("Chemical Theatre") is a compendium of early alchemical writings published in six volumes over the course of six decades. The first three volumes were published in 1602, while the final sixth volume was published in its entirety in 1661. remains the most comprehensive collective work on the subject of alchemy ever published in the Western world.
The full title of the work is ,Roughly translated as "Chemical Theatre, for a particularly selected person responsible for handling about Chemicals and the Philosopher's Stone. Ancient, truthful, pure, excellent, and working, containing: An account of True Chemicals, and the study of Medical Chemicals (how to most fruitfully accomplish the best remedy) brought together as parts in arrangement. though later volumes express slightly modified titles. For the sake of brevity, the work is most often referred to simply as .
All volumes of the work, with exception of the last two volumes, were published by in Oberursel and Strasbourg, France. The final two volumes were published posthumously by Zetzner's heirs, who continued to use his name for publication purposes.
The volumes are in actuality a collection of previously published and unpublished alchemical treatises, essays, poems, notes, and writings from various sources, some of which are attributed to known writers and others remain anonymous. Despite Zetzner acting primarily as publisher and editor, many of the contents are not believed to have been written by him. However, because the was more widely disseminated in comparison to most alchemical texts of the era, and its text was in the universal Latin used by most scholars of the time, Zetzner is often cited as the author of many early alchemical texts which he in fact did not compose.
History
developed as an evolution of previous alchemical printing projects dating back as early as 1475, when a handful of writings believed to have been written by Geber (or pseudo-Geber) were printed with attached alchemical poems and circulated in the area of Venice, and then a decade later in Rome.
A more directly related ancestor of was a publication by Johannes Petreius entitled "De Alchemia", a work which contained ten alchemical tracts, which was published in Nuremberg in 1541. Petreius had been collecting alchemical documents with the intention of publishing a more complete compilation, though he never completed this task. Upon Petreius's death his collection came into the possession of his relative, Heinrich Petri of Basel who published it in cooperation with Pietro Perna and Guglielmo Gratarolo in 1561. By this time the collection had accrued a total of 53 texts and was published under the name, Verae alchemiae artisque metallicae, citra aenigmata, doctrina. Though Petri would continue to publish alchemical works, it was his partner Perna who in 1572 published an entire series of expanded publications totaling seven volumes with over 80 texts. Perna intended to include the collection of his son-in-law, Konrad Waldkirch, in an even larger multi-volume series, but instead sold the collection to Lazarus Zetzner. Zetzner would publish the newly acquired 80 texts and those of Waldkirch as the first volumes of . Over the course of the six volumes of , Zetzner expanded the collection to include over 200 alchemical tracts.
Publication Lazarus Zetzner (L. Zetzneri) published the in unsystematic editions, instead he reprinted issues of previous volumes that had appeared up to the date of the particular volume of as it was published.
The material is diverse, being intended as a single body of work containing all significant alchemical texts of its time. Though the is a book about alchemy, by its contemporary standards it represented a body of work that, in a modern context, is similar to texts such as The Handbook of Chemistry & Physics, The Physicians' Desk Reference, or other specialized texts for the practice and study of the sciences and philosophy, including medicine. The physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne possessed a copy, while Isaac Newton filled the margins of his copy with annotations.
Within the various volumes are found some of the most studied works in the field of alchemy, such as Turba Philosophorum, Arcanum Philosophorum, Cabala Chemica, De Ovo Philosophorum, many tracts focused upon Secretum Secretorum, The Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, the Tabula Smaragdina, and several works attributed to Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. The original publication dates of the specific writings found in the range from just a few years prior to each volume's publication, to as far back as several centuries in some cases.
Contents
Establishing a precise table of contents for the various volumes of is an issue of debate amongst scholars. Because of the unstandardized nature of early publication practices and the reprinting of tracts from earlier editions, sometimes under their modified full "elenchus" titles, those studying the contents of often encounter discrepancies in format, tract title, page number, and in some cases even authorship. For example, it is not clear whether some tracts that appear anonymous are in fact uniquely authored, or intended to be attributed to the author of the preceding text.
Some of the authorship proposed by Zetzner remains unverifiable due to the nature of publication, the various age of the works, and the practice of attributing authorship without modern methods of citation. Considering the esoteric nature of the subject matter, this was not uncommon at the time of 's publication, but it does seem clear that Zetzner established the authorship of the various tracts according to his original source material.
Below is a list of the tracts found within , and their authors as established by Zetzner.
Volumes I-III
The first three volumes of were published in 1602. Volume I was published in Oberursel, while the subsequent volumes were published in Strasbourg. The first three volumes increased the number of tracts in each volume to the total of 88 in all.
