This framed title leaf comes from the first volume of Paracelsus’s collected works, published at Strasbourg in 1616. His portrait appears above the title. At the sides stand Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary Egyptian sage credited with the Hermetic writings, and the Roman poet Virgil. Each carries his name: Hermes on a scroll, Virgil on a book. Medieval legends had also made Virgil a magician.
The physician and alchemist Paracelsus (1493 or 1494–1541) challenged the medicine taught in the universities. At Basel in 1527 he publicly burned Avicenna’s Canon, a standard medical textbook. Only a handful of his books were printed in his lifetime. Johannes Huser later gathered autographs and copies, publishing the medical and philosophical works in ten parts at Basel between 1589 and 1591. The Strasbourg publisher Lazarus Zetzner reprinted Huser’s text in two folio volumes in 1603, and his heirs issued it again in 1616.
Christoph Murer, a Zurich glass painter, designed the border, and Ludwig Frig cut it in wood. Their initials appear on a shield at the lower right. Astronomy and astrology occupy the upper corners; pharmacy and alchemy flank Minerva at the foot. Below the goddess of wisdom is the inscription “Scientia immutabilis,” “knowledge that does not change.” The same border had appeared in the 1603 edition; the British Museum holds an impression dated to that edition.
The leaf is printed in red and black and framed under a deep white mat. Its margins are chipped, with losses entering the border beside Hermes and a tear rising from the lower edge. The title, portrait and standing figures remain complete.
PARACELSUS (Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim). AUREOLI Philippi Theophrasti Bombasts von Hohenheim Paracelsi/ deß Edlen/ Hochgelehrten/ Fürtrefflichsten/ Weitberümbtesten Philosophi vnd Medici OPERA Bücher vnd Schrifften/ so viel deren zur Hand gebracht: vnd vor wenig Jahren/ mit vnd auß jhren glaubwürdigen eygener Handgeschriebenen Originalien collacioniert/ vergliechen/ verbessert: Vnd durch JOANNEM HUSERUM BRISGOIUM in zehen vnderschiedliche Theil/ in Truck gegeben. Jetzt von newem mit fleiß vbersehen/ auch mit etlichen bißhero vnbekandten Tractaten gemehrt/ vnd vmb mehrer Bequemlichkeit willen/ in zwen vnderschiedliche Tomos vnnd Theil gebracht/ deren Begriff vnd Ordnung/ nach der Vorrede zu finden/ sampt beyder Theilen fleißigen vnd vollkommenen Registern. Straßburg/ Jn Velegung [sic] Lazari Zetzners Seligen Erben. Anno M. DC. XVI. [1616]. The general title of the first of two tomes, a single leaf.
Physical Description: Folio title leaf, printed in red and black, the title in Fraktur with roman capitals, within a woodcut border signed with the monograms C M (Christoph Murer, designer) and L F (Ludwig Frig, block cutter). At the head, an oval portrait of Paracelsus; in the upper corners, personifications of astronomy and astrology; at the sides, full-length figures of Virgil (his name on a book) and Hermes Trismegistus (his name on a scroll, "HERMES TRISMEGISTOS"); at the foot, Minerva in an oval above the tablet "SCIENTIA IMMVTABILIS," flanked by figures of pharmacy and alchemy. Leaf approx. 8 x 12.5 in.
Binding: None. A single leaf, window-mounted under a deep white mat and framed in a silver-toned molded frame with scrolling ornament. Frame approx. 21 x 13 in. (outside).
Condition: Margins ragged and chipped on all four sides. At the fore-edge, losses reach into the border beside and below the Hermes Trismegistus scroll, with smaller chips along the outer edge of the lower border. A tear runs up from the lower edge into the frame of the Minerva oval, and a diagonal crease or closed tear crosses the lower right of the border. Paper toned throughout, darker in the upper margin, with damp staining there and small scattered spots. The red printing is still bright, and the title, portrait and standing figures are complete. A short manuscript note in ink beside the date.
