antiquariaat FORUM & ASHER Rare Books Alchemy, Astrology & Occult Alchemy, Astrology & Occult e-catalogue Jointly offered for sale by: Extensive descriptions and images available on request All offers are without engagement and subject to prior sale. All items in this list are complete and in good condition unless stated otherwise. Any item not agreeing with the description may be returned within one week after receipt. Prices are EURO (€). Postage and insurance are not included. VAT is charged at the standard rate to all EU customers. EU customers: please quote your VAT number when placing orders. Preferred mode of payment: in advance, wire transfer or bankcheck. Arrangements can be made for MasterCard and VisaCard. Ownership of goods does not pass to the purchaser until the price has been paid in full. General conditions of sale are those laid down in the ILAB Code of Usages and Customs, which can be viewed at: <http://www.ilab.org/eng/ilab/code.html> New customers are requested to provide references when ordering. Orders can be sent to either firm. Antiquariaat FORUM BV ASHER Rare Books Tuurdijk 16 Tuurdijk 16 3997 ms ‘t Goy – Houten 3997 ms ‘t Goy – Houten The Netherlands The Netherlands Phone: +31 (0)30 6011955 Phone: +31 (0)30 6011955 Fax: +31 (0)30 6011813 Fax: +31 (0)30 6011813 E–mail: [email protected] E–mail: [email protected] Web: www.forumrarebooks.com Web: www.asherbooks.com www.forumislamicworld.com cover image: no. 3 v 1.1 · 23 Aug 2016 Key work of Arabic astrologer 1. ALBUMASAR (Abu Ma’shar al-Balkhi Ja’Far ibn Muhammad). Introductorium in astronomiam Albumasaris abalachi octo continens libros partiales. (Colophon: Venice, Giacomo Penzio for Melchiorre Sessa, 5 September 1506). 4to (21×15 cm). With woodcut illustration on title-page, Sessa’s woodcut crowned cat and mouse device below colophon, 8 woodcut planet and 12 woodcut zodiac figures in the text (plus 21 repeats), a woodcut astrological diagram, another diagram made of rules and letterpress text), numerous woodcut decorated initials (3 series). Set in 3 sizes of rotunda gothic type, that of the main text with planet symbols. Mid-19th-century sheepskin, gold-tooled spine. € 25.000 An early and attractive edition of a key astrological work. Of all the Arabic writers on astrology, the most imposing is Ja’far ibn Muhammad Abû Ma’shar al-Balkhî (ca. 787–886), known in the West as Albumasar. The present 12th-century Latin translation by John of Seville of his “al-Madkhal al-kabir ilá ‘ilm ahkam al-nujum” (Great introduction to the science of astrology) was first published at Augsburg in 1489. Small early ink stamp on title-page, early manuscript index at end, written on endleaves from the first binding; some early marginalia and underlinings in two different early hands. From the library of Nicolas Yemeniz (1783–1871), with pencilled lot number 969, and with the large armorial bookplate of William Stirling-Maxwell (1818–1878). Binding slightly dirty, occasional insignificant mark internally; overall a very good copy. Adams A567; Cat. de la Bibl. de . N. Yemeniz, Paris, 1867, lot 969 (this copy); Isaac 12913; Gaselee, Early printed books in Corpus Christi Cambridge, 166; Edit 16, CNCE 822. Using optics to explain how people see ghosts 2. BROWN, J.H. Brown’s kleurvisioenen met een woord ter aanwijzing en verklaring. Leeuwarden, Hugo Suringar, [1866]. 4to. With 16 numbered litho- graphed plates (13 hand-coloured) lithographed by Morriën & Amand, Amsterdam. Original illustrated green cloth-backed boards, flyleaves with publishers advertisements. € 1.750 Rare first edition of the Dutch translation of J.H. Brown’s Spectropia, or sur- prising spectral illusions (1864), using the 19th-century knowledge of optics to explain how people see ghosts. A second edition was published ca. 1870. As described in the (original) introduction: “ To see the spectres, it is only necessary to look steadily at the dot, or asterisk, which is to be found on each of the plates, for about a quarter of a minute,.. Then turning the eyes to the ceiling… of a darkened room (not totally dark), and looking rather steadily at any one point, the spectre will soon being to make its appearance, increasing in intensity, and then gradually vanishing, to reappear and vanish again.” Some occasional spots, book block nearly detached and wrappers slightly soiled and rubbed. Good copy. Landwehr, Plezier met papier 315; cf. NCC (5 copies of 2nd edition). Standard work on iatrochemistry, helping to make a science of alchemy 3. CROLL, Oswald. Basilica chymica continens. Philosophicam propria[m] laborum experientia[m] confirmatam descriptionem et usum remediorum chymicorum selectissimorum é lumine gratiae et naturae desumptorum. Including: CROLL, Oswald. [Divisional title:] Tractatus de signa- turis internis rerum, ... Frankfurt am Main, Godfried Tampach, [1611]. 