''De Alchemia'' is an early collection of
alchemical
Alchemy (from Arabic: ''al-kīmiyā''; from Ancient Greek: χυμεία, ''khumeía'') is an ancient branch of natural philosophy, a philosophical and protoscientific tradition that was historically practiced in China, India, the Muslim world, ...
writings first published by
Johannes Petreius
Johann(es) Petreius (''Hans Peterlein'', ''Petrejus'', ''Petri''; c. 1497, Langendorf near Bad Kissingen – 18 March 1550, Nuremberg) was a German printer in Nuremberg.
Life
He studied at the University of Basel, receiving the Master of Arts in ...
in
Nuremberg
Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...
in 1541. A second edition was published in
Frankfurt
Frankfurt, officially Frankfurt am Main (; Hessian: , "Frank ford on the Main"), is the most populous city in the German state of Hesse. Its 791,000 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located on its na ...
in 1550 by the printer Cyriacus Jacobus.
The full title reads: ''De Alchemia. Opuscula complura veterum philosophorum''. Among the texts are the important alchemical works the ''Rosarium Philosophorum'', presented with illustrations in the second edition (1550); the ''Summa Perfectionis'' of
Pseudo-Geber
Pseudo-Geber (or "Latin pseudo-Geber") is the presumed author or group of authors responsible for a corpus of pseudepigraphic alchemical writings dating to the late 13th and early 14th centuries. These writings were falsely attributed to Jabir ...
; and the ''
Tabula Smaragdina
The ''Emerald Tablet'', also known as the ''Smaragdine Tablet'' or the ''Tabula Smaragdina'' (Latin, from the Arabic: , ''Lawḥ al-zumurrudh''), is a compact and cryptic Hermetic text. It was highly regarded by Islamic and European alchemists a ...
'' of
Hermes Trismegistus
Hermes Trismegistus (from grc, Wiktionary:Ἑρμῆς, Ἑρμῆς ὁ Τρισμέγιστος, "Hermes the Thrice-Greatest"; Classical Latin: la, label=none, Mercurius ter Maximus) is a legendary Hellenistic figure that originated as a Syn ...
.
The Rosarium Philosophorum is itself an alchemical collection, taking the form of a (
florilegium
In medieval Latin, a ' (plural ') was a compilation of excerpts or sententia from other writings and is an offshoot of the commonplacing tradition. The word is from the Latin ''flos'' (flower) and '' legere'' (to gather): literally a gathering of ...
), or a collection of citations of earlier alchemical authorities, among them
Khalid ibn Yazid
Khālid ibn Yazīd (full name ''Abū Hāshim Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān'', ), 668–704 or 709, was an Umayyad prince and purported alchemist.
As a son of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I, Khalid was supposed to become ca ...
, Pseudo-
Arnaldus of Villa Nova
Arnaldus de Villa Nova (also called Arnau de Vilanova in Catalan language, Catalan, his language, Arnaldus Villanovanus, Arnaud de Ville-Neuve or Arnaldo de Villanueva, c. 1240–1311) was a physician and a religious reformer. He was also thoug ...
,
Alphidius, and Pseudo-
Lull) and which includes verses explaining the preparation of the
Philosopher's stone
The philosopher's stone or more properly philosophers' stone (Arabic: حجر الفلاسفة, , la, lapis philosophorum), is a mythic alchemical substance capable of turning base metals such as mercury into gold (, from the Greek , "gold", a ...
accompanied by allegorical illustrations, which depict, for example, the union of the male and female principles. The collection is preserved in many manuscript copies and comes perhaps from the end of the fourteenth or the beginning of the fifteenth century (some even date it to the sixteenth century).
In the 1541 edition, Petraeus called for the printing of further alchemical texts. This started a period of publishing alchemical collections in large numbers, among them the
Artis Auriferae
Artis may refer to:
People Surname
* Dominic Artis (born 1993), American basketball player
* Jamareo Artis (born 1989), American bass guitarist
* Jamel Artis (born 1993), American basketball player
* Orsten Artis (1943–2017), American basket ...
, ''
Verae alchemiae artisque metallicae, citra aenigmata, doctrina'' and culminating in the ''
Theatrum Chemicum
(''"Chemical Theatre"'') is a compendium of early alchemical writings published in six volumes over the course of six decades. The first three volumes were published in 1602, while the final sixth volume was published in its entirety in 1661. re ...
''.
Contents of 1541 edition
*
Geber (
Pseudo-Geber
Pseudo-Geber (or "Latin pseudo-Geber") is the presumed author or group of authors responsible for a corpus of pseudepigraphic alchemical writings dating to the late 13th and early 14th centuries. These writings were falsely attributed to Jabir ...
).
*Geber.
*Geber.
*Geber.
*(
Roger Bacon
Roger Bacon (; la, Rogerus or ', also '' Rogerus''; ), also known by the scholastic accolade ''Doctor Mirabilis'', was a medieval English philosopher and Franciscan friar who placed considerable emphasis on the study of nature through empiri ...
).
*(
Richardus Anglicus).
*
*(
Khalid ibn Yazid
Khālid ibn Yazīd (full name ''Abū Hāshim Khālid ibn Yazīd ibn Muʿāwiya ibn Abī Sufyān'', ), 668–704 or 709, was an Umayyad prince and purported alchemist.
As a son of the Umayyad caliph Yazid I, Khalid was supposed to become ca ...
).
* (Hermes Trimegistus).
*(
Ortulanus).
Contents of 1550 edition
Part 1:
*
*
*
[Sometimes ascribed to ]Arnaldus de Villa Nova
Arnaldus de Villa Nova (also called Arnau de Vilanova in Catalan, his language, Arnaldus Villanovanus, Arnaud de Ville-Neuve or Arnaldo de Villanueva, c. 1240–1311) was a physician and a religious reformer. He was also thought to be an alchem ...
*(Pseudo-
Avicenna
Ibn Sina ( fa, ابن سینا; 980 – June 1037 CE), commonly known in the West as Avicenna (), was a Persian polymath who is regarded as one of the most significant physicians, astronomers, philosophers, and writers of the Islamic G ...
).
*(Pseudo-
Lull).
*
*
*(Pseudo-Lull).
*(Pseudo-
Aristotle
Aristotle (; grc-gre, Ἀριστοτέλης ''Aristotélēs'', ; 384–322 BC) was a Greek philosopher and polymath during the Classical period in Ancient Greece. Taught by Plato, he was the founder of the Peripatetic school of phil ...
).
Part 2:
*
References
External links
De Alchimia Opuscula Complura Veterum Philosophorum vol 1digitized 2014 from the Bavarian State Library
De Alchimia Opuscula Complura Veterum Philosophorum vol 1digitized 2007 from the Complutense University of Madrid
De Alchimia Opuscula Complura Veterum Philosophorum vol 1digitized 2014 from the Lyon Public Library
Bibliography
* Ferguson, John. ''Bibliotheca Chemica,'' vol. 1. Glasgow, 1906.
{{Alchemy, state=expanded
Alchemical documents