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GLAUBER, JOHANN RUDOLPH. A Description of New Philosophical Furnaces; or, A New Art of Distilling [etc.]. 1651(-52)

GLAUBER, JOHANN RUDOLPH. A Description of New Philosophical Furnaces; or, A New Art of Distilling [etc.]. Woodcut text illustrations of laboratory apparatus. [16], 452, [12] pages, including blank 2Q1. 4to, contemporary sheep, spine quite worn, ends chipped, covers detached; contents browned, scattered contemporary corrections in ink, oxidized stain in blank outer margin of approximately 30 leaves in middle of volume, front endleaves loose. Masonic bookplate of the Supreme Council, 33°, dated 1900. London: Richard Cotes for Tho: Williams, 1651(-52)

  • Notes: first edition in english, translated by John French, of Glauber''s 1646-49 Furni novi philosophici, "the best account of his practical work" (DSB); his 1646 De auri tinctura, on the medicinal uses of potable gold; and the first part of his 1650 Opus minerale, on transmutation. "Glauber has justly been called the best practical chemist of his day and the first industrial chemist. His instructions for the improvement of laboratory technique were instrumental in preparing the way for the chemical revolution of the next century. In his own estimation, however, the final goal of his labors was the perfection of the material world, capped by the preparation of the philosophers'' stone"--DSB V, 422-23. Duveen, page 252; Krivatsy 4785; Norman 909; Partington II, 345; Waring, page 280; Wing P846.
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