This manuscript is a diverse and well-organized recipe collection with more than 520 different recipes on topics ranging from alchemy and medicine to solutions for simple household problems such as fleas. A direct…

The Testamentum Theorica is the earliest work in the Pseudo-Lullian Alchemical corpus, a large collection of as many as 143 different texts that circulated as the work of Raymond Lull (Ramon Llull or Raimundus Lullus;…

This alchemical miniature is believed to be from Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (The Book of the Holy Trinity), based on the iconography depicted and its relation to the text. Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit…

This is one of only six known complete manuscripts of a 14th-century alchemical treatise; all the extant manuscripts date from the 15th century or later. This copy includes lengthy contemporary glosses, possibly…

This alchemical miniature is believed to be from Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (The Book of the Holy Trinity), based on the iconography depicted and its relation to the text. Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit…

This alchemical miniature is believed to be from Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (The Book of the Holy Trinity), based on the iconography depicted and its relation to the text. Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit…

These three alchemical miniatures are believed to be from Das Buch der heiligen Dreifaltigkeit (The Book of the Holy Trinity), based on the iconography depicted and their relation to the text. Das Buch der heiligen…

This manuscript is an important miscellany of practical and theoretical alchemical texts with a full-page drawing of alchemical instruments reflecting the activities of a fifteenth-century alchemist. The manuscript was…

Copy of an early text from the Pseudo-Lullian alchemical corpus, assembled before the sixteenth century from two independent manuscripts. This manuscript is noteworthy for its illustrations, tables, figures, and…

This manuscript includes two texts by notable Catalan philosopher, theologian, and mystic of the High Middle Ages, Ramon Llull (Ramon Llull or Raimundus Lullus; 1232-1316), Ars brevis, and Ars abbreviata praedicandi.
…

A scene from the two-sided folio from Hartmann Schedel's The Book of Chronicles, or in German Das Buch der Chroniken (1493), depicting God creating Adam from clay. This clay is interpreted alchemically as the "prima…

A two-sided folio from Hartmann Schedel's The Book of Chronicles, or in German Das Buch der Chroniken (1493). On the recto is a text block on top and an image below depicting God creating Adam from clay. This clay is…

The Liber de secretis naturae seu de quinta essentia is the central work in the Pseudo-Lullian Alchemical corpus, a large collection of as many as 143 different texts that circulated as the work of Raymond Lull (Ramon…

Found in its original plain binding of parchment, this work was most likely compiled by a practitioner of alchemy and medicine. Containing a handwritten copy of Liber lucis by John of Rupescissa (Johannes de Rupescissa)…

An early work on the preparation of aqua vitae or the “water of life” (alcohol), by the process of distillation. This treatise describes the distillation process and necessary instrumentation in detail. Aqua vitae was…

A first edition, Italian work considered to be the earliest printed book on metallurgy published in Europe. The work was written in Venice by Vannoccio Biringuccio (c. 1480 – c. 1539), an Italian metallurgist of Siena,…

Work from the "pseudo-Geber" corpus, a group of writings falsely attributed to the Arabic alchemist, Abū Mūsā Jābir ibn Ḥayyān (died c. 806–816, Latinized as “Geber"). These writings are actually from 13th or…

A collection of four alchemical works ascribed to Ramon Llull (c. 1232-1316), of which three are printed here for the first time: Apertorium, Magia Naturalis, and Tertia Distinctio. The fourth treatise, De secretis…

A collection of alchemical texts by Christophorus (or sometimes in this manuscript “Christofalus”) Parisiensis. Despite his name, Christophorus Parisiensis (Christopher of Paris) was likely Italian, possibly from…

This "Rosicrucian" woodcut portrait of the Swiss-German physician and alchemist Aureolus Philippus Theophrastus—better known as Paracelsus—appeared as the frontispiece to a posthumous 1567 edition of his works titled Ph…

First edition. This copy lacks parts of pages 2 and 7 as well as pages 183-184 and 255-256. The missing text on pages 2 and 7 was replaced in handwritten pencil at an unknown date. The work was edited by the physician…

This depiction of 8th-century Arabic polymath Abu Mūsā Jābir ibn Hayyān, westernized by Europeans as "Geber," comes from chapter 33 of the publication Les vrais pourtraits et vies des hommes illustres grecz, latins et…

An etching depicting the execution of the alchemist, Georg Honauer (1572-1597) on the specially erected "Iron Gallows" in Stuttgart, April 2nd, 1597. The engraving shows a portrait of Honauer with inscription on the…

The labors of an elderly alchemist are closely watched by a monkey which perches on the window above. The alchemist busies himself investigating samples wrapped in paper or notes in a cluttered workshop. The floor at…

Warm light from an open window at left falls on the seated figure of an alchemist and his standing assistant. The alchemist glances up from his writing, quill in hand, as his assistant carries in a small vessel. On the…