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Johann Hollander and the philosopher’s stone

HOLLANDUS, Johannes Isaac.
Opera Mineralia, sive de Lapide Philosophico, omnia, duobus libris comprehensa. Nunquam antehac edita, ac nunc primum ex optimis manu-scriptis Teutonicis exemplaribus fidelissimè in Latinum sermonem translata, à P.M.G.

With dozens of small woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 woodcut initial letters, 1 woodcut tailpiece, cast fleurons, and roman and italic type. With the red morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV.

With dozens of small woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 woodcut initial letters, 1 woodcut tailpiece, cast fleurons, and roman and italic type. With the red morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV.

With dozens of small woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 woodcut initial letters, 1 woodcut tailpiece, cast fleurons, and roman and italic type. With the red morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV.

With dozens of small woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 woodcut initial letters, 1 woodcut tailpiece, cast fleurons, and roman and italic type. With the red morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV.

With dozens of small woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 woodcut initial letters, 1 woodcut tailpiece, cast fleurons, and roman and italic type. With the red morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV.



Middelburg, Richard Schilders, 1600. Small 8vo. Contemporary vellum. With dozens of small woodcut illustrations in the text, 2 woodcut initial letters, 1 woodcut tailpiece, cast fleurons, and roman and italic type. With the red morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV. [16], 431, [1 blank] pp.

The first edition of any work by the mysterious Johannes Isaac Hollandus, a Latin translation of a German manuscript of his treatises on mineralogy, alchemy and the philosopher's stone, and especially on the use of metal oxides to colour stones and crystals to make fake gems and precious stones. The charming little woodcuts show distilling and other equipment. The preliminaries include verses by Petrus Hondius (1578?-1621), minister of the church from Vlissingen, Enoch Sterthemius (ca. 1576-1626), a theologian born to Southern Netherlands refugees in England, who later taught at the Illustre School in Middelburg, and Cornelis Herls (d. 1625), Middelburg physician, all leading figures in the Zeeland intellectual and literary circles. These are followed by a 12-page dedication to Count Everard of Solms (here Georgio Eberardo), leader of the Zeeland troops, by "L.D." The translator "P.M.G." has not been identified.
Little is known about Johannes Isaac Hollandus (active 1572-1610?), but the Görlitz astronomer Bartholomeus Scultetus had a German manuscript of some of his treatises on mineralogy that survives in the form of a copy made in Prague in 1572 (Royal Library, Copenhagen, MS. 1762), and Ben Jonson's 1610 play The Alchemists  refers to him apparently as still living. His name suggests he was a Dutchman living abroad, but if his father was called Isaac Hollandus, as has been claimed, he may have been born abroad in a Dutch family.
Richard Schilders, born in the Southern Netherlands, went as a Protestant refugee to London, where he worked from 1568 to 1579 as a journeyman printer and illegally on his own account. In 1579 he returned to the Netherlands as official printer to the city of Middelburg, where he also continued to print for English Puritan refugees.
The Honeyman copy, with the earlier of his two bookplates. Only 2 copies are known in America (National Library of Medicine and University of Pennsylvania) and only 3 in The Netherlands (University Libraries of Amsterdam and Leiden and the Provincial Library of Zeeland).

In very good condition, with only a minor transparent stain at the head of the last few leaves and a small marginal rust hole in 1 leaf. Contemporary binding also very good, in Honeyman's green half morocco box. The first and most important edition by the mysterious Hollandus, and a lovely little book with instructions for making fake gems and precious stones.
Duveen, p. 300; Ferguson, Bib. Chem, I, pp. 412-413; Honeyman 1761 (this copy); Partington, Hist. of Chemistry II, pp. 203-208 & item 1; Typ. Batava 2637 (11 copies); Wellcome I, 3431; NCC (3 copies); STCN (2 copies); cf. Hoover 443 (1616 ed.); MacPhail, Alchemy (Mellon Coll.) 114 (the text in a 1659 collection); not in Adams; Sinkankas.

Related Subjects: Chemistry 

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