Alchemy - LE PELLETIER (Jean). La Pyrotecnie de... Lot 33

Alchemy - LE PELLETIER (Jean). La Pyrotecnie de Starkey, ou L'Art de volatiliser les alcalis, selon les preceptes de Vanhelmont, & la préparation des Remedes Succedanées, ou aprochans de ceux que l'on peut préparer par l'Alkaest. Rouen and Paris, Guillaume Behourt and Laurent d'Houry, 1706. In-12 of [1] f.-200-[2] pp. brown calf, spine ribbed and decorated, red title (period binding). Spines and corners worn. Margins gnawed by moisture, without affecting the text. Rare and very curious work in which Jean Le Pelletier gives a translation of a text by the English physician and alchemist George Starkey (1628-1665), close to the great Philalethe; the latter accomplished sensational alchemical transmutations in his friend's laboratory. In this work, Starkey develops the principles of Paracelsus and Van Helmont on the Alkaest or universal dissolver. The realization of the Alkaest is an important step in the realization of the Philosopher's Stone. By dissolving bodies into their primitive matter, it allows alchemists to isolate the raw material of metals. Starkey left his name to a soap (a combination of potash and terebentine), whose operations are detailed in this work. "Rare and very curious work" according to Dorbon (2649).