PANTHEUS, Johannes Augustinus (d.1535) - photo 1
PANTHEUS, Johannes Augustinus (d.1535) - photo 2
PANTHEUS, Johannes Augustinus (d.1535) - photo 3
PANTHEUS, Johannes Augustinus (d.1535) - photo 4

PANTHEUS, Johannes Augustinus (d.1535)

Lot 71
09.07.2025 10:30UTC +01:00
Classic
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CHRISTIE'S
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
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ID 1450575
Lot 71 | PANTHEUS, Johannes Augustinus (d.1535)
Estimate value
£ 10 000 – 15 000
PANTHEUS, Johannes Augustinus (d.1535)
Ars transmutationis metallicae. Venice: Johannes Tacuinus, 3 January 1519 [the first part with a separate colophon: 7 September 1518].
First edition of an alchemical text ‘of great rarity’ (Duveen); formerly in the Borghese Library. ‘Pantheus was a priest at Venice, but seems nevertheless to have been devoted to chemical research’ (Ferguson). He published his ‘Art of Metallic Transmutation’ with a permit from the Council of Ten and a 1517 edict of Pope Leo X, to whom the work is dedicated, granting him the exclusive right of printing the work in the papal states. ‘In his preface to the pope, Pantheus describes his booklet as very recently put together from varied reading of the philosophers. He wishes it to contain the sincere truth of the secret of transmutation, to abolish deceits and incredulity, to reveal the stone to the sons of wisdom and to conceal it from the ignorant. Reading his book would have saved those who have followed false interpretations all their time and expense. Similarly, in a second preface to the reader he promises to elucidate completely this most weighty theme of the transmutation of metals … It seems probable that, after the publication of this volume of 1518, someone called to the attention of its author or the papal court or the Venetian government the existence of a papal decretal and a decree of Venice against alchemists. For in 1530 Pantheus brought out with the same printer at Venice a book entitled Voarchadumia contra alchimiam … As this title suggests, he now professed to be writing not on alchemy but on Voarchadumia, an art distinct from alchemy’ (Thorndike, A history of magic and experimental science V, pp.537-9). Only two other copies have appeared at auction in almost 100 years (RBH). Duveen, p.449; Wellcome I, 4722.

Small quarto (210 x 152mm). 38 leaves, with a further 12 added blanks bearing contemporary notes in Latin. Roman, Greek and Hebrew types. Woodcut border on A3, three woodcut diagrams, one full-page, large woodcut initials (some dampstaining including title, edges occasionally lightly frayed with a repair to the title, top corner of A2 bent, A2.4 rehinged). 18th-century vellum (some wear at corners and edges, endleaves a little torn). Provenance: contemporary marginal annotations in Latin throughout and schematic notes on the 12 added blanks, which detail the human virtues and branches of learning, including logic, rhetoric, mathematics, economics, astrology, necromancy, alchemy, music – Marco Antonio Borghese (1814-1886; politician and president of the Pontifical Roman Academy of Archaeology in 1846-1847). The collection of printed works and manuscripts of the Borghese Library, formed by Paul V and later increased by his descendants, was sold in Rome in two auctions in 1892 and 1893, after the death of Marco Antonio.
Place of origin:Italy, Europe
Auction house category:Medicine & science, Books and manuscripts, Printed books
Address of auction CHRISTIE'S
8 King Street, St. James's
SW1Y 6QT London
United Kingdom
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09.07.2025 – 09.07.2025
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