Theatrum Chemicum Explained

("Chemical Theatre") is a compendium of early alchemical writings published in six volumes over the course of six decades. The first three volumes were published in 1602, while the final sixth volume was published in its entirety in 1661. remains the most comprehensive collective work on the subject of alchemy ever published in the Western world.[1] [2] [3]

The full title of the work is,[4] though later volumes express slightly modified titles. For the sake of brevity, the work is most often referred to simply as .

All volumes of the work, with exception of the last two volumes, were published by Lazarus Zetzner in Oberursel and Strasbourg, France. The final two volumes were published posthumously by Zetzner's heirs, who continued to use his name for publication purposes.[5]

The volumes are in actuality a collection of previously published and unpublished alchemical treatises, essays, poems, notes, and writings from various sources, some of which are attributed to known writers and others remain anonymous. Despite Zetzner acting primarily as publisher and editor, many of the contents are not believed to have been written by him. However, because the was more widely disseminated in comparison to most alchemical texts of the era, and its text was in the universal Latin used by most scholars of the time, Zetzner is often cited as the author of many early alchemical texts which he in fact did not compose.

History

developed as an evolution of previous alchemical printing projects dating back as early as 1475, when a handful of writings believed to have been written by Geber (or pseudo-Geber) were printed with attached alchemical poems and circulated in the area of Venice, and then a decade later in Rome.[1]

A more directly related ancestor of was a publication by Johannes Petreius entitled "De Alchemia", a work which contained ten alchemical tracts, which was published in Nuremberg in 1541. Petreius had been collecting alchemical documents with the intention of publishing a more complete compilation, though he never completed this task. Upon Petreius's death his collection came into the possession of his relative, Heinrich Petri of Basel who published it in cooperation with Pietro Perna and Guglielmo Gratarolo in 1561. By this time the collection had accrued a total of 53 texts and was published under the name, Verae alchemiae artisque metallicae, citra aenigmata, doctrina. Though Petri would continue to publish alchemical works, it was his partner Perna who in 1572 published an entire series of expanded publications totaling seven volumes with over 80 texts. Perna intended to include the collection of his son-in-law, Konrad Waldkirch, in an even larger multi-volume series, but instead sold the collection to Lazarus Zetzner. Zetzner would publish the newly acquired 80 texts and those of Waldkirch as the first volumes of . Over the course of the six volumes of, Zetzner expanded the collection to include over 200 alchemical tracts.[1]

Publication

Lazarus Zetzner (L. Zetzneri) published the in unsystematic editions, instead he reprinted issues of previous volumes that had appeared up to the date of the particular volume of as it was published.[5]

The material is diverse, being intended as a single body of work containing all significant alchemical texts of its time. Though the is a book about alchemy, by its contemporary standards it represented a body of work that, in a modern context, is similar to texts such as The Handbook of Chemistry & Physics, The Physicians' Desk Reference, or other specialized texts for the practice and study of the sciences and philosophy, including medicine. The physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne possessed a copy, while Isaac Newton filled the margins of his copy with annotations.

Within the various volumes are found some of the most studied works in the field of alchemy, such as Turba Philosophorum, Arcanum Philosophorum, Cabala Chemica, De Ovo Philosophorum, many tracts focused upon Secretum Secretorum, The Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, the Tabula Smaragdina, and several works attributed to Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas.[6] The original publication dates of the specific writings found in the range from just a few years prior to each volume's publication, to as far back as several centuries in some cases.

Contents

Establishing a precise table of contents for the various volumes of is an issue of debate amongst scholars. Because of the unstandardized nature of early publication practices and the reprinting of tracts from earlier editions, sometimes under their modified full "elenchus" titles, those studying the contents of often encounter discrepancies in format, tract title, page number, and in some cases even authorship. For example, it is not clear whether some tracts that appear anonymous are in fact uniquely authored, or intended to be attributed to the author of the preceding text.[1]

Some of the authorship proposed by Zetzner remains unverifiable due to the nature of publication, the various age of the works, and the practice of attributing authorship without modern methods of citation. Considering the esoteric nature of the subject matter, this was not uncommon at the time of 's publication, but it does seem clear that Zetzner established the authorship of the various tracts according to his original source material.

Below is a list of the tracts found within, and their authors as established by Zetzner.[1]

Volumes I-III

The first three volumes of were published in 1602. Volume I was published in Oberursel, while the subsequent volumes were published in Strasbourg. The first three volumes increased the number of tracts in each volume to the total of 88 in all.[5]

Vol. I

Vol. II

Vol. III

Volume IV

The fourth volume of was published in 1613 in Strasbourg. At the time of publication a reprinting of Volumes I-III was also issued. The reprinted editions are almost identical, though there are differences in details, such as page number, formatting, and minor rewording not affecting content. This often leads to differences in citations that use as a reference source. The single significant difference in the new editions is the inclusion of a tract in Volume 3 entitled "" which is missing from the earlier editions.[1] With the additional tracts found in Volume IV, the total tracts grew to 143.

Volume V

The fifth volume of was published in 1622 in Strasbourg. This is the first of the volumes to be published by Zetzner's heirs, most likely Eberhardi Zetzner, though the text still bears Lazarus Zetzner's name. This volume contains a substantial number of "older" tracts, including one of the oldest alchemical tracts in existence, . These additions would increase the number of tracts to 163.