2 parts plus laudatory verses in 1 volume. 4to. With a richly engraved general title-page by Aegidius Sadeler including the portraits of 6 famous alchemists: Hermes Trismegistus, Geber (Jabir ibn Hayyan), Roger Bacon, Paracelcus, Ramon Llull and Morienus Romanus of Jerusalem. 17th-century vellum. € 3.000 Rare second(?) edition by the original publisher and in the original Latin, of the most important work of the chemist, alchemist and physician Oswald Croll (1580–1609). It mixes chemical and spiritual means of healing, following Paracelsus both by supporting the theory that man is a micro- cosmos incorporating the universe, and by the 80-page second part on the doctrine of signatures, which suggests that herbs resembling parts of the human body can be used to treat ailments of that part. The Basilica chymica provides the reader with a large number of secret alchemical recipes and information about curative objects. The Basilica chymica quickly became and remained the standard scientific work on iatrochemistry, a branch of both chemistry and medicine, rooted in alchemy and seeking to provide chemical solutions to diseases and medical ailments. With owners’ inscriptions and early manuscript notes. Slightly browned, with chips in the fore-edge of the first two leaves, occasional minor stains and spots, but otherwise in good condition. Binding with stains and a couple cuts but structurally sound. An essential work for both alchemy and the birth of modern medical chemistry. Duveen, p. 150; Partington II, pp. 174–177; cf. Thorndike V, pp. 649–651; for Croll: DSB III, pp. 471–472. The conjuror unmasked 4. DECREMPS, Henri. La magie blanche dévoilée, ou explication des tours surprenans qui sont depuis peu l›admiration de la capitale & de la province. Paris, Liège, Brussels, F.J. Desoer, 1789–1791. 5 volumes. 8vo. With 2 engraved frontispieces, 3 frontispieces with letterpress text and a woodcut, 184 woodcuts (several full-page) in the text and 2 folding tables. 3. Near contemporary green half sheepskin, gold-tooled spines. € 4.500 Rare complete set (second edition?) of Decremps’s popular work on conjuring and physics tricks, first published in 1784. Henri Decremps (1746–1826), a Parisian lawyer and amateur conjuror, sought to unmask Giovanni Giuseppe Pinetti, the most celebrated magician of the 18th century. Pinetti had gained fame as a flamboyant performer, but Decremps considered him a charlatan who cheated people for personal profit. In the first volume Decremps unveils several of his most famous tricks, including one named “Theophrastus Paracelsus”, involving a pigeon supposedly being beheaded, a mechanical singing bird, an automaton chess-player and a dancing egg that jumps out of a hat. The frontispiece in vol. 1 shows the magician throwing a deck of cards in the air and nailing shooting a card with a pistol. As a reaction to Decremps’s attack Pinetti published his own instruction book, Physical amusements, and prepared a new show. Decremps then published a supplement revealing Pinnetti’s latest tricks, followed by three subse- quent volumes almost entirely devoted to physics tricks: Testament de Jérome Sharp, Les petites aventures de Jérome Sharp and finally Codicile de Jérome Sharp. Decremps’s work proved very popular: it was reprinted and translated numerous of times. Sets comprising all five volumes are rare. In very good condition. A rare complete set of an important conjuring book, in lovely uniform near contemporary bindings. Cf. Caillet 2861–2864 (first eds); Hall, Old Conjuring Books, pp. 156–158, 174; Christopher, Magic: a picture history, pp. 28–31. Faulhaber’s mystical arithmetics, pyramidal numbers as key to biblical prophecies 5. FAULHABER, Johann. Andeutung, einer unerhörten newen Wunderkunst. Welche der Geist Gottes, in etlichen Prophetischen, und Biblischen Geheimnuss Zahlen, bis auff die letzte Zeit hat wöllen versiegelt und verborgen halten. Ulm, Lorentz Miller; Nuremberg, Abraham Wagenmann, 1613. 4to. 19-century half cloth. € 3.750 First edition of one of the mystical arithmetic works by the well-known German mathe- matician and alchemist Johann Faulhaber (1580–1635). A Latin translation appeared in the same year. Faulhaber’s earlier attempts to interpret the Bible with mathematics caused him to be thrown in jail, after he wrongly predicted the ending of the world in 1605. He was soon released and published several other works with a similar approach, including this one where he concludes that pyramidal numbers are the key to God’s biblical prophecies. With the 20th-century bookplate of Karin Figala. Reasonable copy, with the first and last page slightly soiled, a small restoration to the title-page, some foxing, minor stains and a few marginal annotations. BLC STC German (17th cent.) F-234; DSB IV, pp. 550; WorldCat (4 copies); cf. Koetsier & Bergmans, Mathematics and the divine, pp. 311–328. Johann Hollander and the philosopher’s stone 7. HOLLANDUS, Johannes Isaac. Opera mineralia, sive de lapide philosophico, omnia, duobus libris comprehensa. Middelburg, Richard Schilders, 1600. 