Solis e puteo emergentis, sive Dissertationis chymiatechnicae: libri tres, in quibus totius operationis chymicae : I. methodus practica : II. materia lapidis philosophici et nodus solvendi ejus operandiq; : III. clavis operum Paracelsi, qua abstrusa explicantur defficientia supplentur : cum praefatione chymiae veritatem asserente
Frankfurt: Apud Conradum Eifridum, 1623 and Impensis Antonii Hummii, 1615.
Price: $4,800.00
Quarto: 19 x 14.5 cm. 3 parts in 1 vol. a-c4, A-K4 (with l. K4 blank), a-d4, Aa-Cc4 With an added folding table, “Tabula chymiotechnica".
SECOND EDITION of the FIRST PART (1st ed. 1613). SECOND EDITION, SECOND ISSUE, of parts 2 and 3. The first part is dated 1623; the other two 1615. Copies of the 1613 ed. bound up with the 1615 parts are known.
Bound in modern stiff vellum with ties. Contents in fine condition, possibly lightly washed. Tiny hole in title patched. Two small stains on leaf Cc1, another in the gutter of lvs. H4 and I1. Illustrated with woodcuts.
A rare collection of alchemical texts, the third of which is attributed by the author to Paracelsus. In Part I, the author describes the alchemist’s laboratory and the production of various chemical and alchemical substances. It is illustrated with woodcuts of laboratory apparatus (furnaces, alembics, vials, etc.) and mnemonic imagery (animals and people whose anatomy suggest the shapes of the apparatus) accompanying some of the laboratory equipment: an ostrich (paired with a vial), a phoenix (with a distillation vessel commonly known by that name), conjoined twins (a double dyota of the sort used by Raymond Lull), a bear (a kolben), and an ibis (a retort).
Part 2 concerns the philosopher’s stone, the legendary substance believed to transform base metals into gold and to yield the “elixir vitae”(the Elixir of Life). The pursuit of the Stone requires preliminary alchemical preparations, which are also described in the book: “Philosophical Mercury”, “Leo Rubeus”(red sulfur dissolved in Mercury), “Vitriol of Venus”(copper sulfate), etc.
Part 3, “A Key and Guide to the Books of Paracelsus”, contains instructions for preparing various medicines for ailments both physical and psychological: tincture of Mercury for syphilis, Magisterium of vitriol for “suffocation of the matrix”(i.e. “hysteria”, believed to be brought on by uterine disorders), Oil of Saturn for depression and hypochondria, potable gold for rejuvenation, etc. The author tells us that Paracelsus himself wrote this “key” and gave it to a friend, who concealed it rather than publish it.
The author, Johann Rhenanus, served as personal physician to Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel.
Ferguson, Biblioteca chemica, v. 2, p. 264-5; Wilkinson, R.S. Alchemical library of John Winthrop, Jr., 224. For the pseudo-Paracelsan tract, see Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 498–499, 696 n° 25