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an old book with a drawing of a man on it
Premium Jeschke Jádi Auctions Berlin

Estimate €1,000 - €1,400
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Description
Alchemy Dorn, Gerhard The Key to Chemical Philosophy: by which the secret and hidden sayings and maxims of the philosophers are revealed and explained. With a woodcut printer’s mark on the title page and 4 woodcut illustrations in the text. Strasbourg, Zetzner, 1602. Small 8vo. 8 leaves, 414 pp., 8 leaves. (Modern loose) cardboard cover (name stamp on front cover). A rare first German edition of the ‘Key to Chemical Philosophy’, which the alchemist and physician Gerhard Dorn (1530–1584) first published in Latin in 1567 under the title ‘Clavis totius philosophiae chymisticae’. - VD17 3:005744Y. - Ferguson I, 220. - Duveen 179. - Thorndike V, 631. - Kopp I, 220 – As an “enthusiastic follower of Paracelsus and author of several Hermetic treatises” (Kopp I, 220), Dorn includes in his textbook several passages from Paracelsus’s *Great Wound Remedy* as well as German riddle-like sayings, thereby making this new conception of alchemy—shaped by mystical-theosophical views—accessible to European scholarly circles. This alchemical textbook challenges traditional medicine and reveals the deepest meaning of alchemy to lie in the inner perfection of the human being rather than in the transmutation of metals. - Slightly tanned; stamp on title page; 1 leaf with a small index (with a small tear); 1 leaf with a small corner tear. Alchemy. – Rare first German edition. With a woodcut printer’s mark on the title page and 4 woodcut illustrations. – (Now loose) Cardboard cover (name stamp on the front cover). - Slightly browned, stamp on the title page, 1 leaf with a small fingerprint (with a small tear), 1 leaf with a small corner tear.
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About the sale Valuable books, prints, historical photographs
Auction location
Auction time 10/24/2026 at 10:00 AM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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