RICHARD OF WENDOVER? also known as Richardus Anglicus (<...

I. Correctorium alchymiae Richardi Anglici . Das ist. Reformierte Alchimy, oder Alchimeibesserung, und Straffung der Alchimitischen Mißpräuch ... II. Rainmundi Lulli Apertoroium, & Accuratio Vegetabilium ... Des Königs Gebers auß Hispanien ... Zu Straßburg, bey B. Jobins seligen Erben. Anno M. D. XCVI

Strasbourg: heirs of Bernhard Jobin, 1596.
8vo: )(8 A--T8 (blank T8), 160 leaves, ff. [8] 151 [1]. Gothic letter. Title printed in red and black. Decorative initials. Leaf size and condition: 157 x 103mm. Titlepage soiled; moderate browning, but heavier in a few gatherings. Binding: Nineteenth-century quarter roan, gilt bands on spine, red painted and gauffered edges from a former binding. Small chip to head of spine, worn. Provenance and annotation: Early underlining, NBs and pointing fists; a short note in a later hand on final blank; on the title 'M' stamped in red; stamp 'Fischer Fondeur en caracteres à Genève' (repeated on pastedown) and initials and date 1810. Walter Pagel (1896--1983), signature dated 1955; B. E. J. Pagel (1930--2007). References: VD16 R 2158; Muller p. 602, Jobin (héritiers) 20; Ferguson II, p. 270. This edition not in Ritter or Banzig, cf. Ritter 2014 for the 1581 edition; not in Rogent and Duràn (cf. 126).
Second edition. Probably an exact reprint or a re-issue of the same publisher's 1581 edition (Rogent and Duràn give the date as 1582) which has the same collation.
§ A collection of five alchemical texts in German translation, the first two here attributed to 'Ricardi Anglici'. These are the 'Correction' and 'Reform' of Alchemy. The 'Correction' was printed in earlier collections, perhaps first in Alchimia (Nuremberg 1541, see Ferguson I, p. 18) but the 'Reform' may make its first appearance in this collection. The other texts are from the pseudo-Lullian alchemical corpus, the treatise on the philosopher's stone apparently printed here for the first time. This Richard has generally been identified with the physician, Richard of Wendover (d. 1252), canon of St Paul's and possibly for a time physician to Pope Gregory IX. Faye Getz in ODNB distinguishes him from Richardus Anglicus (fl. c.1180), also a physician and author of the medical treatise Micrologus. Sarton believed that Richard of Wendover was the author of Micrologus, but was unsure of the authorship of the alchemical works. Getz's article on both men makes no mention of the Correctorium alchymiae -- nor any other alchemical writings by Richard of Wendover. To add further confusion, in another ODNB article, J. D. North ascribes a work with the same title, Correctorium alchymiae, to Robert York, called Perscrutator (fl. 1313--1325), but apparently it is a different text since he gives a different publication history for it. In addition to the two attributed to 'Ricardi Anglici', the other works in the volume are two pseudo-Lullian texts, the Apertorium (first prined in 1546, Peirera I.2) and Tractatus de lapide philosophico (Peirera II. 49, not citing any printed editions so this is presumably the first edition of this text); and Geber's Secretum. I have not identified the Geneva typefounder, Fischer, who owned this copy in the nineteenth-century. Literature: Sarton II, p. 657; Michela Pereira, The alchemical corpus attributed to Raymond Lull (1989).

• GBP 3,500.00 > Andere Währungen
• Bestellnummer: 19759

• Antiquariat: Roger Gaskell (GREAT BRITAIN)