Beschreibung der deutschen Alchimia
Wahrhaftige Beschreibung der deutschen Alchimia durch Theophrastus Paracelsus erfunden / Deutsche Alchimie
Printing History, Manuscripts. German version not printed. One manuscript. Translated from the Dutch version first printed in 1551, not attributed to Paracelsus.
Editions. Not edited by Huser or Sudhoff.
Relationship between different versions. This text was written by Jean Saulnier in French in 1432 (numerous manuscripts). First edition in French by Gabriel de Castaigne: Œuvre philosophique de J. Saunier, title-page and 55 pp., appended to Gabriel de Castaigne, Le Grand Miracle de nature metallique (Paris: Charles Sevestre, 1615); re-edition in Les Œuvres du R.P. Gabriel de Castaigne, tant medicinales que chymiques (Paris: Jean d’Houry, 1660). Orléans, ms. 291 was edited by Sylvain Matton in 2015. Latin translation by Guillaume Rascalon (Munich, BSB, clm 25110, fol. 80r–167r). Another Latin translation: Magni lapidis naturalis philosophia et vera ars per Joannem Saignier [sic] (Bremen: Jacob Koehler, 1664) (text erroneously dated 1632 instead of 1432). Dutch translation published in 1551: Duytsche Alchimye. Daer in begrepen is/ die rechte ende warachtige compositie vanden steen der philosophen/ ende andere elexiren Wit ende Root/ so als die warachtelick binne Parijs ghewrocht/ ende ten eynde is ghebracht gewest/ in voorleden Jaren (Amsterdam: Cornelis Karelsen, 1551; re-ed. Leiden: Gillis van Cranenbroeck, 1600). The German manuscript of the Beschreibung der deutschen Alchimia (Kassel, 8° Ms. chem. 15, written in 1613 by Raphael Eglin) was probably translated from the Dutch.
Structure, genre/form, perspective, style. The treatise is addressed by the author to his son.
Relationship to other texts.
Authenticity, authorship. Attributed to Paracelsus only in the German Kassel manuscript, but not in the printed Dutch version of 1551 from which it was translated.
Time of writing. 1432.
Manuscripts:
- Kassel, Landesbibliothek: 4° Ms. chem. 19, f. 1r–46v
- München, Bayerische Staatsbibliothek: Kiesewetteriana 29 (?)
First printed: German version not printed
- 1551 [Duytsche Alchimye. Daer in begrepen is/ die rechte ende warachtige compositie vanden steen der philosophen/ ende andere elexiren Wit ende Root/ so als die warachtelick binne Parijs ghewrocht/ ende ten eynde is ghebracht gewest/ in voorleden Jaren (Amsterdam: Cornelis Karelsen, 1551)]
Essential bibliography: Sudhoff, Paracelsus-Handschriften, 730–731, 780 n° II/23; CP 3: 1183.
Further bibliographical references:
Broszinski, Manuscripta chemica in quarto (2011), 60.
Klaas Hoogendoorn, Bibliography of the Exact Sciences in the Low Countries from ca. 1470 to the Golden Age (1700) (Leiden, 2018), 777.
Thomas Denys, “Duytsche alchimye: Een kennismaking met het oudste gedrukte alchemistische traktaat in het Nederlands,” Queeste, 24:1 (2017), 27–51 (non vidi).
Didier Kahn, “Recherches sur le Livre attribué au prétendu Bernard le Trévisan (fin du XVe siècle),” in Chiara Crisciani, ed., Alchimia e medicina nel Medioevo (Florence, 2003), 265–335, on 291 n. 78.
Michela Pereira, The Alchemical Corpus attributed to Raymond Lull (London, 1989), 44, n. 42.
Sylvain Matton, “Une version inédite de L’Œuvre de Jean Saulnier,” in Sylvain Matton, ed., Alchimie et philosophie mécaniste. Expérimentateurs et faussaires à l’âge classique (Paris-Milano, 2015), 17–32 (edition by Matton of Orléans, ms. 291)