8vo. With dozens of small woodcut illustrations in the text. Contemporary vellum; in modern green half morocco slipcase and green cloth chemise. € 5.000 The first edition of any work by the mysterious Johannes Isaac Hollandus, a Latin translation of a German manuscript of his treatises on mineralogy, alchemy and the philosopher’s stone, and espe- cially on the use of metal oxides to colour stones and crystals to make fake gems and precious stones. The charming little woodcuts show distilling and other equipment. Little is known about Johannes Isaac Hollandus (active 1572–1610?), but the Görlitz astronomer Bartholomeus Scultetus had a German manuscript of some of his treatises on mineralogy that survives in the form of a copy made in Prague in 1572 and Ben Jonson’s 1610 play The Alchemists refers to him apparently as still living. His name suggests he was a Dutchman living abroad, but if his father was called Isaac Hollandus, as has been claimed, he may have been born abroad in a Dutch family. With the red morocco bookplate of Robert Honeyman IV. In very good condition, with only a minor transparent stain at the head of the last few leaves and a small marginal rust hole in 1 leaf. Contemporary binding also very good. Duveen, p. 300; Honeyman 1761 (this copy); Partington II, pp. 203–208 & item 1; STCN (5 copies). Rare edition of two medical works, on the mystery of the golden tooth and sleepwalking 8. HORSTIUS, Jacob. De aureo dente Maxillari Pueri Silesii, primum, utrum eius generatio naturalis fuerit, nec ne; deinde an digna eius interpretatio dari queat. Including: HORSTIUS, Jacob. De natura differentiis et causis eorum, qui dormientes ambulant, vigilantium opera, eaq. Leipzig, Valentinus Voegelinus (colophon: printed by Michael Lanzenberger), 1595. 2 parts in 1 volume. Small 8vo (14×9 cm). With woodcut printer’s device on title-page (repeated above the colophon). 19th-century half vellum. € 5.000 Rare first combined edition of two medical works by Jacob Horst (1537–1600), professor of medicine at the Julius University in Helmstadt, first published separately by the same publisher in 1593 and appearing here for the second time. The first work is of special interest, being a rare early treatise on dentistry. In it Horst tried to solve the famous mystery of the golden tooth. The second work is on sleepwalking, a subject which from old seems to have greatly concerned parents and teachers, since much attention was given to it in early medical and educational literature. There current publication however seems to be largely overlooked in the literature. With an owner’s inscription on title-page dated 1598. Browned throughout, with some water stains, and a small hole in the gutter of 10 leaves in the second part; a fair copy. Binding in good condition, worn spine with a small tear. Crowley 7; Poletti, p. 105; cf. Adams H-997–998; Durling 2460. Occult philosophy on the study of ancient secrets 9. JESSEN, Johann. Zoroaster nova, brevis, veraq[ue] de universa philosophia. Wittenberg, Ex officina Cratoniana (Johann Krafft), 1593. Small 8vo (16×10 cm). With an arabesque woodcut decoration on the title-page. Late 17th – or early 18th-century stiff marbled-paper wrappers. € 1.750 A work of occult philosophy by the Silesian-born Johann Jessen (1566–1621), professor of anatomy at the University of Wittenberg and later rector of Charles University in Prague. It is largely based on Francesco Patrizi’s Nova de universis philosophia (1591), which emphasized the study of occult secrets hidden in sources from the ancient world, but it gives a different orientation by placing the study of the order of the cosmos, rather than the study of life, in the central position. It includes the author’s dedication to Friedrich Wilhelm I, Duke of Saxony-Wiemar, his preface (referring to Egyptian hieroglyphs), and a laudatory verse by Salomon Frenzel von Friedenthal (1564–1605). Jessen joined the anti-Hapsburg Bohemian Protestant revolt at Prague in 1618 and was executed in 1621, soon after the Bohemian defeat at the Battle of the White Mountain. Slightly browned but in good condition, with minor, mostly marginal water stains and a and a small abrasion on the title-page, not affecting the text or ornament. Caillet 5534; Thorndike XI, 11, p. 461; VD16 J237 (9 copies); Wellcome I, 3454; WorldCat (3 copies).