Milestones of Science Books

MANGET, Jean Jacques (editor).

Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa, Seu Rerum Alchemiam pertinentium Thesaurus Instructissimus: Quo non tantum Artis Auriferae. Ac Scriptorum in ea Nobiliorum Historia traditur; Lapidis Veritas Argumentis & Experimentis innumeris, immo & Juris Consultorum Judiciis evincitur; Termini obscuriores explicantur. .

Geneva: Chouet, G. De Tournes, Cramer, Perachon, Ritter, & S. De Tournes, 1702.

1st Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003583

Two parts in two volumes. Folio (348 x 213 mm). [20], 938 (i.e., 936); [4], 904 pp. Titles with large woodcut device, first title printed in red and black, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, 30 full-page engraved plates (16 in vol. I, 14 in vol. II), engraved text illustrations and woodcut diagrams. Lacking the half-title in vol. I and the original portrait frontispiece (here replaced by Manget's portrait of his Theatrum Anatomicum, 1717). Signatures: [cross]⁴ (-[cross]1) 2[cross]⁶ A-4I⁶; [pi]², A-4E⁶, 4F⁸. Uniformly bound in 20th century full vellum, gilt decorated spines with 6 raised bands each and gilt-lettered brown morocco labels (spine of vol. II with a few scratches and upper left joint partly split). Text unevenly browned and spotted (the plates generally less affected), engravings of plate 4 in vol. II cut out and laid down with captions added in manuscript, plates 5 and 6 with short gutter due to binding offset. Provenance: illegible ownership inscriptions on titles crossed out. Still a very good copy. ----

RARE FIRST EDITION of this famous collected edition by the Swiss doctor Manget (1652-1742. Geneva issue (another issue is known with 'Coloniae Allobrogum' in the imprint). "The most complete collection of alchemical texts ever published, containing 140 treatises [...]. For the historian of chemistry this is the most important and indispensable work" (Duveen). Manget was appointed physician to the Elector of Brandenburg in 1699, a position he retained when the Elector became King of Prussia. His work collects and reprints 'treatises on medicine and surgery, [which] are valuable as works of reference to books which either are now difficult to obtain or which have disappeared' (Ferguson p.71). Ferguson gives a full listing of the treatises.
References: Duveen 387 (= Ferguson II:68); NLM/Blake 285; Caillet 7071; Wellcome IV:42; Honeyman 2128; Brüning 3062-3; Caillet 7071; Esoterica 2870; Rosenthal, Magica, 585; Brunet III, 1365; Casanatense 807; Verginelli, Hermetica, 211; Neville II, 136. - Visit our website to see more images!

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