"An early edition of on of the most influential works on alchemy and medicine of the 17th century, this is Oswald Croll’s “Basilica Chymica”. We would be very hard-pressed to provide a better description for this volume than our colleagues at Asherbooks, who are offering an example of this volume which is largely similar, though apparently slightly later, than the one we are offering. Their description can be viewed at: http://www.asherbooks.com/S280_v.html
This work was first published privately for Croll’s friends in 1608, the year before the author’s death, in quarto format, which was then reprinted in small runs a few times. The for-sale edition with the illustrated title page and interior plates was designed for publication by Tampach in Frankfurt am Main and was issued in 1609, then again in 1622. The example we are offering has an additional preface dated 1611, but we think it is not the 1622 edition which was had a markedly different pagination and was dated. We therefore believe that this is a post-1611 reprinting of the 1609 edition, which is actually referenced as existing in a few collections, but for which we can’t find a proper collation. In any case, this volume largely matches the volume described by Asherbooks, including both of the Bollinger poems appended at rear, the two plates, the illustrated title page by Sadeler, and various devices and decorative borders. Complete and in very good condition throughout, with the expected wear but no serious damage or deterioration, retaining the original 17th century vellum binding with handwritten titles along the spine. Handwritten notation at the top of the leaf following the title page seems to name the personal library of what was presumably the volume’s first owner. VERY rare and realistically-priced, which can be seen in the context of the price asked for the later but largely identical example by our colleagues. Volume measures approx (22 x 18cm)"
