This lot is closed for bidding. Bidding ended on 10/20/2022
[ALCHEMY – MEDICINE]. PARACELSUS (c. 1493–1541). Das buch paramirum…darinn tractirt wirdt von Kranckheiten unnd Herkommen Corporis Spermatis… Edited with a preface by Adam von Bodenstein (1528–1577). Frankfurt: Egenolff Erben, 1565. 8vo (159 x 102 mm). Title–page in red and black. [Bound with:] Medicorum ac philosophorum facile principis… Basel: Petrum Pernam, [1562]. (Some browning or offsetting to text, small stain at lower margin to A1–A6). Contemporary limp vellum, yapped edges (front joint broken, remnants of old ties). SECOND EDITION of Das buch paramirum, first published in 1562. The text here agrees with the first edition, with almost only minor orthographic changes (see Sudhoff). Considered one of Paracelsus’ most interesting pharmaceutical works, dealing also with medicine. “The original editions of Paracelsus’ writings are becoming less and less common… Paracelsus gives a large number of medical receipts, constantly proclaiming the superiority and infallibility of alchemy and its principles. This work is characteristic of Paracelsus’ wide application of chemical ideas to pharmacy and therapeutics, and his theory that the operations of the body, being of a chemical character, could be put right when disordered by counter operations of the same kind. The Paramirum also illustrates the author’s attempt to place medicine on a more practical footing and to enlarge the scope and responsibilities of the physician. The prescriptions are interspersed with advice to doctors. They should prescribe in accordance with the illness and not always give pleasant medicines like honey, sugar and manna. Doctors are meant to attend serious as well as minor illnesses. The doctor who cannot take on a case of leprosy is not fit to practise, for physicians are not only supposed to cure headaches, toothaches and such ailments, but also should be able to treat apoplectic and epileptic conditions and important diseases” (William Schab regarding the first edition, Catalogue No.15, 1950). USTC locates just one known copy in North American holdings (Wisconsin University Library) and 12 known copies overall. Sudhoff 67; USTC; VD 16 P 609. 626949.