Vol. I Lazarus Zetznerus, () (Introduction) (Table of Contents) Robertus Vallensis,A.K.A. Robert Duval, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Arnaldi a Villa Nova
Johannes Chrysippus Fanianus, Johannes Chrysippus Fanianus, Thomas Mufett,
Thomas Mufett, Theobaldus de Hoghelande Mittelburgensis,A.K.A. Theobald van Hoghelande, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Gerard Dorn,
Gerardus Dorn,
Gerardus Dorn,
Gerardus Dorn, Hermetis Trismegisti, (Tabula Smaragdina);
Gerardus Dorn,
Gerardus Dorn,
Gerardus Dorn, Bernardus G. Penotus,
Bernardus Trevisanus,ed. Gerard Dorn, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Dionysius Zacharias,possible A.K.A. Johannes Cerasius,(ed. Gerard Dorn), see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Nicolai Flamelli ed. Gerard Dorn, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Nicolao Flamello
(Index)
Vol. II
(Table of Contents) Bernard Gilles Penot, Gaston Claveus,A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Aegidius de Vadis,A.K.A. Gilles Dewes, edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Bernard Gilles Penot,
Georgii Ripley George Ripley,edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Alberti Magni,edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation Johann Isaac Hollandus,edited by Bernard Gilles Penot, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation Bernard Gilles Penot, Bernard Gilles Penot, translated roughly as "Rules or Canonical Philosophy (in relation to The Philosopher's Stone, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum citation) Bernard Gilles Penot, Chrysorrhoas, Josephus Quercetanus,A.K.A. Joseph Duchesne, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
John Dee,
Lorenzo Ventura, Giovanni Francesco Pico della Mirandola, Roger Bacon, Speculum alchemiae Richardus Anglicus,
Albertus Magnus,
Giovanni Agostino Panteo, Giovanni Agostino Panteo,
(Index)
Vol. III
(Table of Contents)
possibly written by Jean de Meung or a retitling of "De lapide philosophico incerti auctoris", see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Aristoteles, Arnaldus de Villanova, Arnaldus de Villanova, Arnaldus de Villanova, Efferarius Monachus, Efferarius Monachus, Raymundus Lullus, Odomar, possibly ascribed to Odomar, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Johannes de Rupescissa, Giovanni Aurelio Augurello, Chrysopoeia Giovanni Aurelio Augurello, Thomas Aquinas,
Thomas Aquinas, a retitling of Thesaurus alchemiae secretissimus ad fratrem Reinaldum", see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Joannes de Rupescissa, Raymundus Lullus, Joannes Isaac Hollandus, Ewaldus Vogelius,A.K.A. Theobaldus van Hoghelande, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
retitling of "De oleaginitate minerali", see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
edited by Justus a Balbian (Justus Abalbian Flander, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Jodocus Greverus (Grewer), edited by Justus a Balbian (Justus Abalbian Flander, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Alanus, edited by Justus a Balbian (Justus Abalbian Flander, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
(Tractatus de lapide philosophorum), see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Joannes Pontanus,
Nicolas Barnaud, Nicolas Barnaud,
edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Lambspringk, edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Nicolas Barnaud, edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
George Ripley,
George Ripley,
Nicolas Barnaud, edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
edited by Nicolas Barnaud, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
(Index)
Volume IV
The fourth volume of was published in 1613 in Strasbourg. At the time of publication a reprinting of Volumes I-III was also issued. The reprinted editions are almost identical, though there are differences in details, such as page number, formatting, and minor rewording not affecting content. This often leads to differences in citations that use as a reference source. The single significant difference in the new editions is the inclusion of a tract in Volume 3 entitled "" which is missing from the earlier editions. With the additional tracts found in Volume IV, the total tracts grew to 143. Lazarus Zetzner, (1613) (Introduction) (Table of Contents) Raymundus Lullus, Raymundus Lullus, Raymundus Lullus,
Artefius,
Heliophilus a Percis Philochemicus,possibly written by Raphael Eglin, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Hieronymus de Zanetinis, Thomas Arfoncinus, Anonymus,
Plutarchus, Nicolaus Niger Happelius,
(dated 4 July 1612)
Venceslaus Lavinus Moravus, Nicolaus Niger Hapelius,
Fabianus de Monte S. Severini, Nicolaus Niger Happelius, Andreas Brentzius, , (Dated 20 January 1606) Alberti Magni Processus Raimundi Lulli,
Gebri Arabis, Gebri
Gebro B. Thomae de Aquino, Paracelsus Paracelsi Paracelsi
Bernardus Gilles Penotus, I. L., I. B. A., Guilielmus Dubroc, Stephanus Gasconius, Gaston Dulco,A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Bernardus Gilles Penotus, Gaston Dulco,A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Gaston Dulco,A.K.A. Gaston LeDoux de Claves, see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum Anonymus,amicus typographi (written by male friend typographer), see Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum
Divi Leschi Genus Amo,
Johan Henricus Alstedius,
Divi Leschi Genus Amo, Divi Leschi Genus Amo, Divi Leschi Genus Amo,
M. Georgio Beato ,
Arnoldus de Villanova, Hieronymus Megiserus, Arnaldi de Vila Nova Arnoldus de Villanova, Arnoldus de Villanova, Arnoldus de Villanova,
Joannes de Lasnioro, Joannes Trithemius, Hermes Trismegistus, Dominicus Gnosicus Belga, , dated 23 October 1608)