Title: A collection of recipes,

Publication: Italian, c. 1540s.

Reference No: MU-RBL00016

Book Description
145 x 100 mm. [61] leaves. Manuscript in pen and ink on paper. Contemporary vellum wallet
binding, tie renewed, worm-holes in two small places to the binding affecting the edges of a few
leaves, written in at least four different legible hands. An extremely interesting collection of
secret recipes concerning perfume, essences, beauty, wine, medicine, and alchemy. Specific
recipes include those for perfume to be used in the bedroom; cologne; soap made using rose water
and another using cloves; how to make pasta; syrups to be used against syphilis; and methods for
transforming metals.

Title: LEXICON ALCHEMIAE, SIVE DICTIONARIUM ALCHEMISTICUM, CUM OBSCURIORUM VERBORUM, & RERUM
HERMATICARUM, TUM THEOPHRAST - PARACELSICARUM PHRASIUM, PLANAM EXPLICATIONEM CONTINENS....

Publication: Frankfurt: Cura ac sumtibus Zachariae Palthenii, 1612.

Reference No: MU-RBL00017

Book Description
[4], 471 [i.e. 487 (due to many errors in numbering in the late portion of the text)],[1
(blank)]pp.<p>Small quarto. Slightly later plain full calf (visible waste sheets from an English
astronomical gazette used in the binding are for the year 1635). Alchemical device on title, two
marginal woodcuts, several tables (leaf M1 folded at fore-edge to accommodate the over extension
of the table on that leaf). Crown of spine has shallow loss, bookplate scar on front pastedown,
front free binder's endsheet almost detached, text block considerably browned (as usual for this
title), 3N4 has a short, clean tear in from the margin, some occasional marginal discoloration,
occasional spotting; still, a good copy.

First edition of this very substantial lexicon, compiled by the physician to Emperor Rudolph II
and lecturer at the gymnasium at Lauingen in Swabia. "He was in favor of Parcelsus' reforms, but
he dealt greatly in secret remedies, especially in emetics..." - Ferguson. "This lexicon is very
full, less mystical and more practical than some later ones. Useful in explaining early
terminology" - Bolton. DUVEEN, p. 520. FERGUSON II:302. BOLTON I:1041.

Title: Maniere de se Récréer avec le Jeu de Cartes Nommées Tarots. Pour servir de premier [-
quatrieme] Cahier à cet Ouvrage

Publication: See full description

Reference No: MU-RBL00018 

Book Description

"Amsterdam," Paris, l'auteur, Merigot l'aîné, Legras, Segault, 1783-1785[-1786]. With 8 full-page
engraved plates, 1 folding engraved plate and a folding letterpress table printed both sides,
most serving as frontispieces to the parts, supplements and appendix, 8 engravings mounted in
blank spaces left in the text for the purpose, and 1 woodcut in the text.
WITH: Les Sept Nuances de l'Oeuvre Philosophique-Hermétique, suivies d'un traité sur la
perfection des métaux, mis sous l'Avant-Titre L.D.D.P [= le dernier du pauvre].
[Paris], Ségaut, [1786]. With engraved frontispiece.
WITH: Philosophie des Hautes Sciences, ou La Clef Donnée aux Enfans de l'Art de la Science & de
la Sagesse.
"Amsterdam," Paris, l'auteur, Nyon l'aîné, Durand, Merigot le jeune, Segaut, 1785. Engraved
frontispiece and 1 engraving mounted in a blank space left in the text for the purpose. Lacking 1
text leaf.
WITH: Jeu des Tarots, ou Le Livre de Thot, ouvert a la Maniere des Egyptiens, pour servir ici A
l'Interprétation de tous les Rêves, Songes, et Visions diurnes et nocturnes. .
"Memphis," Paris, widow Lesclapart, Petit, Samson, [1788].
WITH: Livre de Thot. Les Sages ont ensemencé ce champ des Sciences et des Arts, Pourquoi,
Profanes, venez-vous y jetter de l'Ivraie?
[at the end:] Paris, "Etteilla", 1789.
WITH: Science. Leçons Théoriques et Pratiques du Livre de Thot.
"Amsterdam" [Paris], "chez [blank space] libraire" (at end: "chez l'auteur, M. Etteilla, ... rue
de l'Oseille, ... et chez MM. les libraires"), 1787. With engraved frontispiece. With a
separately issued 8vo "avant-propos", not always present, that also served as a prospectus.
WITH: Apperçu [sic] d'un Rigoriste sur la Cartonomancie et sur son Auteur.
[Paris], [Alliette], [1786?]. Without the engravings called for by Caillet.
12mo (except for ad 5 and the avant-propos/prospectus for ad 6 in 8vo), 7 works in 13 parts plus
4 supplements, and an appendix, bound in 2 volumes. Nearly all works use decorated capitals and
rococo fleurons in the style of Fournier. Contemporary French mottled tanned sheepskin, gold-
tooled spines.

