{"product_id":"de-natura-rerum-deluxe-edition-by-paracelsus","title":"De Natura Rerum (deluxe edition) by Paracelsus","description":"\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA deluxe edition strictly limited to 55 copies.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePrinted in full colour on Munken Pure Rough 100gsm, bound in full black goatskin by Ludlow Bookbinders, with raised bands and hand-tooling, featuring Renaissance artwork in gold foil and a unique raised embossed pattern designed by the artist Kateryna Zubakhina.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe endpapers have been hand-marbled by Freya Scott at Paperwilds.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003ePresented with a black letterpress bookmark and a maroon ribbon.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNB: All copies of the deluxe edition will also include a letterpress broadside with the famous 1538 woodcut portrait of Paracelsus by Augustin Hirschvogel, printed on the luxurious Zerkall 225gsm paper.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eSecond volume in Aula Lucis Press' Mysterium Hermeticum series.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eIncluding a Chymical Dictionary, Explaining Hard Places and Words met withal in the Writings of Paracelsus \u0026amp; Others, compiled by John French\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003eFirst 80 orders will also include a letterpress broadside with the famous 1538 woodcut portrait of Paracelsus by Augustin Hirschvogel, printed on the luxurious Zerkall 225gsm paper.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eWith new Introduction by\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cspan class=\"_LOWCAPS\"\u003epeter hochmeier\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e¶\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e For the second volume in the \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eMysterium Hermeticum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e series, we present our readers with one of the most fundamental and most widely studied alchemical works of Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim, also known as Paracelsus (1493-1541). \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDe Natura Rerum,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e or \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eNine Books on the Nature of Things,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e was composed in order to assist the aspiring alchemist and hermetic philosopher in recognising what lies hidden in Nature, and how to induce Nature to be helpful in the Art of Alchemy. Comprising nine tracts on the Generation, Growth, Preservation, Life, Death, Resurrection, Transmutation, Separation, and Signature of all natural things, it is a veritable treasure house of natural lore for all diligent students of the Spagyric Art to draw upon, and to apply in their practice.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e¶\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e For Paracelsus, Nature is the greatest school of all, and everything that the alchemist does, he must do by her light, for “there is nothing in Man that does not flow into him from the light of Nature,” and “all things belonging to Nature exist for the sake of Man. And since they have been created for his sake, and since it is he who needs them, he must explore everything that lies in Nature.” This is the guiding principle behind \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDe Natura Rerum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, a book which Paracelsus dedicated in 1537 to his ‘dear trusted friend and brother’ Hans Winckelsteiner, an alchemist from the town of Freiburg, entrusting the manuscript to his care and urging him to keep it only for himself and his closest circle of collaborators. As a result, it was not until 1572 that the first German edition of this work emerged in print, comprising only of books 1-7, and a further twelve years before it was published in its complete form, including the eighth and ninth books. The latter tract, titled \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eOn the Signature of Natural things,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e is one of the most important expositions on the Paracelsian theory of Signatures, a subject which we will continue to explore in our future publications.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e¶\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e The text of this edition is based on the 1650 translation by the English Paracelsian physician and alchemist John French (ca. 1616-1657), also known as the author of the famed alchemical compendium \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Art of Distillation\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e (1651). His excellent rendition, superior to that of A. E. Waite published two centuries later, has been faithfully preserved with minimal corrections to spelling, punctuation and certain obscure technical terms used by Paracelsus. We have also included our own translation of Paracelsus’ 1537 Preface to Hans Winckelsteiner, which was missing from the first English edition, as well as John French’s \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eChymical Dictionary,\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e a complementary treatise which was bound together with his translation of \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eDe Natura Rerum\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e. This being a lexicon of obscure Paracelsian and alchemical terms, it is a work of particular rarity and importance, as it covers a plethora of now forgotten and abstruse terms a reader may encounter in the writings of Paracelsus and other enigmatic authors.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003e¶\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e Finally, we are pleased to introduce to the English-speaking audiences Peter Hochmeier, a renowned Austrian alchemist, natural philosopher and expert in the theory of Signatures, who wrote an Introduction to this volume. Peter’s seminal work \u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003eThe Way of the Sun Spark: Alchemy, Spagyrics and the Art of Signatures\u003c\/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e, is currently being translated into English for the first time as a forthcoming Aula Lucis release.\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cspan data-mce-fragment=\"1\"\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Watkins Stock","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":43798492020912,"sku":null,"price":450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0578\/0635\/6656\/files\/IMG_2404.jpg?v=1721990845","url":"https:\/\/shop.watkinsbooks.com\/products\/de-natura-rerum-deluxe-edition-by-paracelsus","provider":"Watkins Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}