LACINIUS, Janus. Praeciosa ac nobilissima artis chymiae collectanea de occultissimo ac praeciosissimo Philosophorum lapide. 1554.
LACINIUS, Janus.
Praeciosa ac nobilissima artis chymiae collectanea de occultissimo ac praeciosissimo Philosophorum lapide.
Norimberga, Gabriel Hayn, 1554.
8vo (199x134 cm), (8)-124 leavesOne fullpage alchemical woodcut. binding : Modern quarter limp vellum, flat spine, sprinkled edges. Few waterstains. Title page soiled.
FIRST EDITION of this practical guide to alchemy. Lacinius's Pretiosa margarita novella de thesauro, ac pretiosissimo philosophorum lapide (taken from the fourteenth-century manuscript of Petrus Bonus) had previously been published by the Aldine press in Venice in 1546, and although this collection has a similar title, the contents are somewhat different.
Lacinius may have been a pseudonym; it is thought that the author was in fact Giovanni da Crotone, a Franciscan friar from Calabria.
references: Duveen [p. 332 : "This collection seems to differ considerably from the 1546 edition. Only the last book can be clearly recognised"].
provenance: P. Mercator 1620 (ownership inscription on title).
Price : 2500 €