BECHER, Johann Joachim. - Lot 76

Lot n° 76
Go to lot
Estimation :
500 - 800 EUR
BECHER, Johann Joachim. - Lot 76
BECHER, Johann Joachim. Physica subterranea profundam subterraneorum genesim e principiis hucusque ignotis ostendens, opus sine pari... Editio novissima. Leipzig, Weidmann, 1738. In-4, (8) ff. (including frontispiece, title and preface), 504-(18) p., (3)-161-(9) pp. contemporary fawn calf, 5-ribbed spine, havana title-piece, ornate boards (binding rubbed, paper oxidized, some light rings). Fine engraved allegorical frontispiece. Best edition of the famous work by German physician and chemist Johan Joachim Becher (1635-1682), a pioneer in the development of scientific theory in chemistry. This was based on the doctrine of the 3 elements, or "three earths": vitrifiable earth, the earthy element; mercurial, the metallic element; and inflammable, the combustible element. Edited by Becher's disciple Georg Ernst Stahl, it includes the 3 supplements in continuous pagination, with their own title and index. Then, in separate pagination, Stahl's Specimen Beccherianum sistens fundamenta, documenta, experimenta, quibus principia mixtionis subterraneæ... "An important work, which contains Becher's theory of matter, later adopted by his pupil Stahl, and therefore the basis of the phlogiston theory (...) Numerous editions of this work were published, the last in 1738... the first supplement (...) is a defence of alchemy against Werner Rolfinck (...) an opponent of this art" (Duveen). "One of the great books in the history of chemistry, in which Becher enunciates his theory of the composition of all matter." (Neville) This three-earth doctrine paved the way for the scientific revolution that Stahl was to accomplish. Becher, who also admitted the existence of a universal acid of waters and salts, the principle of mineral crossbreeding, was also the last known chemist to profess belief in the transmutation of metals. Duveen, 59. Ferguson I, 89. Norman 153-4. Wellcome II,125.
My orders
Sale information
Sales conditions
Return to catalogue