[Rarebooks] Offering: Alchemy, 1700

[Michael John Thompson]

FRATRIS BASILII VALENTINI [BASIL VALENTINE].


CHYMISCHE SCHRIFTEN alle so viel derer verhanden 
: anitzo zum dritten Mahl zusammen gedruckt : aus 
vielen so wol geschrieben als gedruckten 
Exemplaren vermehret und verbessert : und in zwey Theile verfasset.

Hamburg: In Verlegung Gottfried Liebezeits. 1700.

Reprint, issued originally in 1677. Octavo, contemporary vellum.

Frontispiece portrait on first leaf, 18 
alchemical and emblematic woodcuts in the text 
(some full-page), decorative head- and tailpieces 
throughout. Collation: a-c8 A-Z8 aa-gg8 Aa-Bbb8 
Ccc1-Ccc6 Ddd1-Ddd8. Vellum *heavily* soiled and 
sprung, text block browned, page edges heavily 
darkened, several leaves with closed tears and / 
or corner loss, alchemical notations in an 
antique hand on preliminary blank, some 
annotations and markings in the text. A good 
copy. ¶  The collected Alchemical works of Basil Valentine. Rare.

$1000.00

Basili Valentini (Basilius Valentinus, Basil 
Valentine), 15th-century alchemist. His name 
cannot be corroborated; during the 18th century 
it was suggested that he was Johann Thölde. 
Historians seem quite unable to agree as to his 
exact identity, or even as to the
century in which he lived. It is generally 
believed, however, that 1394 was the year of his 
birth, and that he did actually join the 
Benedictine Brotherhood, eventually becoming 
Canon of the Priory of St. Peter at Erfurt, near 
Strasburg, although even these facts cannot be 
proved. Whatever his identity, Basil Valentine 
was undoubtedly a great chemist, and the 
originator of many chemical preparations of the 
first importance. Amongst these are the 
preparation of spirit of salt, or hydrochloric 
acid from marine salt; oil of vitriol (sulphuric 
acid); the extraction of copper from its pyrites 
(sulphur) by transforming it firstly into copper 
sulphate and then plunging a bar of iron in the 
watery dissolution of this product; the method of 
producing sulpho-ether by the distillation of a 
mixture of spirit of wine and oil of vitriol; the 
method of obtaining brandy by the distillation of 
wine and beer, etc. He has been given the title 
of "Father of Modern Chemistry". His early books 
are rare. Our copy collates identically to the 
Honeyman copy,  (Sothebys, 30 Oct 1978, 480 
pounds), but it is considerably soiled on the outer binding and page edges.


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Michael John Thompson
ABAC / ILAB
5275 Jerow Road
Hornby Island, BC
Canada V0R 1Z0
250-335-1182

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