ALDE
89
-
DU CHESNE (Joseph). Treatise on the Nature, Preparation and …
See original version (French)
89
-
DU CHESNE (Joseph). Treatise on the Nature, Preparation and …
See original version (French)
Estimate €600 - €800
Voluntary lot
Description
DU CHESNE (Joseph). Treatise on the Nature, Preparation and Excellent Virtues of the Balsamic Medicine of the Ancient Philosophers. Paris, Claude Morel, 1626. -- A Popular Treatise on the Precise Spagyric Preparation of Medicines Derived from Minerals, Animals and Plants. Paris, Charles Morel, 1630. Two works in one in-8 volume, soft vellum (contemporary binding). First French edition of this rare treatise on spagyric medicine, the original Latin version of which dates from 1603. It is followed by two treatises by the author on the external signatures of simple substances and on the internal and specific signatures of things.
Advisor and personal physician to King Henry IV, and an alchemist, Joseph du Chesne (1546–1609), Sieur de la Violette, known as Quercetanus in Latin, is undoubtedly the most illustrious French exponent of Paracelsian medicine.
The first French edition of the same author’s treatise on spagyric pharmacology, originally published in Latin in 1575, has been bound following this volume. The edition is followed by a *Brief Response to Jacques Aubert’s Pamphlet Concerning the Generation and Causes of Metals*.
Both works are extremely rare. They are missing from Caillet’s and Dorbon’s catalogues.
Vellum repairs to the covers; some leaves are browned or pitted; water-stain on the lower margin of the first thirty leaves.
Thorndike, VI, 247–251.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
Antique books – Alchemy & the occult sciences
Auction location
Auction time
11/04/2026 at 2:00 PM
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