Piemontese, Alessio

Les secrets du Seigneur Alexis Piemontois

Jean Oursel, Rouen, 1699. Contemporary vellum, with outer signs of use. With some pages loosened from binding and a few pages with loss to text around margins. Some spotting and a few instances of wormholes. In 7 books and with a section on recipes by various authors. With an index: 'Table des secrets'. With a preface to the second edition. 715 pages + index. - Jean Oursel, Rouen, 1699. Reliure en vélin, usé. Quelques pages volantes, et un peu du texte manquant. En sept livres et un table/index. Avec un epistre de la seconde edition.

Alessio Piemontese: Les secrets du Seigneur Alexis Piemontois.
Revû & augmenté d'une infinité de rares Secrets.

Includes the 7th book: on distillation (without woodcuts).

Alessio Piemontese, or Alexis of Piedmont is the pesudonym of the author of 'The Secrets of Alexis of Piedmont', first published in Italian in 1555, and in French in 1557, and reissued over 200 times. The true identity behind the name Alexis of Piedmont is unknown, with many naming the Venetian humanist Girolamo Ruscelli (1500-1566), however scholars have debated whether Piedmont may be a real person, and unlike Ruscelli, an alchemist and scientist in his own right.

This book on alchemy and pharmacy contains a wide range of recipes and instructions, including formulae for making medicine, cosmetics, ink, dyes, metals, perfume, pigments, paper, and much more. The author's empirical approach to science as a hunt for the secrets of nature was an important innovation in the writing of natural philosophy. One of the most famous and notable books of the 16th century, the work pervaded experimental science during the period of the Scientific Revolution.

Piemontese, Alessio

Les secrets du Seigneur Alexis Piemontois

Bestillingsnummer: DAB 615-49182