Brief an Bartholomäus Korndörffer / Wie man die sieben Metalle clarificieren soll

I. Basic information

Printing History, Manuscripts. First printed in 1598 in Aurei Velleris Oder Der Guldin Schatz vnd Kunstkammer Tractatus II. Several manuscripts.

Editions. Not edited by Huser or Sudhoff. Edited by Kühlmann-Telle in CP 3: 279–299 n° 107.

Relationship between different versions.

Structure, genre/form, perspective, style. The first section is written in the form of a letter from Paracelsus to Bartholomäus Korndörffer, replying to a letter from Korndörffer, and dated 1537 (August 1537 in the Vienna manuscript). Only this first section is written in the first person, directly addressing the recipient. The second section has instructions to “precipitate” the seven metals. The third section is an “explanation of the aforesaid precipitations” in the form of an alchemical process. – According to the Frühneuhochdeutsches Wörterbuch (FWB) edited by Oskar Reichmann the term “clarificieren” has two meanings: (1) to perfect, or glorify, someone; (2) to purify something. The latter meaning is found only in Paracelsus according to the FWB.

Relationship to other texts. There are several pseudo-Paracelsian texts connected with the name of Bartholomäus Korndörffer: (1) Brief an Bartholomäus Korndörffer / Wie man die sieben Metalle clarificieren soll (§ ‎4.9); (2) Aus einem Brief an Bartholomäus Korndörffer über den Sulphur (§ ‎4.10); (3) Aus einem Brief an Bartholomäus Korndörffer über die Metalle (§ ‎4.11); (4) Secretum magnum (§ ‎7.19).

Authenticity, authorship.

Time of writing. Allegedly written in 1537. Possibly written in the 1590s.

II. Sources

Manuscripts:

• Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. alchim. 661, 355
• Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. alchim. 715, f. 94r
• Heidelberg, Deutsches Apotheken-Museum: Ms. M 275, f. 132–136
• Kassel, Landesbibliothek: 4° Ms. chem. 2, f. 23r–25v
• Třeboň/Wittingau, Státní oblastní archiv: z Rožmberka 25, no shelfmark
• Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek: Cod. 11259, f. 215r–220v, 233r–238v
• Wien, Österreichische Nationalbibliothek: Cod. 11347, f. 92r–99r
• Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek: Cod. Guelf. 264.31 Extrav., 944–945

First printed:

• 1598 (in: Aurei Velleris Oder Der Guldin Schatz vnd Kunstkammer Tractatus II (Rorschach, 1598); VD16 T 1961; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 424–427 n° 244)

Historical Manuscript Catalogues: Widemann, Verzeichnisse (Kassel), n° II, 37 / I, 125; Uffenbach (1720), VIII, col. 655–658 n° 12/XIV [=Hamburg, alchim. 661]

III. Bibliography

Essential bibliography: Sudhoff, Paracelsus-Handschriften, 779 n° II/4, 802–803 (addendum to Bibliographia Paracelsica); CP 3: 279–299 n° 107, 318.

Further bibliographical references:

Peuckert, Pansophie (1956), 255, 259, 459.

Telle, “Paracelsus in pseudoparacelsischen Briefen” (2006–2007), 155 n. 32.

Ivo Purš, “Zbytečné cennosti a cenné zbytečnosti? K povaze a osudu alchymických rukopisů Rudolfa II. v majetku královny Kristýny a Isaaca Vossia” [Useless valuables and valuable uselessness? To nature and history of alchemic manuscripts of Rudolf II possessed by the Queen Christine and Isaac Vossius], Miscellanea: Oddělení rukopisů a starých tisků, 20 (2008), 33–62, on 53 (non vidi).

Broszinski, Manuscripta chemica in quarto (2011), 7.