DEMOCRITUS pseudo [i e BOLOS of Mendes] De arte magna; sive

Sale 2141 - Lot 54

Price Realized: $ 1,041

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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 1,000

DEMOCRITUS, pseudo- [i. e., BOLOS of Mendes?]. De arte magna; sive, De rebus naturalibus. Nec non Synesii, & Pelagii, & Stephani Alexandrini, & Michaelis Pselli in eundem commentaria. manuscript in latin, written in neat semi-cursive hand in dark brown ink on laid paper with watermark of crowned lion(?) rampant above monogram P Q. [2], 129, [9] leaves, the final 9 leaves blank with the last forming the rear pastedown. 214x155 mm, contemporary vellum; scattered minor foxing; uncut. "Patavii, pressum apud Simonem Galignanum MDLXXIII" [i. e., 18th century?]

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Additional Details

Apparently transcribed from the 1573 edition of Domenico Pizzimenti's Latin translation of a Greek alchemical tract of uncertain authorship and commentaries on it by various Byzantine alchemical or hermetic writers. Possibly having originated in Egypt during the late Hellenistic period, the text known as De arte magna has been falsely attributed to the pre-Socratic atomist philosopher Democritus and also sometimes ascribed to the Egyptian Bolos of Mendes. The translation by Pizzimenti was first published in 1572 and also appeared the same year as a supplement to Antoine Mizauld's Memorabilia. The earliest printed editions are exceedingly scarce. DSB II, 256; Ferguson I, 205 note; Hoffmann I, 504.