Caillet 201, 208-210, 213, 215 (ad 7, 4, 6, 1, 3 & 2 resp.); Cinq Siècles de Cartes a Jouer en
France 367 (ad 1); OCLC WorldCat (ad 1-7, 2 to 7 copies).
Rare first editions of the most important works of the bizarre occultist "Etteilla", the father
of Tarot card reading, with some of his even rarer smaller works and advertisements, also on
tarot card reading and its supposed ancient Egyptian origins. The mystery of ancient Egypt fired
the public imagination in his books fifteen years before an officer in Napoleon's Egyptian
campaign stumbled across a mysterious inscribed stone in Rosetta. The game of Tarok, using a
normal deck of 40, 52 or 56 cards supplemented with thirty additional Tarot cards containing
strange symbols (which the author calls "caractères Egyptiens") had existed for centuries, and
some may have used them for fortune telling. But the present Maniere (ad 1), Etteilla's
masterwork, was the first and most extensive printed account, and one must suspect that much of
it was his own invention. It is here complete in 4 parts, 4 supplements and an appendix, together
comprising nearly 900 pages. Some of the other works provide further "scientific" accounts of
Tarot cards and their symbols, and some of the very rare smaller publications provide fascinating
glimpses of the author, his publications and services, his efforts to establish his priority and
legitimacy, his followers, etc. He calls himself "Professeur d'Algèbre" and "Correspondant
général de la Société des Interprêtes" (ad 5, 1789), gives a list of his prices for various sorts
of consultations (ad 4), his exact address in Paris, references to his "élève, M. d'Oducet," and
includes advertisements that help date many of his books and his own Tarot cards (ad 4, 1788, the
first made explicity for card reading). Ad 3 gives Etteilla's third person analysis of his own
work.

Taken together, the advertisments suggest that Alliette offered several of his works (12 parts
totalling 1200 pages) bound in two volumes in "chagrin veut" (a term often used very loosely) for
12 livres (ad 5 & ad 7; see also Caillet 204) so the present binding may come from Alliette's own
shop. Ad 4 & 5 are bound between parts 3 & 4 of ad 1. Ad 3 lacks one text leaf, ad 7 lacks the
engravings called for by Caillet (not mentioned in the text). The main work and the other smaller
works are complete and all are in very good condition. The folding plate in ad 1 is torn, a piece
of paper pasted over the lower part of the frontispiece of ad 2 covers two medallions, and ad 3
shows a few brown spots. Binding good, with only some cracks on the hinges and minor blemishes.
An extraordinary group of occult publications, the first account of Tarot card reading and an
early and influential contribution to the Egyptology craze.

