LIBAVIUS, Andreas.
Syntagmatis selectorum undiquaque et perspicue traditorum alchymiae arcanorum, tomus primus. [vol. 2:] Syntagmatis arcanorum chymicorum, ..., tomus secundus. [vol. 3:] Appendix necessaria syntagmatis arcanorum chymicorum.
Frankfurt, printed by Nikolaus Hoffmann for Peter Kopf, 1613-1615. 3 volumes. Folio. With the letterpress titles of volume 1 and 2 within the same engraved border (signed "G.Keller / 1605"), 1 woodcut plate, 3 double-page letterpress tables and numerous woodcut illustrations in text. Contemporary mottled calf, gold-tooled spines. [12], 480, [8]; [12], "453" [= 450], [15]; [12], 279, [13] pp.
€ 16,000
First edition of a, mostly polemical, follow-up to the "unusually clear and highly systematic" (DSB) standard work on alchemy and early chemistry, Alchymia (1597), by the well-known German chemist Andreas Libavius (1540-1616). The present work, known as the Syntagmatis, consists of three separately published volumes (volume 1 and 2 second issue), each with a different title. In the first two volumes Libavius elaborates on his experiments in chemistry (illustrated with many woodcut illustrations of various sorts of glassware, vessels and other devices), followed by comments on the writings of Palmarius, Croll, Quercetanus (Duchesne) and many others. In the third volume, the appendix, he mentions controversies with Paracelsus, the Rosecrucians, Henning Scheunemann and Nicolas Guibert.
Browned throughout and some small imperfections; boards slightly bowed. Good copy. Alchemy and the occult 71 (appendix only); Brüning 1059, 1114, 1115; DSB VIII, pp. 309-312; Ferguson II, p. 33.
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