Alchemy - MAIER (Michel). Tripus aureus, hoc est,... Lot 39

Alchemy - MAIER (Michel). Tripus aureus, hoc est, tres tractatus chymici selectissimi, nempe. I. Basilii Valentini [...], Practica una cum 12. clavibus & appendice, ex germanico; II. Thomae Nortoni, Angli philosophi crede mihi seu ordinale, ante annos 140. ab authore scriptum, nunc ex anglicano manuscripto in Latinum translatum [...] ; III. Cremeri cuiusdam abbatis Westmonasteriensis Angli Testamentum [...], & figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati operâ & studio. Francofurti, Apud Hermannum à Sande, 1677. Small in-4 of [1] f.-pp. 375-544. Beautiful title vignette depicting Valentinus, Norton and Cremer in a library and in the right part an alchemical laboratory. New edition of the collection of 3 alchemical works edited by Maier (original edition: 1618), taken from Sendivogius' Musaeum hermeticum (1678): I. Basilius Valentinus, "12. clavibus": translation of the "Twelve Keys" (original German edition: 1599), a treatise on alchemy in general, attributed to Basilius Valentinus, a German Benedictine monk of the 15th century. The illustration consists of 13 figures in the text, including 12 beautiful emblems depicting the reunion of the King and Queen to produce the Philosopher's Stone, accompanied by Saturn and his howling wolf (symbolizing the purification of gold and silver), the King and Queen uniting in the figure of adolescent Mercury, etc., the last key represents the alchemist reaching the end of his work with the moon and sun united in the background ; II. Thomas Norton, "Ordinale". Translation of the "Ordinall of Alchemy", a poem dated 1477, in which the alchemist Norton (c. 1433-1513) defends this discipline as a sacred and occult science and warns aspiring alchemists against recipe books and charlatans. The illustration consists of a full-page engraved frontispiece and a full-page figure. Alchemical poem by the English alchemist and poet Thomas Norton (c. 1433-1513) whose title 'The Alchemical Ordinary' or 'Believe me' indicates the didactic intention to present the correct sequence of alchemical operations, as an 'ordinary' does for the liturgical year. Translation from English into Latin by Maier. III. John Cremer, "Testamentum". Pseudo-alchemical treatise by Cremer, who calls himself "abbot of Westminster", but his name is not in the archives. Cremer tells of a trip to Italy during which he would have met Raymond Lulle in Milan, their return to England and delivers alchemical recipes. Beautiful title vignette. German physician and alchemist, Michael Maier (1569-1622) was advisor to Emperor Rudolf II of Habsburg. A Lutheran, he was one of the main commentators on the Rosicrucian manifestos, a Christian heresy order, published from 1614 to 1616. Waiting boards, handwritten title on the back (18th c.). "Collection of 21 alchemical treatises, most of them dealing with the philosopher's stone or occult medicine. A work of the greatest rarity, decorated with numerous engraved vignettes and frontispieces." Caillet, 7891, regarding the 1678 edition of the Musaeum hermeticum. (Caillet 7003 for the original edition of the Tripus aureus; Duveen 382-383; not in Dorbon.)