Zehntes Buch der Archidoxen vom Stein der Weisen
Vom Stein der Weisen der zehnte Tractat Archidoxorum
Printing History, Manuscripts. First edited from different sources in 1618 by Friedrich Moller, and in 1621 by Theophil Neander. One manuscript.
Editions. Not edited by Huser or Sudhoff.
Relationship between different versions.
Structure, genre/form, perspective, style.
Relationship to other texts. Not connected in any way to Clavis oder Das zehnte Buch der Archidoxen (§ 4.25) first edited by Johannes Staricius in 1624.
Authenticity, authorship. Written to supply the supposedly missing tenth book of the Archidoxis. The fact that Paracelsus called his text “Ten Books of Archidoxes” while there are only nine books present puzzled the early editors, namely Michael Toxites and Gerhard Dorn. Later, Johannes Huser explained in the preface to his edition of the Archidoxis that Paracelsus himself wrote “Decem Libri Archidoxis” on the vellum cover of his autograph manuscript; in the table of contents, however, he listed only nine books, while explaining in the first book that he divided his work into ten books, but would not put the tenth on paper; finally, Paracelsus wrote his colophon as follows: “Archidoxis ex Theophrastia pars prima finit […] in nouem libros diuisa,” i.e. “End of the First Part of the Archidoxes divided into nine books.”
Time of writing. Possibly written in the 1610s or earlier. Further study required.
Manuscripts:
- Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek: Voss. Chym. F.6, f. 90r–99v
First printed:
- 1618 (in: Ternio reliquiarum alchymiae Oder Drey Schöne Tractätlein/ Vom Stein der Weisen, ed. Friedrich Moller (Berlin, 1618); VD17 39:116580T; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 511–512 n° 304)
- 1621 (in: Heptas Alchymica Das ist: Auszerlesene Philosophische Tractätlein, ed. Theophil Neander (Leipzig: Henning Groß, 1621); VD17 23:240185V; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 527–528 n° 319)
Essential bibliography: Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 512, 527. 696 n° 32; Sudhoff, Paracelsus-Handschriften, 779 n° II/1a; CP 3: 1173.
Further bibliographical references:
Boeren, Codices Vossiani Chymici (1975), 23.
