ID 1105690
Lot 39 | Johan Isaac Hollandus et al.
Estimate value
£ 3 000 – 5 000
De Rebus Naturalibus vegetabilibus mineralibus et medicis, in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy, mid-17th century]
A 17th-century witness to the works of the enigmatic alchemist Johan Isaac Hollandus, 'the first alchemist of Holland'; with two other Italian manuscripts on Roman history and Law.
148 x 100mm. i + 144 + i leaves, apparently complete, contemporary foliation 1-142 followed here, c.22 lines. Contemporary mottled calf, spine gilt (edges a little rubbed and scuffed). Provenance: Gonnelli Casa d'Aste, 15-16 November 2012, lot 36.
Content: Johan Isaac Hollandus, De Rebus Naturalibus vegetabilibus mineralibus et medicis, item de mercurio, ff.1-142. The manuscript contains extracts from the works of the probably fictitious alchemist Johan Isaac Hollandus, thought to be a 15th-century contemporary of Basilius Valentinus, and the first alchemist of Holland, whose practical and detailed techniques were praised by Paracelsus, Boyle, and Kunckel. His Opera Mineralia, sive de Lapide Philosophico first appeared in print in 1600, followed in 1616 by his Opera mineralia, et vegetabilia. The text here opens with Fragments 'ex Theoriis Joannis Isaacci Hollandi', beginning: 'Rerum omnium a Deo conditarum', followed by his 'De Lapide Vegetabili ex vino', a recipe that cures all ills (f.8), followed by descriptions of the alchemical process and its various stages.
[With:] Compendium, seu Annales, antiquitatis Romane, in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy, 17th century]. 154 x 103mm. iii + 89 + i leaves. c.18 lines. Contemporary vellum over pasteboards. Provenance: Nicolaus Petit Hionius Rhetor Montibus Anno Domini 1631 in red on first flyleaf. The text containing a history of the Roman Empire from Romulus to the year 488.
[And:] Praxis Novissima de Ordine Iudiciorum, in Latin, manuscript on paper [Italy, 18th?-century]. 187 x 132mm. i + 72 + i. c.26 lines. Contemporary vellum over pasteboards. The text is a handbook for judicial practice and deals with practical issues like contumacy, litigation, sentencing, etc.
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