Alchemy - Manuscript - LULLE (Raymond) & ÉMERIT... Lot 40

Alchemy - Manuscript - LULLE (Raymond) & ÉMERIT (Jacques-Émile). The Testament of Raymond Lulle. From Latin put into French by J.-E. Emerit embellished by him with numismatic figurines cabalisantes with the Royal and Sacred Art begun God helping the year of the Redemption 1941 the XXVIII of December Sunday of the Holy Innocents in the house of the father in Saint Jean d'Angély. Saint Jean d'Angély, 1941-1947. In-4 of [2] ff.-226 pp. Red chagrin, spine with two thick cold-stamped nerves extending over the boards, title gilt on the spine. Text in a very neat handwriting in pages ruled in red pencil and illustrated with numerous and very beautiful numismatic figures drawn in ink in the text, some of them enhanced in colour and/or gold, a coloured coat of arms enhanced in gold on the second leaf, a system figure p. 101 (a drawn figure covered by another drawn and coloured figure on a small paper that can be lifted) and a very beautiful colour drawing (185 x 115 mm) on p. 117 reproducing glyphs and figures probably Mayan. Superb manuscript of one of the first French translations of the True Alchemical Testament attributed to Raymond Lulle, which required six years of work by its author. This manuscript was reproduced (without mentioning the name of its author, Dr Emerit) by Éditions de la Hutte in 2006 (with the exception of the very beautiful plate on p. 117) with an interesting preface by Bernard Renaud de la Faverie, and then transcribed in full (still without the author's name) by Éditions Castelli in 2007. The Testament, whose original title is "Testamentum duobus libris universam artem chymicam complectens - Item eiusdem compendium animae transmutationis artis metallorum" (literally "Testament in two books of the complete universal chemical art - Including a volume on how to transmute the soul of metals") is the oldest pseudo-Lullian treatise on alchemy. The text is said to date from 1332, but some authors claim that the date of writing is unknown. It was first published in Cologne in 1566 under the name of Lulle. It is in this work that the greatest amount of alchemical knowledge of the time and the main theories concerning this science are gathered. The work shows a very advanced knowledge of pharmacology. The rules he lays down are sometimes enigmatic, especially when it comes to "ennobling" metals - that is, transmuting them into gold. The author often uses solemn terms - the "quintessence" of wine to designate alcohol - while describing its virtues. The work as a whole does not present any great scientific advances, but remains an important testimony to medieval alchemical research. This text advances the new notion of "universal medicine", both for stones (transmutation) and for human health. "He was probably a student of Arnaud de Villeneuve and is credited with a number of books on alchemy. But, which is not the least of the paradoxes, his two biographers, Alain Llinarès and Louis Sala-Molins, do not mention it once. Neither in the eight volumes of the Opera (a collection of all of Lulle's writings) published in Mainz (1721-1742) nor in the five volumes of the Opera latina published in Freiburg im Breisgau-Palma de Mallorca (1959-1967) do we find any trace of alchemical texts. In the works of Fulcanelli and Eugène Canseliet, numerous references appear to the various texts attributed to Lulle. There is no certainty that Lulle practised alchemy, and even less certainty that all these numerous texts are indeed his. We would say that his Ars Magna, his philosophy and his mysticism would prove the contrary. [...] Various manuscripts bearing the title of 'testament' have been attributed to Raymond Lulle. The various bibliographies consulted propose different titles. We even have a commentary by Lulle himself (L'Elucidation ou l'éclaircissement du testament de Raimond Lulle par lui-même, Bibliothèques des philosophes chymiques, t. IV, Paris, 1754) obviously published after his death. Historians of science, such as Hoffer, convinced that they are enlightened, qualify the whole of the alchemical work of the Majorcan master as obscure, uninteresting, even absurd, in relation to the other classics of the Holy Science of the time, if only the writings of Arnaud de Villeneuve, Lulle's friend and teacher. This fortunately does not apply to the present text, which constitutes a summit of alchemical literature." Preface to the 2006 edition by Bernard Renaud de la Faverie, who also points out 2 French manuscripts attributed to Lulle: La théorique ou testamen de Raymond Luly sur tous autres alkimiens souverains et plus excellent (134 ff., 15th century parchment, library of M. de Paulmy, Bibliothèque de l'Arsenal) and Testament de Ramond Lulle, philosophe très savant et très fa