Liber principiorum

also:
Vom Ursprung der Künste
Büchlein vom Ursprung der Künste
Liber de vermibus

I. Basic information

Printing History, Manuscripts. First printed in 1570 in two different editions from different sources. Michael Toxites included the text in his Trei Tractat Philippi Theophrasti Paracelsi Bombast, Johann Albert Wimpinaeus included it in his Philippi Theophrasti Paracelsi von Hohenhaim etliche Tractetlein zur Archidoxa gehörig. There is a manuscript in Salzburg and manuscripts with excerpts in Bern and Kassel.

Editions. Edited by Huser, 7 (1590): 278–295. Edited by Sudhoff in Paracelsus, Sämtliche Werke, I/14: 499–512.

Relationship between different versions.

Structure, genre/form, perspective, style. The text deals with the healing powers of snakes, spiders, worms and toads. It is divided in 12 chapters and written in the first person.

Relationship to other texts. The Schatzkammer der Natur (§ ‎5.23) names the Büchlein vom Ursprung der Künste as one its two main sources.

Authenticity, authorship. “Certainly spurious” according to Sudhoff.

Time of writing. Probably written in the 1560s.

II. Sources

Manuscripts:

• Salzburg, Salzburg Museum: Hs 2136 (olim Paracelsiana 155), f. 199r–237r [copied from printed edition?]
• Bern, Burgerbibliothek: Cod. 664, f. 39v–40v [excerpts]
• Gießen, Universitätsbibliothek: S. 64,656, f. 18r–80r [lost; copied from printed edition]
• Kassel, Landesbibliothek: 4° Ms. chem. 17, f. 170v [excerpts]

First printed:

• 1570 (in: Trei Tractat Philippi Theophrasti Paracelsi Bombast, ed. Michael Toxites (Strasburg: Theodosius Rihel, 1570); VD16 P 702; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 180–181 n° 113, 222–224 n° 133)
• 1570 (in: Philippi Theophrasti Paracelsi von Hohenhaim etliche Tractetlein zur Archidoxa gehörig, ed. Johann Albert Wimpinaeus (Munich: Adam Berg, 1570); VD16 P 629; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 213–215 n° 128, 215–217 n° 129)

III. Bibliography

Essential bibliography: Sudhoff, Paracelsus-Forschungen, II (1889), 137–138; Sudhoff, Bibliographia Paracelsica, 181, 397; Sudhoff, Paracelsus-Handschriften, 775; Sudhoff, “Vorwort,” in Paracelsus, Sämtliche Werke, I/14: XXVIII–XXIX.

Further bibliographical references:

Peuckert, Pansophie (1956), 449.

Will-Erich Peuckert, “Paracelsische Zauberei,” Nova Acta Paracelsica, 8 (1957), 71–94, on 87–88.

Peuckert, Gabalia (1967), 162, 463, 466–467.

Wolf-Dieter Müller-Jahncke, Astrologisch-magische Theorie und Praxis in der Heilkunde der frühen Neuzeit (Stuttgart, 1985), 85–86.

See Gilly, Paracelsus in der BPH (1993), 46.

Goldammer, Der göttliche Magier (1991), 87, 105–106.

Urs A.F. Heim, “Die Große Wundartzney (1536) des Paracelsus und die Chirurgie seiner Zeit,” Nova Acta Paracelsica, 20 (2006–2007), 7–53, on 24 (Regenwurmsalbe).

Broszinski, Manuscripta chemica in quarto (2011), 55.