[Alchemy] Libavius, A. D.O.M.A. Commentationum metallicarum libri quatuor de natura metallorum,

mercurio philosophorum, azotho, et lapide seu tinctura physicorum conficienda. e rerum natura, experientia, et autorum praestantium fide. Frankfurt, J. Saur for P. Kopff, 1597, (8),392 p., later antique style blindst. leather, gilt and ribbed spine w. mor. letterpiece, 4to.

Quire V (p. 153-160) lacking, but the exact text provided in neat later manuscript hand (also providing the text of leaf X (p. 162-163), text that is also present in print), a few wormholes throughout, partly (mostly vaguely) waterst. Andreas Libavius or Libau, pseudonym of Basilius de Varna (1555-1616), philosopher, doctor and naturalist, was one of the founders of modern chemistry and a follower of Paracelsus but more empirical. The work Commentationum Metallicarum is a very rare additional volume to Libavius' main work Alchemia, published in the same year and equally rare. See Duveen p. 355-356 and Ferguson II, 31-32.