Croll (OCCULT & ALCHEMY) - Basilica Chymica - 1609

Croll Oswald

Alchemical Basilica

Frankfurt - 1609 -
At Claud. Marnium

(8), 283, (30), (12), (16), 80, (16), 13 (of 23) p.
In 4to – 23.5 × 19.5 cm.

Prov. I. Friedrich Weyb (1623).


A milestone in alchemical literature.

The classic treaty of the seventeenth century.
A practical and theoretical manual that has left its mark.
an era in the history of chemistry and alchemical pharmacopoeia.

It has significantly shaped the iatrochemistry of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
THORNDIKE V, 649
FERGUSON I, 185
WELLCOME I, 1672
KRIVATSY 2914
cf. DUVEEN

Very rare FIRST EDITION of Oswald Croll’s famous treatise, in its splendid contemporary binding in full hog-skin (half-binding) and verdone leather, with the binding date (1623) and the initials of Iohn Friedrich Weyb blind-stamped.
The work is adorned by a wonderful illustrated title page, skillfully watercolored in every minute detail.

Dedicated to Prince Christian of Anhalt-Bernburg, the text appeared in eighteen subsequent editions and numerous translations in the following centuries.

It is based primarily on the teachings of Paracelsus, but it also synthesizes alchemical ideas.
of natural magic, of occultism, and cabalistic.

The text is divided into two parts.
The first part comprises a long theoretical preface, followed by a medical-alchemical treatise with recipes for preparing medicines and their application to specific diseases.
Like Paracelsus, Croll emphasizes the importance of the physician's practical experience and the experimental verification of theories.

The second part contains an additional treatise, “De signaturis rerum internis”
An exploration of the doctrine of signatures,
that supports the correspondence between the visible qualities of the plants and their therapeutic effects.

Croll advocates Paracelsus's empirical medicine, centered on alchemy.
Its "Basilica Chymica" posits the perfect analogy between the microcosm (the man) and the macrocosm (the world).
The work quickly became the standard scientific text of iatrochemistry.
The individual preparations are described in great detail, with their compositions and various applications.

The exceptional and complex engraved frontispiece, wonderfully watercolored, must have been created in close collaboration with the engraver Aegidius Saedeler II (1570/1629), with a visible signature on the frontispiece, at the court
of Emperor Rudolf II where Croll worked.
The basic composition of the frontispiece visually summarizes Croll's teachings.
Two circular diagrams surround the central title and, like 'Light of Nature' and 'Light of Grace', mark the cosmological connection between the celestial sphere and the earthly one.
Conceptually, the two triangles can be combined to form a hexagram (a six-pointed star polygon), as an expression of the
the union of opposites
They are flanked by six cartouches bearing the portraits of the most important alchemical authorities: Hermes Trismegistus, Geber, Morieno, Roger Bacon, Raimond Lull and Paracelsus.

This specimen also benefits from an illustrious provenance: Iohann Friedrich Weyb, most likely the physician of Coburg, of whom a Stammbuch (STB 267) is preserved, with annotations by Fludd, Galileo, for example in the Anna Amalia Library.
Most of the postillations come from I. Friedrich Weyb and J. Sebastian Albrecht.
(physician from Coburg 1695/1774, member of the Leopoldina, registration number 418), also signed at the frontispiece and with his own monogrammed paper ex-libris on the front flyleaf.
The binding features the initials of the famous doctor.
(I. Friedrich Weib) in addition to a handwritten signature at the bottom margin of the title page.

The present work by Oswald Croll is complete in both parts.

In the last part of the volume there is a small pamphlet, originally twenty-three pages long, missing the first ten pages, relating
to an initial laudation, “Elegy of the True Ancient Philosophy”, censored because the author Ulrich Bollinger, a reformer and theologian, was active and deeply linked to the Protestant Reformation.
The second eulogy, 'Encomium', of 13 pages is present instead.

Splendid and rare contemporary binding in a monastic style, made with half hogskin and half dark green leather, with blind-embossed decorations, in addition to the initials of the former owner (J. Friedrich Weib) with the date of manufacture (1623).
Sturdy spine with four raised ribs, bearing a manuscript showing the author and title.
Perfect preservation.

Interiors generally well preserved, with fairly fresh and clean sheets, including two interesting full-page woodcut illustrations.
Slight, sporadic browning in the text, as well as very small marginal paper fragments at the corners missing, though still distant from the main text.
Magnificent frontispiece, with golden oval frames around the portraits and, in the center, the title framed.

Unique copy, from a museum exhibit.