Michael MAIER.

1591 Michael MAIER.
Tripus aureus, hoc est, tres tractatus chymici selectissimi, nempe I. Basilii Valentini, Benedictini ordinis monachi, Germani. Practica una cum 12. clavibus et appendice, ex Germanico; II. Thomæ Nortoni, Crede mihi seu Ordinale, ante annos 140 ab authore scriptum, nunc ex Anglicano manuscripto in Latinum translatum, phrasi cuiusque authoris ut & sententia retenta; III. Cremeri cuius Abbatis Westmonasteriensis Angli Testamentum, hactenus nondum publicatum, nunc in diversarum nationum gratiam editi, et figuris cupro affabre incisis ornati operà & studio Michaelis Maieri. Phil. & Med. D. Com. P. etc.
4° Francofurti: Ex Chalcographia Pauli Jacobi, impensis Lucæ Iennis 1618
Ferguson Young
Contains:-
I. Basil Valentine. Practica, or the Twelve Keys.
II. Thomas Norton. Crede mihi, or the Ordinall of alchemy.
III. Cremer. Testamentum.
[Illustrations:-
1. p1 Engraving on titlepage. 68x95mm. Three philosophers dispute in a laboratory, while an artisan tends a furnace upon which a flask containing a winged snake is heated on a tripod.
2. p6 Engraving. 141x95mm. Portrait of Maier at age 49 in 1617.
3. p7 Engraving on title page of the 'Practica'. 19x101mm. Reprinting emblem ??? from Maier's Symbola aurea mensae.
4. Engraving. 99x100mm. The four elements surround a square within the circle of the zodiac. Within the square is the 'Mirabilitas Naturae' a seven-pointed star associating the seven planets and seven minerals.
5. p27 Engraving. 67x95mm. First key of Valentine.
6. p30 Engraving. 69x95mm. Second key of Valentine.
7. p33 Engraving. 69x94mm. Third key of Valentine.
8. p35 Engraving. 67x95mm. Fourth key of Valentine.
9. p38 Engraving. 70x95mm. Fifth key of Valentine.
10. p41 Engraving. 69x95mm. Sixth key of Valentine.
11. p44 Engraving. 65x65mm. Seventh key of Valentine.
12. p47 Engraving. 68x95mm. Eighth key of Valentine.
13. p54 Engraving. 64x65mm. Ninth key of Valentine.
14. p58 Engraving. 75x92mm. Tenth key of Valentine.
15. p61 Engraving. 67x93mm. Eleventh key of Valentine.
16. p64 Engraving. 68x95mm. Twelfth key of Valentine.
17. p67 Engraving 62x46mm. A stylised flask contains a triangle surrounded by three crowned snakes. Inside the triangle is a winged dragon with two circles.
18. p76 Engraving. 157x106mm. A procession of alchemical birds. Furnace with three legged crucible and flask containing a snake.
19. p77 Engraving on titlepage of Norton's 'Ordinall' 79x101mm. Reprinting Emblem 9 from Maier's 'Symbola aurea mensae'. Two women hold a child while a philosopher looks on.
20. p87 Engraving. 149x97mm. The four worlds. From a circular blaze of light, the Mundus Archetypus, a further circle bearing the Angelic, Ethereal and Elementary world is emanated. In front of this a triangle of Mercury, Sulphur and Salt, has another triangle with it and is also labelled with the four elements, and the different kingdoms of creatures. This in turn stands upon a rectangular base, the Ignis infernis, with the realms of Chaos and Satan.
21. p183 Engraving on titlepage of Cremer's 'Testamentum'. Emblem 8 from Maier's 'Symbola aurea mensae', the two fires under a mountain.]