De natura rerum

I. Basic information

Printing History, Manuscripts. Books 1–7 first printed in 1572, edited by Adam von Bodenstein. Books 8 and 9 first printed in 1584 by Lucas Bathodius. Manuscripts in Freiberg (Sachsen), Leiden, Kopenhagen, Wolfenbüttel, Hamburg, some of them containing only certain books. The oldest manuscript (Freiberg) is dated 1571.

Editions. Edited by Huser, 6 (1590): 255–362. Edited by Sudhoff in Paracelsus, Sämtliche Werke, I/11: 307–403. The dedicatory preface only edited by Kühlmann and Telle in CP 3: 266–278 n° 106.

Relationship between different versions. Further study required.

Structure, genre/form, perspective, style. De natura rerum consists of nine books and a dedicatory preface to Johann Winckelsteiner dated 1537.

Relationship to other texts.

Authenticity, authorship. Sudhoff deemed the whole work spurious, but probably reworked on the basis of possibly authentic fragments or drafts. The different views of Sudhoff and other specialists on its authenticity have been summarized by Kühlmann-Telle. According to Gantenbein De natura rerum was probably written by at least three different authors, three chapters probably by Paracelsus himself: in Gantenbein’s view, the preface and books 1 and 2 are “rather crude forgeries;” books 3 and 8 are “properly fake, their content [being] not typical for Paracelsus” and “probably both [are] written by another author, a craftsman who possessed great expertise;” as for books 4 and 7, “there are no strong arguments against their authenticity. However, they are probably fake in terms of their structure;” books 5, 6 and 9 “represent reasonably authentic writings of Paracelsus.”

Time of writing. Allegedly written in 1537 (date of the dedicatory letter). The non-authentic parts were probably written in the 1560s.

II. Sources

Manuscripts:

• Freiberg, TU Bergakademie – Universitätsbibliothek: Wissenschaftl. Altbestand, XVII 57 8; 75 fols.
• Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. alchim. 192, f. 161r–197v
• Kopenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek: GKS 1756 kvart, f. 1r–69r
• Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek: Voss. Chym. Q.4, f. 1r–3v
• Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek: Cod. Guelf. 60.6 Aug. 8°, f. 229–232, 233r–237v, 254r–255
• olim Tovačov, Zámecká knihovna: R 328

First printed:

• 1572 (in: Metamorphosis. Doctoris Theophrasti von Hohenheim/ der zerstörten gůten künsten vnnd artzney/ restauratoris/ gewaltigs vnnd nutzlichs schreiben, ed. Adam von Bodenstein (no place [Basel: Samuel Apiarius], 1572); VD16 P 694; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 229–231 n° 137)
• 1584 (in: De Natura Rerum, IX Bücher. Ph. Theophrasti von Hohenheim genant Paracelsi, ed. Lucas Bathodius (Strasburg: Bernhard Jobin, 1584); VD16 P 698; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 345–346 n° 199)

Historical Manuscript Catalogues: Toxites, Zugesagte Bücher (Dresden), n° 3, 4, 5, 11; Widemann, Verzeichnisse (Kassel), n° I, 427; Scripta Theophrasti (Wien); Thomasius (1699), 140; Binz (1791), 139 [Metamorphosis]; Ponickau (1791), col. 1232 n° Quarto 6

III. Bibliography

Essential bibliography: Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 392; Sudhoff, Paracelsus-Handschriften, 773; Sudhoff, “Vorwort,” in Paracelsus, Sämtliche Werke, I/11: XXXI–XXXIII; CP 3: 266–278 n° 106, 757–772 n° 141, 1025.

Further bibliographical references:

Ernst Darmstaedter, “Paracelsus, De Natura Rerum. Eine kritische Studie,” Janus, 37 (1933), 1–18, 48–62, 109–115, 323–324.

Peuckert, Pansophie (1956), 452.

Will-Erich Peuckert, “Paracelsische Zauberei,” Nova Acta Paracelsica, 8 (1957), 71–94, on 89, 91.

Peuckert, Gabalia (1967), 159–162, 177, 180, 193.

Boeren, Codices Vossiani Chymici (1975), 119.

Sepp Domandl, “Hohenheims De natura rerum. Eine Einführung in die geistige Welt des Paracelsus,” in Kunst und Wissenschaft um Paracelsus (Vienna, 1984) (Salzburger Beiträge zur Paracelsusforschung, 23), 61–88.

Gilly, “Vom ägyptischen Hermes zum Trismegistus Germanus” (2010), 102.

Hiro Hirai, “Into the Forger’s Library: The Genesis of De natura rerum in Publication History,” Early Science and Medicine, 24 (2019), 485–503.

Urs Leo Gantenbein, “Real or Fake? New Light on the Paracelsian De natura rerum,” Ambix, 67 (2020), 4–29.

William R. Newman, “Bad Chemistry: Basilisks and Women in Paracelsus and pseudo-Paracelsus,” Ambix, 67 (2020), 30–46.