Bibliotheca Chimica. Seu Catalogus Librorum Philosophicorum Hermeticorum...Authorum Chimicorum, vel de transmutatione Metallorum..

6 p.l., 276 pp. 12mo, cont. vellum over boards. Paris: C. du Mesnil & T. Jolly, 1654.

First edition of “the first independent bibliography of chemistry and alchemy, including manuscript material, based on the author’s very considerable collection of 4,000 books and manuscripts. Borel, ‘medecin ordinaire du Roy,’ made some original contributions to medicine and also wrote on optics, the microscope, botany, and antiquarian subjects.”–Grolier Club, Bibliography, 59.

A fine copy of a book which has become scarce. Contemporary signature “Ex libris Francisci Sauvin Med.” at head of title. François Sauvin was a 17th-century physician who wrote or edited a number of medical texts.

❧ D.S.B., II, pp. 305-06. Ferguson, I, pp. 116-17. Neville, II, p. 179–“This constitutes the first extensive catalogue of chemical works. It cites many authors or titles either now entirely lost or obtainable only with great difficulty.”.