Milestones of Science Books

PANTHEUS, Joannes Augustinus [Pantheo, Giovanni Antonio].

Ars et theoria transmutationis metallicae cum Voarchadumia, proportionibus, numeris, & iconibus rei accommodis illustrata / Voarchadumia contra alchimiam. Ars distincta ab archimia, & sophia: cum additionibus, proportionibus: numeris & figuris opportunis.

Paris: Vivant Gaultherot, 1550.

2nd Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. Item #003995

Two works in one volume. Paris: Vivant Gaultherot, 1550. 8vo (156 x 103 mm). 34, 55 (i.e., 63), [1] leaves. Signatures: A-D⁸ E²; A-H⁸. Printed in Roman, Greek, and Hebrew type; with side notes. Title with woodcut vignette (world map), woodcut initials, 14 woodcut text illustrations (mostly full-page), text with Hebrew and angelic-Enochian alphabets; separate title-page and foliation to second part, frequent misfoliations. Bound in late 18th to early 19th century half calf over marbled boards, flat gilt-tooled spine with gilt-lettered morocco label, red-sprinkled edges, rebacked retaining the original spine leather (boards and extremities rubbed). Text with light even browning, light pale waterstaining to outer margins in places, few leaves with dog-ears at upper corner, upper margin trimmed close with a few pages almost touching the headline. A complete and very good copy. ----

Two very rare sixteenth-century illustrated works on alchemy and metallurgy by the Venetian priest and alchemist Giovanni Antonio Panteo (or Pantheus). The first editions of 1519 (Ars et Theoria) and 1530 (Voarchadumia), both printed in Venice, are virtually unobtainable. "Pantheus wrote against spurious alchemy and he deals partly with the assay of gold, which is illustrated with drawings of rolling mills, furnaces of various sorts with the accompanying apparatus and a balance of weights, and partly with the chemical preparation of various substances which were made at Venice in his time and were used in the arts. He describes, for example, the manufacture of white lead and of an alloy for mirrors" (Ferguson). In his Voarchadumia, Pantheus differentiated alchemy from archimia, stating that only the latter could transform metallic substances into gold. His neologism "Voarchadumia" is formed from the Chaldean word for gold and the Hebrew word for two rubies. The work also contains a recipe for making mirrors and two esoteric alphabets, one of which is based on the Occulta Philosophia (1513) by Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim and the other on the mystical-biblical figure of Enoch, according to Pantheus.
References & Bibliography: Caillet 8274; Duveen p. 450; Ferchl p. 393; Ferguson 2:166-7; Thorndike 5:537-9; Adams P-184. - Visit our website to see more images!

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