Milestones of Science Books

FLUDD, Robert.

Philosophia Moysaica. In qua sapientia & scientia creationis & creaturarum .. explicatur. - Philosophiae Moysaicae sectio secunda in qua fundamenta radicalia tam sympathiae sive attractionis naturalis, aut coitionis concupiscibilis, & consequenter omnis magneticae curationis .. demonstrantur. Responsum ad Hoplocrisma-Spongum M. Fosteri Presbiteri, ab ipso, ad unguenti armarii validitatem delendam ordinatum.

Gouda: P. Rammazenius, 1638.

1st Edition. Soft cover. Very Good. Item #002728

3 Parts in 1 volume. Folio (304 x 200 mm). [4], 152 (i.e. 144); 30 leaves. Half-title, engraved title illustration to both parts of the Philosophia Moysaica, and over 30 illustrations (4 engravings and 26 woodcuts) in text. Without the final errata leaf. Signatures: (*)4 A-Nn4; A-G4 H2. Contemporary limp vellum, spine titled in manuscript (covers somewhat soiled, spotted and shriveled). Light browning and spotting of text, inner margin with scattered light rust spotting, leaf K4 with tear in blank fore-margin outside text, closed tear in Aa2 without loss, corners of first two leaves frayed. Provenance: illegible ink signature to half-title and lower pastedown, faint old stamp to first title. A very good copy in an untouched contemporary binding. ----

Caillet 4036; Ferguson I, p. 284; Gardner 237; NLM/Krivatsy 4140; Shaaber F150; Wellcome 2331. FIRST EDITION. This is Robert Fludd's last (posthumous) work, the mature expression of his philosophy. In it, deeply informed by arguments drawn from alchemical and cabbalistic sources, he delves into the mystical origins of all things, which he believed built upon the three primary elements of darkness, light, and the waters or the Spirit of the Lord. A significant thinker in the Rosicrucian tradition, he had earlier written against Kepler's criticisms of his theories. This cosmogenic work is significant in part simply because it does delve into the origins of the universe in a quasi-scientific fashion, and Fludd's thought, while flawed, was profound and insightful. The second work here is part of the weapon-salve controversy, Fludd's position coming from his Paracelsian philosophy as a physician (the belief that treating the weapon treated the injury was common at the time and part of that corpus of medicine. Many physicians of the period subscribed to this doctrine, rooted in sympathetic magic, most notably Kenelm Digby, whose "powder of sympathy" was applied on that basis).

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