Van Bleyswyck - Pharmacopoeia Leidensis - 1751

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ARGENTO - INFERNAL LAPIS: PHILOSOPHICAL STONES, POISONS AND REMEDIES IN THE SECRET PHARMACOPOEIA
The Leiden Pharmacopoeia of 1751 constitutes one of the most fascinating testimonies to the survival of medical alchemy within the Enlightenment science. Although conceived as an official pharmacopoeia intended for physicians and apothecaries of the city of Leiden, the work preserves numerous traces of a conception of matter inherited from the Hermetic and Paracelsian traditions. Among metallic preparations, mineral compounds, and substances elaborated in pharmaceutical laboratories, there emerge ingredients that for centuries were regarded as capable of exerting an action not only physical but almost transformative on the organism. Particularly evocative is the presence of the famous Lapis Infernalis, the “Infernal Stone” obtained from silver nitrate, used as a powerful cauterizing agent and as a symbol of the transformation of the lunar metal into a therapeutic instrument. Antimony, mercury, sulfur, cinnabar, and metallic salts coexist in these pages with traditional botanical medicine, documenting one of the last moments when science, pharmacy, and alchemy still spoke a common language. The volume is therefore not only a fundamental document of the history of European medicine, but also a rare testimony to the gradual metamorphosis of the ancient alchemical art into modern pharmaceutical chemistry.

MARKET VALUE
The seventeenth- and eighteenth-century editions of the Pharmacopoea Leidensis are sought after by collectors of the history of medicine, pharmacy, and scientific alchemy. Complete copies with an engraved antiporta and preserved in the contemporary binding generally range between 700 and 1,000 euros. Copies that are particularly fresh, with documented medical or academic provenance, may exceed this valuation range.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION - COLLECTOR'S COPY
Contemporary full parchment binding with a manuscript spine label. Allegorical copper-engraved frontispiece depicting an imposing monumental pharmacy with symbolic figures and a civic coat of arms. Frontispiece printed in red and black. Text entirely in Latin. Presence of indices and repertories of medicinal preparations. Pages with light browning and sporadic foxing. Small signs of use and modest marginal stains. In ancient books with a centuries-long history, some imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description. Pp. (2); 28 ll.; 176; 20 ll.; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Pharmacopoea Leidensis, amplissimorum magistratuum auctoritate instaurata.
Lugduni Batavorum, Apud Samuelem Luchtmans et Filios, 1751.
Edited by the Medical College and the Magistracies of the City of Leiden.
Revision and enlargements attributed to Franciscus (François) van Bleyswyck.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Among the most interesting aspects of the Pharmacopoea Leidensis is the generous space given to the so-called chemical medicine, developed from Paracelsian teachings and destined to revolutionize the European pharmacopoeia between the 17th and 18th centuries. Alongside traditional vegetable drugs appear numerous preparations derived from minerals and metals, regarded as therapeutic tools of extraordinary efficacy.

The Lapis Infernalis, silver nitrate obtained through chemical elaborations of pure silver, stands out. Used to cauterize wounds, ulcers, and pathological tissues, it represented one of the most famous substances of the European pharmacopoeia and perfectly embodied the alchemical principle of transforming matter. The metal symbolically associated with the Moon was converted into a preparation capable of altering and healing the human body.

Alongside silver appear antimony, mercury, sulfur, medicinal glasses, ferruginous preparations, and compounds derived from cinnabar. Many of these substances were thought to possess virtues that went beyond simple pharmacological action, reflecting a view of nature in which minerals participated in cosmic forces and correspondences. The pharmacopoeia thus marks the moment of transition between Renaissance Hermetic knowledge and the nascent experimental chemistry, offering an extraordinary panorama of the substances that fed for centuries the European medical and alchemical imagination.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE INSTITUTION
The University of Leiden, founded in 1575 by William of Orange, was one of the foremost scientific centers of Europe in the modern era. Thanks to its teachings in medicine, botany, and chemistry, the city became one of the most influential intellectual laboratories on the continent. The fame of scholars like Herman Boerhaave attracted students from all over Europe and contributed to the international diffusion of medical practices developed in the Netherlands.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Franciscus van Bleyswyck (c. 1699–1763) was a Dutch physician and scholar active in Leiden in the 18th century. He participated in the revision of the main pharmaceutical works used in the Republic of the United Provinces and contributed to the diffusion of a medicine increasingly oriented toward experimental chemistry. His name remains closely linked to the successive redactions of the Pharmacopoea Leidensis, one of the most authoritative pharmaceutical codes of the Enlightenment era in Europe.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The present edition bears the indication "Editio tertia prioribus auctior & emendatior," attesting to a revision and expansion compared with previous versions. Printed at the important workshop of Samuel Luchtmans and his heirs, among the most prestigious university publishers of the Dutch eighteenth century, it was conceived as a normative text for the daily practice of physicians, pharmacists, and spicers. Subsequent editions of the Pharmacopoea Leidensis contributed to standardizing medicinal preparations and to the spread of new chemico-pharmaceutical practices throughout Europe.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
WorldCat, Pharmacopoea Leidensis, Lugduni Batavorum, 1751.
Royal Library (The Hague), historical catalogs of the Pharmacopoeae Leidenses.
Wellcome Collection Library, Historical Pharmacopoeias Collection.
National Library of Medicine, Historical Pharmacopoeias and Medical Formularies.
Urdang, George, History of Pharmacy, Philadelphia, 1940, pp. 186-205.
Kremers, Edward – Urdang, George, Kremers and Urdang's History of Pharmacy, Madison, pp. 131-159.
Porter, Roy, The Greatest Benefit to Mankind, London, pp. 284-301.
Cook, Harold J., Matters of Exchange: Commerce, Medicine and Science in the Dutch Golden Age, New Haven, Yale University Press.
Lindeboom, G. A., Herman Boerhaave: The Man and His Work, London.
USTC – Universal Short Title Catalogue, registrations of the editions of the Pharmacopoea Leidensis.
ICCU – OPAC SBN, Italian census of eighteenth-century editions.
HathiTrust Digital Library, Pharmacopoea Leidensis, 1751 edition.
Archive.org, digitized copies of eighteenth-century European pharmacopoeias.
it CIVITÉ de Santé.