers, g.e. (LORTIC frères). Magnificent copy in an exceptionally rich art binding, with the
bookplate of Eduard Rahir.

With fine engraved emblematic frame on title, depicting 'Industria', 'Labor', and 'Fama', title
printed in red and black, full-page engraved coat of arms of the author, and 40 full-page
beautifully engraved emblematic and fable plates by Christoph Murer or Maurer from Zurich, all
versos blank. Praz p. 415-6 (not mentioning the plate with the author's coat of arms); Landwehr,
German emblem books 512. Beautiful copy of an extremely rare emblem book with engraved plates by
Christoph Murer, or Maurer (1558-1614), a celebrated glass painter, stained glass maker,
engraver, and dramatic author from Zurich, published posthumously by Johann Heinrich Rordorff
(1591-1680), also a glass painter at Zurich, and brother in law of Christoph Murer. The plates
are richly and beautifully designed, and obviously inspired by earlier print-series of emblem and
fable artists, including the famous Aesop series of Marcus Gheeraerts. Plates by Gheeraerts were
not copied in their entirety, but important scenes were taken from them and set in other
surroundings or mixed with quite another scene. Sometimes only the theme was taken, like the
fable of the lion caught in a net liberated by a mouse, where the lion by Gheeraerts is proudly
fighting. The emblems, which probably were also inspired by other existing print-series such as
Bernard Salomon's Aesop series, all have a motto in German and Latin above and a six-line verse
in German below. Clearly or more freely based on Gheeraerts Aesop are for example: plate XI -
Freyheit. Libertas, freely based on the fable of the frogs and their king, plate XII - Freund in
der noth. Amici tempore adverso, clearly based on the frog, the rat and the eagle, plate XVI -
Geitz: Ein anders. Avaritia, freely based on the food carrying donkey.The emblematic plates also
show a rich and lively variety of scenes from daily life, professions, history, mythology, etc.,
such as 'Alchemy', showing people at a burning stove, others weighing coins at a table, and a
merry bancket in the far background; a plate of two women fighting: 'Krieg der Weyber', 'Bellum
muliebre', cheered on by a man; plates on war, on taxes, on comedy, etc. The plates of the
present emblem book, which was only published once, were found back well preserved at the
beginning of the 19th century, and a facsimile edition with use of these original plates was
published in 1820 by Füssli & Orell. At that time Murer had become much en vogue, especially for
his elegant and refined stained glass plates.

Title: De triplici philosophia naturali, astrologica, et minerali. In quibus differit cohaerenter
de elementis, & varijs mixtorum proprietatibus. Possibilitate corporis physici cpmpleti non
compositi. Productione mundi temporanea, & eius possibilitate ab aeterno. Compositione continui
ex solis indivisibilibus finitis, & probaliter ex inflatis. Productione substantiae. Infinito.
Intensione. Rarefactione, & condensatione. De modo formandi veros colores Lapidum pretiosorum.
Specula ustoria, & praeparandi lapidem luminosum. De metheoris omnibus. Metallorum natura, &
transmutatione, rebusque mineralibus, aliique; arcanis chymicis. Effectibus planetarum iuxta
varias eorum configurationes, eclipsibus, & magnis coniunctionibus, alijsque causis coelestibus,
& novis, praeter communes, planetarum aspectibus, & eorum significatis; alijsque quaestionibus
naturalibus, astrologicis, & mineralibus. Opus theol. phil. medicis, chymicis, & astrologis
iucundum, ac simul utile.

Publication: Bologna, Io. Baptista Ferroni, 1653.

Reference No:   MU-RBL00013

Book Description

(10, 2 blank), 148, 252 pp. 4to. Contemp. bound in a vellum leaf of a mediaeval musical
manuscript. Good copy, with contemporary manuscript owner's entry on top of title of the Library
of the Franciscan Monastry S. Maria Cemelli at Nice, and with the later bookplate of the monastry
mounted on inside front cover.- (Binding sl. dam. & with worm holes).