Title: Historische Nachrichten von unterirdischen Schätzen welche in alten Kirchen, Schlossern, Klöstern und höhlen verbogen gelegen, und Theils glücklich gehoben worden, Theils aber noch in dem Schoose der Erden vergraben sind

Publication: Frankfurt & Leipzig, 1737

Reference No: MU-RBL00019 

Book Description: 

EARLY COLLECTION OF GOTHIC TALES - Rare first editions of these collections of allegedly “historical” tales featuring treasure troves, subterranean caves and passageways, magic, alchemy and apparitions — in short, most of the content and trappings of the full-fledged Gothic novel. Imbued with grotesque imagery and supernatural elements as well as a strong anti-Catholic bias, Gleichmann’s tales feature corrupt monks who rob their monasteries, malicious farmers who summon ghosts to learn the whereabouts of local treasure troves, and secret caves wherein one finds beautiful women with long flowing hair, deadly snakes, and chests full of gold, but no exit. The stories are set in a multitude of European countries, some as recently as the 1740s, but are generally rooted in German mythological tradition. As a form of highly sensational popular reading, Gleichmann’s tales never ranked as Bildung, and although evidently popular on the basis of the number of editions they enjoyed, they are now virtually forgotten. The later and more polite German authors of Gothica later in the century — Bürger, Herder, Schiller, Müsaus and Naubert, to name only a few — undoubtedly knew Gleichmann’s works; whether or not the English authors who are generally regarded as indebted to the latter did as well remains an intriguing question. Johann Zacharias Gleichmann (ca. 1685-1758) wrote prolifically on religion, politics, and history. He published many of his works, particularly those with supernatural or anti-clerical themes, under typically Gothic pseudonyms: Sinceramando, Theophilo, Sperantis, Veramandi, Claro Michaele Helmondo, Puramando, and Walldorffio

Title: Erneuerte Hauß- und Feld-Apotheck, oder Stadt- und Land-Artzney-Buch, darinnen zu finden
Wie sich der Mensch beydes vor allerhand Zufällen, alß auch in denenselben verhalten solle; Da
dann die Recepten dergestalt eingerichtet, daß so wohl der Stadt- alß Land-mann sein Genügen
daran haben, und selbige nach seinem Belieben erwählen kan

Publication: See full description

Reference No:   MU-RBL00043

Book Description

Frankfurt a. M., Martin Hallervorden (printed by Johann Andrea, Königsberg), 1674.
WITH: DIGBY, Kenelm. Eröffnung unterschiedlicher Heimlichkeiten der Natur, worbey viel
scharffsinnige, kluge, wol-erwogene Reden von nützlichen Dingen jederman dienlich, die gleiche
Artung der Natur entdeckende, klar und außführlich beygefüget, und vornemlich von einem
wunderbaren Geheimnuß in Heilungen der Wunden, ohne Berührung, vermög deß Vitrioli, durch die
Sympathiam. ... Zum fünfftenmal gedruckt.
[including:] SERVIUS, Petrus. Außführliches Bedencken, von der insgemein so genannten Waffen-
Salben: oder, Von den Wunderwercken der Natur und Kunst.
[Frankfurt], Balthasar Christoph Wusten, 1671.
WITH: TABERNÆMONTANUS, Jacobus Theodorus. New Wasserschatz, das ist: Von Allen heylsamen
Metallischen Minerischen [sic] Bädern unnd Wassern, Sonderlich aber von den newen erfundenen
Sawerbrunnen zu Langen Schwalbach in der Nidergraffschafft Ratzenelnbogen, und im Schwartzwald in
dem löblichen Stifft Straßburg in S. Petersthal unnd der Greißbach, bey dem Weiler Greißbach
gelegen, auch aller anderer Sauwerbrunnen eygentliche Beschreibung, sampt derselben Gehalt,
Krafft unnd Wirckung. Auch wie man dieselbigen und alle Metallische Wasser zu mancherley
Kranckheiten und Leibs Gebrechen, ... gebrauchen soll.
Frankfurt a. M., (colophon: Nicolaus Bassæus), 1593. 8vo. 4 works (2 published together with a 3-
page publisher’s book list) in 1 volume. With 3 title-pages (2 printed in red and black), 1 part-
title, and 2 engraved frontispieces. Set primarily in fraktur types, with occasional woodcut
head- and tailpieces and decorated initial letters, and cast fleurons. Richly blind-tooled
seventeenth-century pigskin.

