THE EARLIEST COMPLETE TREATISE ON INK, its compositions and uses, a half-way work between alchemy and chemistry applied to writing and printing

Canepari, Pietro Maria. De atramentis Cuiscunque generis opera sanè novum hactenus à nemine promulgatum in sex Descriptiones digestum. Venice, [s.t., but Evangelista Deuchino, 1619].

4to (197x145 mm), 18th century stiff vellum binding with traces of handwritten titles in brown ink at spine, ff. [8], pp. 368. Printer’s device at title-page that represents a scale, the sun and the moon, the heads of a man and a woman with a circle frame with the motto: Aequali lance librata nil clarius chaos.

Very scarce first edition of Canepari’s treatise on the different kinds of ink, describing systematically their composition, preparation and use.

Canepari was a physician living in Venice, very fond of chemistry and natural science. The work is divided into six descriptions, the first of which deals with printing ink - Typographorum, Chalcographorum atramentum - while the fourth of that for handwriting during the ancient and middle ages - De atramento scriptorio.

The other sections deal with De lapide pyrite metallorum, & atramentorum stirpe, De atramento metallico, præsertim Chalcity, De atramento sutorio, vulgo vetriolo, and De atramento scriptorio. The last chapter is called De varijs operationibus ex Vetriolo gerendis, ac de multiplici modo eliciendi oleum à Vitriolo and is about the vitriol oil, or sulphuric acid.

The text includes very nice passages about invisible and secret inks, that let shine through Canepari’s alchemic studies; for this reason, De Atramentis is usually included in the bibliographic repertoires about alchemy.

Luigi Rusconi, in his 1859 work Dizionario universale archeologico-artistico-technologico, criticized Canepari for a non completely scientifical approach to the matter, but he admitted that he had been the only one following the topic out.

Provenance: Ancient handwritten marginal notes and underlinings in brown ink.

A very fine copy.