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Amsterdam, Wilhelm Welmsonius / Leipzig, Joh. Herbord Kloß, 1699. 12mo. (6),+ 245 pp. Some foxing, stain on p. (4). Bound together with: (PUECHER, Johannes?). De viribus & usu auri & argenti, debitè praeparati. Das ist: Vom Nutz und Gebrauch der wahren Gold- und Silber Artzeneyen, als die aus einer metallischen Form in ein würckliche Medicin gebührend und rechtmässig gebracht. Auß etlichen Autoribus, wie auch eigner Erfahrung zusammen getragen durch . zusammen getragen Durch J. de B. Amsterdam, Wilhelm Welmsonius / Leipzig, Joh. Herbord Kloß, 1699. 12mo. (46) pp. Very closely cut, with loss of some letters on leaves B2-B4. Contemporary vellum with neatly hand written titles on spine. A few spots on the board. Library bookplate of the Provincial masonic lodge of Gothenburg, and its hand written number-label on spine. VD17 23:291224Z, for Polemann & 3:312781Y for ?De viribus & usu auri & argenti? Ferguson II, p. 210. Caillet 8803 & 8804 and cf. Duveen p. 479, for Polemann. ?De viribus.? not in Ferguson, Cailllet or Duveen. Later edition of Polemann?s ?Novum lumen medicum? which was first published in Amsterdam 1659. Joachim Polemann was born in Stettin in the 1620?s, probably the son of a physician or apothecary. He was a chemist and a follower of Jacob Böhme as well as of the Dutch chemist and physician Jan Baptist Helmont (1580-1644), himself a disciple of Paracelsus. In this book, as Polemann explains in the dedication to count palatinate Christian August (who also engaged in alchemical experimentation), Polemann wants to provide clarification of the often obscure words of that ?scharffsichtigen Philosophi?, as many physicians of the age were unable to convert Helmont?s teachings into medicinal practice. He was especially concerned with the tincture of copper ?als dessen Krafft die Krancken in ihren Schmertzen und grossen Nöthen erfreuen kan? Polemann was so successful in this endeavor that he gained notoriety accross Europe as an accomplished chemist. He was known as a great traveller who had even visited ?oriental parts? He lived in Amsterdam for a long time and from 1663 in London, where he was held in esteem as an alchemical physician sucessfully curing many ailments. Kathrin Pfister, who in the article ?Joachim Polemann ? Biographische Notizen zu einem Fachschriftsteller und Alchemiker des 17. Jahrhunderts? has tried to map Polemanns life, says that all traces of him end in Westminster in Strutton ground, in London in 1672.Second edtion of ?De viribus & usu auri & argenti?, which is a little book of instructions on how to cure all manner of diseases and afflictions using carefully prepared powders of gold and silver is possibly originally brought together by a Hungarian doctor, Johannes Puecher. The earlier edition of the little book (Nürnberg, bei Jeremia Dümlern, 1638) spells out the pseudonyn ?J. de B.? as Johannes de Bikfai. In a Paracelcian book from 1663 ?Theophrastus Redivivus? there is mention of a ?Johannes alias Bikfai Puecher?, and a ?Johannis Puecher Nobilis Ungari? is named author of a very similar book ?Warhaffter Bericht Von Nutz und Gebrauch deß Hermetischen Gold- und Silber-Pulvers/ Wie auch Silber-Wassers? printed in Ulm in 1648, as well as a small thesis entitled ?Vera relatio de virtute et efficacia pulveris Hermetici et aquae Lunaris, aquae quidem quotidiano usu ultra viginti annos, pulveris vero plusquam decennali experientia in pluribus Germaniae et Ungariae locis, comprobatorum? (Trencsén, 1646). Seller Inventory # 99108
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