Das ganze Werk in Reimen

I. Basic information

10 verses, ca. 80 words

First printed in 1718. Several manuscripts. Critical edition by Joachim Telle in 1994.

Originally part of a larger alchemical poem, the 10 verses of Das ganze Werk in Reimen form part of David Beuther’s alchemical treatise Opus philosophicum (anonymous in many manuscripts). However, the copy in Karlsruhe, written by Paul Nagel, has another context.

Allegedly taken from the autograph of Paracelsus (“des Paracelsi eigene Handschrift”). The text quotes the “red lion” found in various pseudo-Paracelsian texts, expressly names “mercurius” and “sulphur,” while the first verses may refer to “salt”: “It is a stone and not a stone […] found in valleys and mountains.” Thus there is a loose connection to the Paracelsian tria prima doctrine.

Written in the second half of the sixteenth century.

II. Sources

Manuscripts:

independent copies

• Karlsruhe, Badische Landesbibliothek: Hs. Allerheiligen 3, f. 36r
• Kassel, Landesbibliothek: 4° Ms. chem. 60[6,5, f. 29v

Part of David Beuther, “Opus philosophicum”

• Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek: Mscr.Dresd.N.117.c
• Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. alchim. 678, f. 14v
• Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. alchim. 704, p. 408
• Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. alchim. 766, f. 82r
• Heidelberg, Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. Pal. germ. 434, f. 40v
• New Haven, Beinecke Library: Mellon MS 97
• Tournai, Bibliothèque du Séminaire: Cod. 138, f. 22r–22v

First printed:

• 1718 (David Beuther, Universal und Particularia, ed. Johann Christoph Sprögel (Hamburg: Samuel Heyl, 1718), 26–27, 51; VD18, 14402769; not in Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica)

Modern edition:

• Joachim Telle, “Paracelsus im Gedicht” (1982), 558–559
• Joachim Telle, “Vom Stein der Weisen” (1994), 193–194

III. Bibliography

Essential bibliography: CP 2: 202–203 (on Beuther).

Further bibliographical references:

Joachim Telle, “Paracelsus im Gedicht. Materialien zur Wirkungsgeschichte Theophrasts von Hohenheim im 16. und 17. Jahrhundert,” in Gundolf Keil, ed., Fachprosa-Studien. Beiträge zur mittelalterlichen Wissenschafts- und Geistesgeschichte (Berlin, 1982), 552–573.

Joachim Telle, “Vom Stein der Weisen. Eine alchemoparacelsistische Lehrdichtung des 16. Jahrhunderts,” in Joachim Telle, ed., Analecta Paracelsica (Stuttgart, 1994), 167–212. – Reprinted in Telle, Alchemie und Poesie (2013), 407–459.