With large allegorical woodcut of the requisites of natural scientists and alchemists on title,
richly engraved allegorical frontispiece with flying cherubs and little naked children paying
honour to the tree of knowledge comprising the coat of arms of Bologna, signed Il Coriolano, some
astronomical woodcut figures and engravings in text, full-page engraved plate with illustrations
of celestial fire, some woodcut tables, one full-page, of the signs of the Zodiac and numerous
small astrological signs in text in the last part. Riccardi I,2, pp. 144-5; not in Ferguson,
Caillet, Duveen, Bolton, Cole, Dorbon, Rosenthal, etc., or in Lalande, Houseau-Lancaster, etc.;
extensively discussed in Thorndike VII, p. 643 ff.; NUC lists one copy, in the Harvard
University, Cambridge; for Coriolano, see Thieme-Becker 7, p. 415. Extremely rare original
edition of an interesting work on natural philosophy by Benedetto Mazzota, professor of theology
at the University of Bologna and member of the Benedictine Order. Mazzotta still belonged to the
Old School of Bologna scientists, speculating on the powers of the elements, the planets and
precious stones, and believing that the earth remained immobile at the centre of the universe
"against what Copernicus said and the Church condemned". The work beautifully illustrates
scientific knowledge at the threshold of modern science, which would increasingly be based on
experiments rather than on philosophic speculation. Mazzotta defended fire as an element, and
although in this connection he held that comets could well pass through the sphere of fire and be
elevated above the moon, he still regarded them as terrestrial exhalations and held elsewhere
that many of them remained below the moon. He opposed those who contended that heat and cold were
not distinct qualities. He admitted that earth and water formed a single globe, but affirmed that
"no fixed truth" had yet been reached with regard to the tides, although he inclined to ascribe
them to the moon with the concurrence of the sun and stars. Earlier however, he had stated that
the flux and reflux was also caused by angelic movers of water. Although a theologian, he
continued the favourable attitude towards astrology which had so long prevailed in Bologna. He
urged his readers to pay careful attention to the annual prognostications, given by Ovidius
Montelbanus, Gassius, Grimaldi, and others, and he still believed that through centuries past the
stars had produced memorable changes in the air and the world. He sees eclipses, conjunctions and
comets as divine oracles. He grants there are popular impostors in astrology, but astrological
philosophy is treated at length, with chapters on all points to be considered before making a
prediction. Comets especially are seen as signs of great events, and the author makes a
prognostication for 1652-1653 based on the comet seen from December 17, 1652 to January 12, 1653.
And at the end he gives forty general astrological aphorisms. The work seems to have escaped the
attention of both alchemist and scientist, historians and collectors, probably because it was
only published once, closing the alchemist era, and half-heartedly entering modern science. Of
special interest are the engraved plates by Bartolomeo Coriolano (1599-1676), a pupil of his
father Giovanni Battista Coriolano, who died in 1649, and of Guido Reni. He was especially gifted
as draughtsman and engraver.

Title: Alchemy and the Occult

Publication: See full description

Reference No:   MU-RBL00029

Book Description

MELLON, Paul and Mary. Alchemy and the Occult. A Catalogue of Books and Manuscripts from the
Collection of Paul and Mary Mellon Given to Yale Universty. Volume III and IV. Compiled by
Laurence C. Witten II and Richard Pachella. Two Volumes. Large 4to. Illus. Original cloth in
publisher's divided slipcase. New Haven: Yale University Library, 1977. First edition. Limited to
750 sets. A fine set.

Title: De calcantho seu vitriolo, eiusque qualitate, virtute, ac viribus, nec non Medicinis ex eo
parandis, Disquisitio Iatrochymica.

Publication: Augsburg, for the widow Sara Mangin, 1617

Reference No:   MU-RBL00012

Book Description

4to. 1 f., 22; 113, [5] pp., 1 blank f. (some ff. towards the end lightly browned; small
partially erased library stamp on title). Table of Contents added in contemporary manuscript on
front endleaves. A few decorative woodcut initials and head-pieces of printer's fleurons,
contemporary ms. to front free endpapers. Original limp vellum, ms. title on spine.

First edition of an important book which first describes the "spiritus Mindereri". Raymond
Minderer (c. 1570-1621) was an army doctor in Augsburg, and physician to the Emperors Mathias and
Maximilian.

In this work he describes himself as adhering to the Hippocratic and Galenic methods, while also
using metallic and mineral remedies, and indeed, the work has many references to alchemy and to
Paracelsus. His "spiritus Mindereri" is a solution of ammonium acetate made by dissolving
ammonium carbonate in distilled vinegar.

Duveen, pp. 404-405; Neu 2773; Krivatsy 7922; cf. Partington II, pp. 171-172.

Title: Reconditorium ac reclusorium…cui deditur in titulo Chymica Vannus.Commentario de pharmaco
catholico.

Publication: Amsterdam,Jannsonius et Weyerstraet,1666

Reference No:  MU-RBL00030

Book Description

Two parts in one volume in 4?.Pp 294,erroneusly numbered 392,2 nn,76,1 nn.One engraving printed
in red (Character adeptorum),and 11 full page plates,woodcut diagrams in the text.Some very minor
foxing.A beautiful copy in original conditions,in its original boards.

First edition of one of the most famous books of alchemical symbology and mystic
philosophy,written,according to de Guaita,for use of the Rosicrucian societies.It deals at lenght
with all aspects of philosophical alchemy,potable gold,property of the stones,the chemycal
alphabet.Ferguson,II,105, mentions the transmutation wich Monte Snyders operated in 1667 at Aix
La Chapelle.Of particular interest the Commentario de pharmaco catholico,a "catholic way of
healing". Caillet,11061,attributes the work to Thomas Vaughan. Duveen,498-Wellcome,III, 486,
under Reconditorium-Dorbon,3919.