Volume VI

The final volume of was published in 1659–1661 in Strasbourg. Volume VI was published by Eberhardi Zetzner, though compiled by Johannes Jacobus Heilman. This volume contains tracts originally issued in German or French, but were translated by Heilman into Latin. These additional tracts would increase the total tracts to over 200.

Related publications

Though remains the most comprehensive single body of work on alchemy, future publications would emulate Zetzner's attempt to gather alchemical works into a single reference source. In 1652, Elias Ashmole published a similarly entitled work by the name of Theatrum Chemicum Britannicum in London. The two works are related by subject, but are different in content. However, because of the printing date of Ashmole's work and the similar titles, the two compendiums are often confused.

Then in 1702, Jean-Jacques Manget produced in Geneva the second most comprehensive collection of alchemical tracts in his Bibliotheca Chemica Curiosa which represents a total of almost 140 tracts, of which 35 had already been included in .

Another work, prepared by Friederich Roth-Scholtz, was entitled . It was published in Nuremberg 1728-1732, and like Ashmole's work, it is related to in subject, but of different content.

Resources

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: Prinke . Rafał T. . Theatrum chemicum electronicum . Digital Library of Wielkopolska . Dec 23, 2005 . 8 July 2008.
  2. Web site: Simmons. Anna. Medieval and Early Modern Alchemy. Society for the History of Alchemy and Chemistry (SHAC). 2010-05-15. 26 September 2007.
  3. Book: Duveen, Denis I.. E. Weil. Bibliotheca alchemica et chemica: an annotated catalogue of printed books on alchemy, chemistry and cognate subjects in the library of Denis I. Duveen.. London. 1949.
  4. Roughly translated as "Chemical Theatre, for a particularly selected person responsible for handling about Chemicals and the Philosopher's Stone. Ancient, truthful, pure, excellent, and working, containing: An account of True Chemicals, and the study of Medical Chemicals (how to most fruitfully accomplish the best remedy) brought together as parts in arrangement.
  5. Book: Harman . Peter M. . Shapiro . Alan E. . 2002 . 2002-11-07. The Investigation of Difficult Things: Essays on Newton and the History of the exact sciences . Cambridge University Press . 157 . 0-521-89266-X . 6 July 2008 .
  6. Web site: The Alchemy web site on Levity.com . Levity.com . 8 July 2008 .
  7. A.K.A. Robert Duval, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  8. A.K.A. Theobald van Hoghelande, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  9. ed. Gerard Dorn, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  10. possible A.K.A. Johannes Cerasius,(ed. Gerard Dorn), see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  11. ed. Gerard Dorn, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  12. A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  13. A.K.A. Gilles Dewes, edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  14. edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  15. edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation
  16. edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation
  17. translated roughly as "Rules or Canonical Philosophy (in relation to The Philosopher's Stone, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation)
  18. A.K.A. Joseph Duchesne, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  19. possibly written by Jean de Meung or a retitling of "De lapide philosophico incerti auctoris", see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  20. possibly ascribed to Odomar, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  21. a retitling of Thesaurus alchemiae secretissimus ad fratrem Reinaldum", see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  22. A.K.A. Theobaldus van Hoghelande, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  23. retitling of "De oleaginitate minerali", see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  24. edited by Justus a Balbian (Justus Abalbian Flander, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  25. edited by Justus a Balbian (Justus Abalbian Flander, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  26. edited by Justus a Balbian (Justus Abalbian Flander, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  27. (Tractatus de lapide philosophorum), see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  28. edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  29. edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  30. edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  31. edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  32. edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  33. possibly written by Raphael Eglin, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  34. A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  35. A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  36. A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  37. amicus typographi (written by male friend typographer), see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  38. possibly written by Israel Harvet, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  39. A.K.A. L'Agneau, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  40. A.K.A. Aelia Laelia Crispis, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  41. also attributed to Avicenna, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  42. A.K.A. John Dombelay, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  43. attributed to A. de Villanova, Novum lumen, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  44. A.K.A. Joachim Tancke, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  45. A.K.A. Joachim Tancke, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  46. A.K.A. Joachim Tancke, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  47. possibly written by Alanus de Rupe, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  48. Believed to have been written by Muhammad ibn Zakarīya Rāzi, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  49. Edited by John Dee, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  50. ed. J. Hartprecht (Zweibrücken 1661)
  51. A.K.A., Johannes (Jean) Collesson
  52. Believed to have been authored by Franz Krell, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation
  53. A.K.A. Andreas Orthelius, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  54. Translation of the 'Urtheil oder Vergleichung . . ." in Sendivogius, Lumen Chymicum Novum; Epilogus Orthelii, 1624, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
  55. A.K.A. Jean Chartier, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation
  56. Solinus Saltzthal was a pseudonym of Johann Joachim Becher, who published in 1654 his Discurs von der Großmächtigen Philosophischen Universal-Artzney / von den Philosophis genannt Lapis Philosophorum Trismegistus (discours about the allmighty philosophical and universal medicine by the philosopher called Lapis Philosophorum Trismegistus).(see: (2016). The Business of Alchemy: Science and Culture in the Holy Roman Empire. Princeton: Princeton University Press., p. 40/41; see also: 'The Emperor's Mercantile Alchemist' in: (2006) - From Alchemy to Chemistry in Picture and Story. Hoboken N.J. : John Wiley & Sons. . p. 231f.

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