DELLA PORTA, Giovanni Battista.

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De distillatione lib. IX. First edition of Della Porta's influential treatise on the art of distillation, the most comprehensive overview of the subject in the 16th century, beautifully illustrated with a series of fine woodcuts depicting contemporary chemical apparatus. This copy in contemporary vellum is complete with Lauri's portrait, the best-known likeness of the author.With the present work, Della Porta expanded the section on distillation in book X of his most celebrated work, Magia Naturalis (1589). The art of distillation, as he explains in accordance with the alchemical tradition, consented to extract the essence from natural objects, in order to access and exploit their intrinsic virtues or faculties. In the first chapters of De distillatione, Della Porta presents a variety of distillation techniques using detailed illustrations of the required chemical equipment, such as furnaces, retorts, and condensers. A reference system of letters is used to describe the function of their different parts in text. At page 29 is one of the earliest representations of solar distillation equipment. The most curious illustrations depict vessels likened to animals based on their physical characteristics: a matrass is compared to an ostrich, and different flasks to a bird, a tortoise, a bear, and a pelican. The subsequent chapters are dedicated to the process of distilling specific substances, including scented waters extracted from flowers, essential oils from plants, resins, and wo

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