PARACELSUS.

£6,500 · Offered by Sokol Books

.This copy was in the library of Sigmund von Polheim (1531-98), Herr zu Polheim, Parz und Steinhaus, Austria. After studying at the court of Lorraine and elsewhere abroad, he married Potentiana von Hohenfeld and moved to Schloss Parz, in Grieskirchen. Inspired by his humanist scholarly education, he decorated the castle in a Renaissance style; in particular, the southern façade bears the largest cycle of frescoes ever produced in northern Europe. He promoted local schools and was a music lover. .A very good, clean copy of these scarce medical Paracelsiana. The Swiss Theophrastus von Hohenheim (1493/4-1541) used the pseudonym Paracelsus for most of his successful career as an alchemist, philosopher and physician. He was very influential in the development of empirical observation and the use of chemistry (embracing toxicology) in medical practice, though associated with Hermetic and occult philosophies. After his death, many spurious alchemical texts were attributed to him for marketing purposes and printed individually or in collections, as here. Hence their complex bibliographical history and his increasing reputation as a magician. Of the three works in this collection, the first Verantwortung comprises seven defences of Paracelsus s theories. The sections on natural magic, cosmology and demonology drew from his magnus opus Astronomia magna , only printed for the first time in 1571. Among other things, the work addresses his views on toxicology and chemistry (e.g., arsenic

• Binding: Hardcover

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