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ALDE

94 - FABRE (Pierre-Jean). Hercules Piochymicus, in which the most…
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Estimate €1,000 - €1,200
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Description
FABRE (Pierre-Jean). Hercules Piochymicus, in which the most profound mysteries of both moral philosophy and the art of alchemy, long obscured by the labours of Hercules and veiled as if by a dark shroud amongst the Ancients, are revealed and made plain, and all that was hidden is set forth in the works of Philochimus. Toulouse, Pierre Bosc, 1634. In-8, soft vellum, plain spine with title running lengthwise (contemporary binding). First edition of one of the rarest works by the alchemist P.-J. Fabre (1588–1658), in which he argues that the labours of Hercules are allegories concealing the mysteries of Hermetic philosophy. This is the only separate edition of the *Hercules piochymicus*, which – unlike the *Alchymista christianus* – was reprinted in the collected edition of the alchemist’s works published in Frankfurt in 1656. In *Hercules Piochymicus*, Fabre reinterprets not only the twelve labours of Hercules but also other episodes of the myth from an alchemical perspective, such as the fifty sons he fathered with the fifty daughters of Thespios or his poisoning by Nessus’s tunic. He also reinterprets the myth of the Amazons, who, in his view, represent the ‘chemical salts hidden at the centre of all things’ (p. 144). ‘The conclusion of the whole work is an anathema to those who would have alchemy made perfectly plain to fools in words of one syllable, and a request that believers in transmutation await the appearance of his *Panchymicus*.’ (Thorndike). The volume was printed by Pierre d’Estey, whose press was located in Toulouse, near the Collège de Foix. The title page bears the mark of the bookseller Pierre Bosc. A copy in its original condition. Moth-eaten in the margins of the quires and in the upper corner of a few leaves. Interior scorched, with scattered foxing and pinholes; headbands worn. Caillet, no. 3762 – Duveen, 202 – Thorndike, VII, 194 – A. G. Debus, *The French Paracelsians*, Cambridge, 1991, pp. 75–76.
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About the sale Antique books – Alchemy & the occult sciences
Auction location
Auction time 11/04/2026 at 2:00 PM
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See original version (French)
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