Search Results: de distillatione lib ix quibus certa by porta giovanni battista

Rome: Camera Apostolica, 1608. 1st Edition. Soft cover. Very Good. 1st Edition. Soft cover. 4to - over 9¾ - 12" tall. 4to (215 x 160 mm). [20], 154, [6] pp. Title with printer's device, woodcut initials, head- and tailpieces, full-size engraved portrait of the author, 35 woodcut text illustrations, epigrams at beginning with Hebrew, Greek, Chaldaean, Persian and Illyrian scripts; colophon and woodcut device on final leaf verso. Signatures: *4 *6 A-V4. Bound in contemporary limp vellum, bottom edge titled in manuscript (single wormhole in upper joint, light soiling and rubbing of covers, inner front hinge partially broken). Some soiling at head of title, text very little browned, some minor spotting, paper flaw with paper thinning and tear at fore-marging of leaf S1 (outside text area), portrait leaf detached. A very good+ copy in untouched first binding. ---- RARE FIRST EDITION. Della Porta's treatise gives the most comprehensive view of the applications of distillation in the sixteenth century.… Read More

Rome: Printing-press of the Reverend Apostolic Camera,, 1608. The Professor of Secret's guide to alchemy First edition of Della Porta's influential treatise on the art of distillation, the most comprehensive overview of the subject in the 16th century, beautifully illustrated with a series of fine woodcuts depicting contemporary chemical apparatus. This copy in contemporary vellum is complete with Lauri's portrait, the best-known likeness of the author. With the present work, Della Porta expanded the section on distillation in book X of his most celebrated work, Magia Naturalis (1589). The art of distillation, as he explains in accordance with the alchemical tradition, consented to extract the essence from natural objects, in order to access and exploit their intrinsic virtues or faculties. In the first chapters of De distillatione, Della Porta presents a variety of distillation techniques using detailed illustrations of the required chemical equipment, such as furnaces, retorts, and condensers. A… Read More