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BARCHUSEN, Joannis Conrad Elementa Chemiae quibus subjuncta est Confectura Lapidis Philosophici Imaginibus Repræsentata. Leiden Theodor Haak 1718

(6) ff., including title printed in red and black with engraved emblematic device with the motto Labore et coeli favore expertly stenciled beneath, another engraved vignette with arms of dedicatee in dedication, 532 (i.e. 538) pp., and with 24 full-page plates, of which one is folding, with 1 blank following run of plates. Bound in contemporary calf, corners of cover showing through to board, joints cracked and boards shaken; spine with raised bands gilt, title label gone. Housed in modern book box. Unidentified engraved ex libris on front pastedown; title and extreme outer margins of scattered leaves a little dusty, else a fine, bright copy with superb impressions of the plates.

Rare second enlarged edition of this splendidly illustrated chemistry textbook, of particular interest for its “remarkable set of alchemical plates” (DSB) The majority of these – 19 hermetic plates in the style of 17th-century emblems – are new in this reworking of the Pyrosophia of 1698, which only had five plates depicting chemical apparatus. The mysterious series of alchemical emblems, which Barchusen claims to have copied from a manuscript in a Benedictine monastery in Swabia, have puzzled and fascinated many critics over the ages, and are reproduced and discussed at length in Jung’s Psychology & Alchemy. Barchusen studied pharmacy at Berlin, Mainz and Vienna before settling in Utrecht in 1694. After being awarded an honorary M.D. by the city in 1698, he was appointed extraordinary professor of chemistry in 1703. Barchusen’s work, from his first book, Pharmacopoeus synopticus, (1690) to the three works on chemistry published after his arrival at Utrecht, show the gradual emancipation of chemistry as a discipline independent of pharmacy.The Elementa chimiae gives a general introduction to chemistry, but is chiefly interesting for its recidivist applications to natural philosophy, medicine, metallurgy and above all alchemy. Although he abandons astrology, Barchusen observes the traditional three-fold division of nature, is particularly interested in iatro-chemical transformations of Mercury (pictured as the winged god in the plates) and the philosopher’s stone remains for him a Holy Grail. The work also includes the syllabi for Barchusen’s courses at the University of Utrecht, which included both practical demonstrations and theoretical lectures. Of interest for the history of chemistry is also a plate depicting a contemporary laboratory, with stills and Barchusen seated at a table holding a pair of apothecary’s scales.

* Ferguson I. 71-2; Duveen, p. 43; Owen Hannaway in DSB I.450-52 & Ambix 14 (l967) 96-111; Partington II.700-702; Caillet 716; Gardner, Bibl. Rosicruciana, 69; C.G. Jung, Psychology & Alchemy. Collected Works XII, #114, & pp. 226, 237, 241, 261 & 346; Forbes, Distillation, p. 204; Thorndike, History VIII. 618ff.; not in Yates, Rosicrucian Enlightenment.

$US14000

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