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ALDE

122 - *La Métallique Transformation*, containing three ancient tre…
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Estimate €800 - €1,000
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Description
*La Métallique Transformation*, containing three ancient treatises in French verse. Lyon, Pierre Rigaud, 1618. In-16, vellum Bradel binding with overlaps, title in coloured calligraphy on the front cover, plain spine with title running lengthwise (19th-century binding). A rare and sought-after edition of this collection of alchemical texts, comprising: 1° *La Fontaine des amoureux de science*, an alchemical adaptation of the allegories from *The Romance of the Rose*, composed in French verse by Jean de La Fontaine (1381–1441) of Valenciennes. 2° *Les Remonstrances de Nature à l’Alchymiste errant* (*Nature’s Admonitions to the Wandering Alchemist*), a famous alchemical poem formerly attributed to Jean de Meung, one of the two authors of *The Romance of the Rose*, but whose actual author is Jean Perréal, known as Jean de Paris, a 15th-century painter, architect, sculptor and alchemist. 3. The Philosophical Summary by Nicolas Flamel, with a defence of that art and of the honourable figures who practise it, against the efforts of J. Girard to defame them. This edition, the third and final in the series, conforms to the original Parisian edition of 1561. The two in-16 editions published in Lyon in 1590 and 1618 are, however, much more sought-after than the original in-8, according to Debure. A fine copy, featuring two handwritten notes on a flyleaf: one, from the 19th century, in ink (‘An exceedingly rare edition, more sought-after than that of 1561 (in-8°), which it reproduces exactly’); the other, more recent, in pencil (‘exp de Fulcanelli / J[ean]-J[ulien] Champagne’). Minor repair to the margin of the title page. Brunet, III, 748 – Caillet, no. 10811.
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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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