ALDE
125
-
MUTUS LIBER. – Copperplate engraving, numbered ‘Pl.
See original version (French)
125
-
MUTUS LIBER. – Copperplate engraving, numbered ‘Pl.
See original version (French)
Estimate €150 - €200
Voluntary lot
Description
MUTUS LIBER. – Copperplate engraving, numbered ‘Pl. 6’ in the top right-hand corner. [18th century]. Print on laid paper with a 1772 or 1779 watermark, with generous margins (160 x 100 mm within the line, 205 x 145 mm including margins); very slight creases at the corners, margins imperceptibly yellowed. The sixth of the fourteen plates comprising the *Mutus Liber*, the famous illustrated treatise on alchemy originally published in La Rochelle in 1677.
This engraving comes from an unidentified later print run, probably produced in the last quarter of the 18th century. The Wellcome Collection in London holds a copy (accession number 36181i).
The plate depicts the alchemical process of fermentation and distillation in six side-by-side vignettes, featuring a man and a woman, except for the fifth, which shows the man alongside Apollo.
Another copperplate engraving is included: ‘Allegory of Superstition’, taken from the Austrian journal *Schauplatz der Natur und der Künste*, Vienna, 1776. Copperplate engraving, no. 45. Print on laid paper with wide margins (92 x 120 mm within the line, 226 x 196 mm including margins).
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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