Scarce edition of Gesner’s treatise on alchemy and wine-making bound with Gomez’ work on the properties of salt

Gesner, Konrad. Thesaurus euonymi philiatri de remediis secretis, Liber Physicus, Medicus, & partim etiam Chymicus, & oeconomicus in vinorum diversi saporis apparatu, Medicis & Pharmacopolis omnibus præcipuè necessarius, nunc primum in lucem editus. [s.l., Christoph Froschauer, s.d., but before 1565].
[bound with:]
Gomez Miedes, Bernardino (Gomesius Miedis Bernardinus). Alographia sive diascepseon de sale libri quatuor. Quorum est de sale 1. physico seu philosophico. 2. medico sive empirico 3. geniali seu iocoso 4. mistico à Bernardino Gomesio Miede, primum summa cum diligentia conscripti & publicati. Nunc vero denuo revisi, in certa quaedam capita distincti, duplicique indice locupletati per Petrum Uffenbachium reip. Francifurtensis medicum ordinarium. Ursellis [now Oberursel], Cornelius Sutor, 1605.

8vo (158x98 mm), contemporary stiff vellum binding, traces of handwritten title and of a label at spine, ff. 202, pp. [34, the last blank], f. [1, blank], pp. [40, the last blank], 679, [18, the last blank].

Many fine woodcut illustrations along the text of the first treatise representing furnaces and stills.

Very scarce edition of Gesner’s treatise «On the secret remedies», a wide collection of recipes for the preparation of medicines, for the distillation of essential oils starting from plants, fruits and minerals and for wine-making.

Dating the printing of this book is quite difficult, since it certainly preceeds the publication of the second part by the same typographer (Froschauer, 1569) and the year of death of the author himself (1565), who personally revises this edition.

The Secret Remedies are bound here with Gomez Miedes’s «Alographia», a scarce and interesting essay on all the aspects of the salt, both material – medical, culinary – and symbolic – religious, philosophic, etc. Some years before, the author had published a similar treatise called Commentatorium de sale libri quattuor (1572), far more common. This is the first edition, revised and commented by the physician Petrus Uffenbach. Here are the titles of some chapters: De usu salis in conservatione lactis, casei, butyri, ovorum, De condituris cadaverum humanorum, cur olim recepirint balsamum, quod sint condiendi modi, De sulphure, unde & dicatur & progignatur, ubi nascatur, quae eius causa proxima, quae vis, De salibus infantium, amentium & amantium, De salibus foeminarum, De salibus scurrilibus, Cur de sale mystico agatur omnium ultimo.

Provenance: At the first paste-down and at title-page, handwritten inscriptions in brown ink and a stamp. Some underlinings at the first leaves.

References: M. Pelner Cosman, Fabulous feasts: medieval cookery and ceremony, 1996, p. 78; L.T. Gronovius, Bibliotheca regni animalis atque lapidei seu Recensio auctorum et librorum, Lyon, 1760, p. 265; V. Duché-Gavet-F. Marty-Badiola, Du sel: actes de la Journée d’études Le sel dans la littérature française: Pau 28 novembre 2003, 2005; V. Fritz Brüning, Bibliographie der alchemistischen Literatur: Die alchemistischen Druckwerke von der Erfindung der Buchdruckerkunst bis zum Jahr 1690, 2004.

The first and the last leaves are slightly dusty. A leaf of the first treatise might come from another copy (the watermark is absolutely the same). Otherwise, very fine copy with wide margins.