De secretis naturae sive Quinta essentia libri duo. His accesserunt, Alberti Magni [...] De mineralibus & rebus metallicis libri quinque. Quae omnia solerti cura repurgata rerum naturae studiosis recens publicata sunt per magistrum Gualtherum H. Ryff [...].: A treatise that had enormous influence on the development of alchemy and is regarded as one of the most authoritative texts on the quinta essentia

With 7 half-page woodcuts and one full-page woodcut of stills and other alchemical apparatus; margins of title very slightly frayed, some contemporary annotations, a very attractive, crispy copy in contemporary limp vellum.

Second edition of this compilation (first Strasbourg 1541), edited by Walther Ryff, and first edition published in Italy. Lull's alchemical works were published singularly and in collections; this work was printed as a separate edition.

The first part is a treatise on the quintessence (pp. 1-107), being a Lullian version of the De consideratione quintae essentiae of Joannes de Rupescissa (first printed in Venice, 1514). Although spurious, this treatise had enormous influence on the development of alchemy and is regarded as one of the most authoritative texts on the quinta essentia. "Although Lull himself was opposed to alchemy ... his methods had obvious applications in the alchemical field - and they were so applied in a host of pseudo-Lullian alchemical works, most of them composed more than fifty years after his death. These works explain the traditional (but false) 'scientific' view which made him 'Lull the Alchemist' " (DSB).

The second part comprises Albertus Magnus' De mineralibus, his principal work on mineralogy, metallurgy, and chemistry, dealing with stones, metals and "intermediates" which are neither stones nor metals, but have characteristics of both. "He seems to have experimented with alchemy and is said to have been the first to isolate the element arsenic. He compiled a list of some hundred minerals, giving the properties of each. During his many travels, he made frequent sidetrips to mines and excavations in search of specimens. He was acquainted with fossils, and made accurate observations of 'animal impressions' and improved on Avicenna's account of their formation. Albert suggested the possibility of the transmutation of metals, but he did not feel that alchemists had yet found the method to bring this about" (DSB).

Adams L1704; Durling 2873; Duveen p 369; Ferguson Books of secrets 544; Wellcome 3898.