Paracelsus stands as one of the defining figures in the history of Western esotericism. Physician, alchemist, and visionary thinker, he transformed nearly every field he touched, from medicine and chemistry to magic and metaphysics. This rare 1563 edition, issued by his devoted student and publisher Adam von Bodenstein, presents one of Paracelsus’s most revolutionary ideas: the Tria Prima, or the Three Fundamental Substances: Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury.
Building on, yet radically departing from, the earlier Mercury–Sulfur theory of Islamicate alchemy, Paracelsus reconceived these not as mere material substances but as primordial principles or forces of nature, forming the dynamic basis of all matter and life. The shift marked nothing less than a turning point in both alchemical philosophy and natural science, influencing generations of hermetic and medical thinkers.
Within this volume we find the theory wedded to practice: numerous spagyric recipes and medical preparations, demonstrating the living application of Paracelsian doctrine. The text thus captures Paracelsus at his most characteristic, bridging the speculative and the practical, the mystical and the empirical.
Sadly, this copy has suffered significant damage, likely from rodent gnawing, affecting much of the latter half of the text. Yet despite its condition, the volume remains a vivid testament to one of the great alchemical revolutions of the sixteenth century.
Adam von Bodenstein. Paracelsus, Deß erfarnesten Fürsten aller Artzeten Aureoli Theophrasti Paracelsi von ersten dreyen principiis. 237p, w/modern blanks. 20th century calf binding, with tooling. Title in Fraktfur with date in gilt, raised bands. Extensive damage, affecting textblock, endangering some leaves. German text in Fraktur with contemporary marginal notes. Rare.
Paracelsus stands as one of the defining figures in the history of Western esotericism. Physician, alchemist, and visionary thinker, he transformed nearly every field he touched, from medicine and chemistry to magic and metaphysics. This rare 1563 edition, issued by his devoted student and publisher Adam von Bodenstein, presents one of Paracelsus’s most revolutionary ideas: the Tria Prima, or the Three Fundamental Substances: Salt, Sulfur, and Mercury.
Building on, yet radically departing from, the earlier Mercury–Sulfur theory of Islamicate alchemy, Paracelsus reconceived these not as mere material substances but as primordial principles or forces of nature, forming the dynamic basis of all matter and life. The shift marked nothing less than a turning point in both alchemical philosophy and natural science, influencing generations of hermetic and medical thinkers.
Within this volume we find the theory wedded to practice: numerous spagyric recipes and medical preparations, demonstrating the living application of Paracelsian doctrine. The text thus captures Paracelsus at his most characteristic, bridging the speculative and the practical, the mystical and the empirical.
Sadly, this copy has suffered significant damage, likely from rodent gnawing, affecting much of the latter half of the text. Yet despite its condition, the volume remains a vivid testament to one of the great alchemical revolutions of the sixteenth century.
Adam von Bodenstein. Paracelsus, Deß erfarnesten Fürsten aller Artzeten Aureoli Theophrasti Paracelsi von ersten dreyen principiis. 237p, w/modern blanks. 20th century calf binding, with tooling. Title in Fraktfur with date in gilt, raised bands. Extensive damage, affecting textblock, endangering some leaves. German text in Fraktur with contemporary marginal notes. Rare.