This framed title leaf comes from the first volume of Paracelsus’s collected works, published at Strasbourg in 1616. His portrait appears above the title. At the sides stand Hermes Trismegistus, the legendary Egyptian sage credited with the Hermetic writings, and the Roman poet Virgil. Each carries his name: Hermes on a scroll, Virgil on a book. Medieval legends had also made Virgil a magician.
The physician and alchemist Paracelsus (1493 or 1494–1541) challenged the medicine taught in the universities. At Basel in 1527 he publicly burned Avicenna’s Canon, a standard medical textbook. Only a handful of his books were printed in his lifetime. Johannes Huser later gathered autographs and copies, publishing the medical and philosophical works in ten parts at Basel between 1589 and 1591. The Strasbourg publisher Lazarus Zetzner reprinted Huser’s text in two folio volumes in 1603, and his heirs issued it again in 1616.
Christoph Murer, a Zurich glass painter, designed the border, and Ludwig Frig cut it in wood. Their initials appear on a shield at the lower right. Astronomy and astrology occupy the upper corners; pharmacy and alchemy flank Minerva at the foot. Below the goddess of wisdom is the inscription “Scientia immutabilis,” “knowledge that does not change.” The same border had appeared in the 1603 edition; the British Museum holds an impression dated to that edition.
The leaf is printed in red and black and framed under a deep white mat. Its margins are chipped, with losses entering the border beside Hermes and a tear rising from the lower edge. The title, portrait and standing figures remain complete.
PARACELSUS (Theophrastus Bombast von Hohenheim). AUREOLI Philippi Theophrasti Bombasts von Hohenheim Paracelsi/ deß Edlen/ Hochgelehrten/ Fürtrefflichsten/ Weitberümbtesten Philosophi vnd Medici OPERA Bücher vnd Schrifften/ so viel deren zur Hand gebracht: vnd vor wenig Jahren/ mit vnd auß jhren glaubwürdigen eygener Handgeschriebenen Originalien collacioniert/ vergliechen/ verbessert: Vnd durch JOANNEM HUSERUM BRISGOIUM in zehen vnderschiedliche Theil/ in Truck gegeben. Jetzt von newem mit fleiß vbersehen/ auch mit etlichen bißhero vnbekandten Tractaten gemehrt/ vnd vmb mehrer Bequemlichkeit willen/ in zwen vnderschiedliche Tomos vnnd Theil gebracht/ deren Begriff vnd Ordnung/ nach der Vorrede zu finden/ sampt beyder Theilen fleißigen vnd vollkommenen Registern. Straßburg/ Jn Velegung [sic] Lazari Zetzners Seligen Erben. Anno M. DC. XVI. [1616]. The general title of the first of two tomes, a single leaf.
Physical Description: Folio title leaf, printed in red and black, the title in Fraktur with roman capitals, within a woodcut border signed with the monograms C M (Christoph Murer, designer) and L F (Ludwig Frig, block cutter). At the head, an oval portrait of Paracelsus; in the upper corners, personifications of astronomy and astrology; at the sides, full-length figures of Virgil (his name on a book) and Hermes Trismegistus (his name on a scroll, "HERMES TRISMEGISTOS"); at the foot, Minerva in an oval above the tablet "SCIENTIA IMMVTABILIS," flanked by figures of pharmacy and alchemy. Leaf approx. 8 x 12.5 in.
Binding: None. A single leaf, window-mounted under a deep white mat and framed in a silver-toned molded frame with scrolling ornament. Frame approx. 21 x 13 in. (outside).
Condition: Margins ragged and chipped on all four sides. At the fore-edge, losses reach into the border beside and below the Hermes Trismegistus scroll, with smaller chips along the outer edge of the lower border. A tear runs up from the lower edge into the frame of the Minerva oval, and a diagonal crease or closed tear crosses the lower right of the border. Paper toned throughout, darker in the upper margin, with damp staining there and small scattered spots. The red printing is still bright, and the title, portrait and standing figures are complete. A short manuscript note in ink beside the date.
