Brief von Salomon Trismosin an Paracelsus
Ein Schreiben an Theophrastus von seinem Lehrmeister zugeschrieben / Epistola Trismosini ad suum discipulum Theophrastum
Printing History, Manuscripts. First printed in 1612. Five manuscripts.
Editions. Not edited by Huser or Sudhoff. Critical edition in CP 3: 219–238, n° 102.
Relationship between different versions. Only one version known.
Structure, genre/form, perspective, style. Written in the first person in the form of a letter from Salomon Trismosin to Paracelsus, dated 15 or 17 or 18 April 1515 from a place called variously “Marck Laußnitz,” “Marc Lausen” or “Lusin” (not identified). According to the Kassel and the Leiden manuscript, Paracelsus stayed at Chur in Switzerland at the time of writing. Paracelsus is directly addressed as “Philippus” by the writer.
Relationship to other texts.
Authenticity, authorship.
Time of writing. Allegedly written in 1515. Possibly written in the 1590s or later.
Manuscripts:
- Dresden, Sächsische Landesbibliothek: Mscr.Dresd.J.409, f. 1r–2r
- Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek: Chart. B 373, f. 350v–352v
- Kassel, Landesbibliothek: 4° Ms. chem. 60[5,2, f. 123r–123v
- Kopenhagen, Det Kongelige Bibliotek: GKS 1722 kvart, f. 32r–33r
- Leiden, Universiteitsbibliotheek: Voss. Chym. Q.24, f. 177v–178v
First printed:
- 1612 (“Ein Schreiben/ so Theophrasto sein Lehrmeister zugeschrieben”, in Vier nützliche Chymische Tractat Vom Stein der Weisen (Halle: Christoph Bismarck for Joachim Krusicke, 1612); VD17 23:242126X; not in Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica)
Essential bibliography: No mention of the text either in Sudhoff’s Bibliographia Paracelsica or Paracelsus-Handschriften; CP 3: 219–238, n° 102.
Further bibliographical references:
Peuckert, Pansophie (1956), 315–316, 471.
Boeren, Codices Vossiani Chymici (1975), 159.
Telle, “Paracelsus in pseudoparacelsischen Briefen” (2006–2007), 155 n. 31.
Broszinski, Manuscripta chemica in quarto (2011), 248.