Ad 1: Waller 3622; cf. Krivatsy 4870-4871 (eds. of 1667 & 1678); not in Wellcome; ad 2: Caillet
3126; Krivatsy 3251; cf. Ferguson, Books of Secrets 326-328 & pp. 20-23 (eds. of 1664, 1668 &
1700); Wellcome II, p. 468 (ed. of 1677); ad 3: VD 16, T-824; cf. Wellcome I, 6198 (1581 Bassæus
ed.); not in Adams.
Four rare German works on pharmacology, mineral springs and "sympathetic" healing powder,
published as three editions.
Ad 1: Carl von Gogler's pharmacological handbook for house and country first appeared in 1667 and
provides information on curatives and their preparation, covering illnesses of body parts from
the head to the feet, illnesses of women and children, fevers and poisoning, wounds, facial and
other skin spots and hair vermin, and purgatives and plasters. The book ends with an appendix on
bloodletting and the interpretation of urine and pulses, and an index.
Ad 2: Sir Kenelm Digby delivered his famous oration on "the Powder of Sympathy" when he visited
the curative waters at Montpellier, and published it in 1658. The present fifth German edition is
accompanied by a German translation of a treatise on the same subject by Petrus Servius of
Spoleto (d. 1648), with a recipe for making the powder on the last four pages.
Ad 3: Jacob Th. Tabernæmontanus first published his account of naturally carbonated mineral
springs in 1581, and covers all such springs known to him in the German states, in particular
that at Bad Schwalbach near Wiesbaden.
With bookplate and early hand-written ownership entry. Some marginal notes slightly shaved. In
very good condition, with only minor browning and an occasional spot or marginal stain. An
interesting and curious collection of medical rarities.

Title: Pandora. Das ist die edlest Gab Gottes oder der werde und heilsame Stein der Weysen mit
welchem die alten Philosophi auch Theophrastus Paracelsus die unvollkommene Metallen durch Gewalt
des Feuers verbessert

Publication: Basel, Sebastian Henricpetri, 1598.

Reference No:   MU-RBL00041

Book Description
PANDORA WITH 42 WOODCUTS THE EARLIEST PRINTED ILLUSTRATION OF A HERMAPHRODITE

Very rare third edition (first 1582) of this unusually interesting illustrated alchemy, “an
extremely rare book and of great interest for the symbolical pictures it contains” – Duveen, p.
504 on 1582. “One of the earliest synoptic accounts of alchemy, and it may be the first that was
written in German.” – Jung, Alchemical Studies, p. 144. With a dedication to the personal
physician to Rudolph II and the inclusion of the Habsburg arms in one of the alchemical
illustrations, the work almost certainly had currency in the alchemical circles of Prague.
“Ferguson gives a long account of the work and mentions that these figures were probably widely
known before the publication by Reusner but does not mention the grounds for this assertion or
attempt to trace their origin. They originated in a work which has apparently never been printed,
The Book of the Holy Trinity. Four 15th-century manuscripts of this work exist (or rather
existed) in Germany, one in the Bavarian State Library at Munich, one in the Ducal Library at
Wolfenbüttel, one in the Monastic Library at St. Gallen, and one in the German National Library
at Nuremberg. They all appear to be copies from the same original and all contain the same text
and figures… The Book of the Holy Trinity contains the earliest known representation of a
Hermaphrodite and makes a very large use of Christian Symbolism by comparing chemical operations
with the Passion of Christ. This is highly reminiscent of the tract De secreto naturae, usually
ascribed to Arnaldus de Villanova. We find the fall of mankind symbolizing the destruction of the
impure metals: this is also frequently found in the English alchemist George Ripley’s works.
Sublimation composed of body, soul, and Spirit leads to a comparison with the Holy Trinity and
gives the work its name.” – Duveen, “On the Origin of the Figures contained in Pandora by
Reusner,” The Library, 5th Series, no. 1, p. 58. NUC (s.v. Epimetheus) records the first edition
(1582) at Princeton; 1588 at Hahnemann; and the present 1598 edition at Folger and MoSmed. The
work’s authorship remains contested. Reusner may have been only the editor, and the actual author
a Franciscan named Ulmannus, whom Reusner calls Franciscus Epimetheus.