1647 - A 17th-Century Alchemist's Pharmacy, Hartmann's Praxis Chymiatrica
This volume represents a cornerstone text in the history of iatrochemistry, or chemical medicine, authored by Johannes Hartmann, widely regarded as the first university professor of Chymiatria in Europe (appointed at Marburg in 1609). The Praxis Chymiatrica, first published posthumously in 1633 by his son-in-law and successor Johannes Michaelis along with Hartmann's son Georg Everhard, swiftly became a highly influential manual, codifying and disseminating the practical application of Paracelsian principles to the preparation of medicines. It marked a significant step in integrating chemical methods into the medical arts, moving beyond theory into laboratory practice.
Hartmann's work serves as a detailed practical guide, essentially a chemical dispensatory, outlining numerous processes for preparing remedies from mineral, vegetable, and animal sources using techniques like distillation, sublimation, and calcination. It provided physicians and apothecaries with systematic instructions for creating the potent chemical medicines advocated by Paracelsus and his followers, offering recipes for oils, tinctures, essences, salts, and other preparations believed to hold powerful therapeutic virtues. This 1635 edition is particularly desirable as it includes, as noted on the title page, "three new Treatises" added due to their affinity with the subject matter, further enhancing the book's scope and utility for the 17th-century practitioner seeking to master chemical pharmacy.
Presented in its original, well-preserved contemporary vellum binding, this copy from the press of Pierre Chouet in Geneva is a handsome example of a 17th-century scientific handbook. It is a particularly appealing copy of a fundamental work that documents the transition from traditional Galenic pharmacy towards chemically-prepared medicines, laying the groundwork for modern pharmacology.
Featured in an ESOTERICA episode!
[Iatrochemistry / Early Chemical Medicine] HARTMANN, Johannes. Praxis Chymiatrica edita a Johanne Michaelis [et Georg Everhard Hartmann]. Huic postremae editioni adjecti sunt, propter affinitatem materiae, tres Tractatus novi. [Geneva]: Sumptibus Petri Chouet. Small 8vo (Octavo). [1], 631, 28 index, 112, 14 index. [4]. Bound in full contemporary overlapping vellum. Text exhibits some slight, generally uniform age-browning, but overall presents as a very nice, crisp copy in its original binding. Antique ex libris. Several fold out tables.
This volume represents a cornerstone text in the history of iatrochemistry, or chemical medicine, authored by Johannes Hartmann, widely regarded as the first university professor of Chymiatria in Europe (appointed at Marburg in 1609). The Praxis Chymiatrica, first published posthumously in 1633 by his son-in-law and successor Johannes Michaelis along with Hartmann's son Georg Everhard, swiftly became a highly influential manual, codifying and disseminating the practical application of Paracelsian principles to the preparation of medicines. It marked a significant step in integrating chemical methods into the medical arts, moving beyond theory into laboratory practice.
Hartmann's work serves as a detailed practical guide, essentially a chemical dispensatory, outlining numerous processes for preparing remedies from mineral, vegetable, and animal sources using techniques like distillation, sublimation, and calcination. It provided physicians and apothecaries with systematic instructions for creating the potent chemical medicines advocated by Paracelsus and his followers, offering recipes for oils, tinctures, essences, salts, and other preparations believed to hold powerful therapeutic virtues. This 1635 edition is particularly desirable as it includes, as noted on the title page, "three new Treatises" added due to their affinity with the subject matter, further enhancing the book's scope and utility for the 17th-century practitioner seeking to master chemical pharmacy.
Presented in its original, well-preserved contemporary vellum binding, this copy from the press of Pierre Chouet in Geneva is a handsome example of a 17th-century scientific handbook. It is a particularly appealing copy of a fundamental work that documents the transition from traditional Galenic pharmacy towards chemically-prepared medicines, laying the groundwork for modern pharmacology.
Featured in an ESOTERICA episode!
[Iatrochemistry / Early Chemical Medicine] HARTMANN, Johannes. Praxis Chymiatrica edita a Johanne Michaelis [et Georg Everhard Hartmann]. Huic postremae editioni adjecti sunt, propter affinitatem materiae, tres Tractatus novi. [Geneva]: Sumptibus Petri Chouet. Small 8vo (Octavo). [1], 631, 28 index, 112, 14 index. [4]. Bound in full contemporary overlapping vellum. Text exhibits some slight, generally uniform age-browning, but overall presents as a very nice, crisp copy in its original binding. Antique ex libris. Several fold out tables.
This volume represents a cornerstone text in the history of iatrochemistry, or chemical medicine, authored by Johannes Hartmann, widely regarded as the first university professor of Chymiatria in Europe (appointed at Marburg in 1609). The Praxis Chymiatrica, first published posthumously in 1633 by his son-in-law and successor Johannes Michaelis along with Hartmann's son Georg Everhard, swiftly became a highly influential manual, codifying and disseminating the practical application of Paracelsian principles to the preparation of medicines. It marked a significant step in integrating chemical methods into the medical arts, moving beyond theory into laboratory practice.
Hartmann's work serves as a detailed practical guide, essentially a chemical dispensatory, outlining numerous processes for preparing remedies from mineral, vegetable, and animal sources using techniques like distillation, sublimation, and calcination. It provided physicians and apothecaries with systematic instructions for creating the potent chemical medicines advocated by Paracelsus and his followers, offering recipes for oils, tinctures, essences, salts, and other preparations believed to hold powerful therapeutic virtues. This 1635 edition is particularly desirable as it includes, as noted on the title page, "three new Treatises" added due to their affinity with the subject matter, further enhancing the book's scope and utility for the 17th-century practitioner seeking to master chemical pharmacy.
Presented in its original, well-preserved contemporary vellum binding, this copy from the press of Pierre Chouet in Geneva is a handsome example of a 17th-century scientific handbook. It is a particularly appealing copy of a fundamental work that documents the transition from traditional Galenic pharmacy towards chemically-prepared medicines, laying the groundwork for modern pharmacology.
Featured in an ESOTERICA episode!
[Iatrochemistry / Early Chemical Medicine] HARTMANN, Johannes. Praxis Chymiatrica edita a Johanne Michaelis [et Georg Everhard Hartmann]. Huic postremae editioni adjecti sunt, propter affinitatem materiae, tres Tractatus novi. [Geneva]: Sumptibus Petri Chouet. Small 8vo (Octavo). [1], 631, 28 index, 112, 14 index. [4]. Bound in full contemporary overlapping vellum. Text exhibits some slight, generally uniform age-browning, but overall presents as a very nice, crisp copy in its original binding. Antique ex libris. Several fold out tables.