Compiled works of Paracelsus – William C. Gibson History of Medicine and Science Collection

Archidoxorum Aureoli Ph. Theophrasti Paracelsi de secretis naturae mysteriis, libri decem, quorum tenorem versa pagella dabit. His accesserunt libri De tinctura physicorum, De praeparationibus. De vexationibus alchimistarum, De praeparationibus, De vexationibus alchimistarum, De cementis metallorum & De gradationibus eorundem. Singula per Gerardum Dorn è germanico sermone latinitati nuperrimè donata.

By Paracelsus 1493-1541

With Dorn, Gerhard, 16th C. & William C. Gibson History of Medicine and Science Collection
Published: Basileae, Per Petrum Pernam 1570

University of British Columbia Rare Books and Special Collections
Call Number: WZ240.P23.1570

This book is a compilation of works written by medical chemist Paracelsus, the titles jammed into one. This is a very early printed edition, made to look authentically hand-made as manuscripts were, with animal skin wrapped around the cover. Its content is entirely in Latin, and this specific edition sports numerous signs of wear and use. There are scribbles all over the front and back covers, with the pages of favourite sections of the book more dirty than the rest, and an annotator’s splatters of browning ink accidentally spilled while correcting the bad print.

Scroll through to discover what makes this book unique in its collection.

Scribbled over flyleaf

One of the most unique parts about this edition of Archidoxorum Aureoli Ph. is the trail of use and ownership it has in and around its pages. While this early printed edition is by no means flashy in its production, the animal skin cover has a number of scribbles drawn and etched into it, while the flyleaf contains a large number 41 along with more incomprehensible scribbles.

Ink splatter

There are also numerous annotations from a corrector who took issue with certain words and the printing of Paracelsus’ works. Annotations in light browning ink are consistent throughout the book, with accidental splotches of ink on a few pages.  The corrector also corrected pages numbers that were wrong and on a few occasions noted chapter numbers at the upper corners.

Possibly two annotator hands here

Interestingly, in addition to the corrector’s pen, there are annotations that are cut off at the edge of pages, suggesting that pages of the book had been cut at some point before binding. There are many pages that have rings and blotches of water damage the book has endured over the centuries.

It is also notable that there is a section where pages become exceptionally dirty and thin, as though this section of the book had been open or used the most, or perhaps in or exposed to an environment that cause this one section of pages to be far dirtier than the rest.

The stub reglued to the page coming undone with age

As previously mentioned, Archidoxorum Aureoli Ph. was a very early print of Paracelsus’ compiled works. Gutenburg invented printing at around 1430-40, beginning with type and achieving the full printing of the Gutenburg Bible in 1453. Archidoxorum Aureoli Ph. was printed in 1570 in Basileae (Basel, Switzerland), a little over a century after Gutenburg. Still we see problems with the binding of this specific edition, with first or last pages of bundles of eight (a quire) are for some reason ripped and re-glued before being bound in the book.

The stub can be seen to lift from where it was glued

This occurs in more than one place in this edition, possibly being attributed to accidental rips during production. Closer to the end of the book, between pages 402-415 there are stubs that have been re-glued on nearly every page. This may have been due having sections of the original book separated and then rebound into the compilation we see today at a later date. This would explain the dirty pages as noted in the post on wear and tear, which may instead have been the first pages of its separate section and therefore exceptionally dirty. A rebinding of an original would also explain why certain annotations seemed to have been cut off, as in rebinding tends to involve the clean cutting of worn edges.

All of this is of course just speculation, but these binding flaws certainly give Archidoxorum Aureoli Ph. its own person quirks unique to the edition housed at UBC.