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MAIER, Michael (1568–1622). Atalanta fugiens, hoc est, emblemata nova de secretis naturae chymica. Oppenheim: Hieronymus Galler for Johann Theodor de Bry, 1618.
Small 4° (193 x 146mm). Engraved title and 50 emblems by Matthias Merian the elder, each emblem accompanied by one of the 50 pieces of music, the 'fugues' mentioned on the title-page, portrait of the author on p.11. (Without final blank, evenly browned throughout, one or two letters of 2 lines of text on G4r illegible through small abrasion, a few margins with a small light waterstain, occasional offsetting from plates.) Contemporary panelled calf (rebacked), in a calf backed case. Provenance: Michael Wodhull, 15 May 1782 (book-collector and translator (1740–1816); inscription and some bibliographical notes on front endpaper and pastedown) — Gilbert R. Redgrave, May 1891 (inscription on front endpaper, stating this is the Wodhull copy from Thenford House, Banbury, 1885; Gilbert’s bookplate on rear pastedown) .
FIRST EDITION, second issue (only the date altered from 1617), ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS WORKS IN THE HISTORY OF ALCHEMICAL LITERATURE, MICHAEL WODHULL’S COPY. Maier was a celebrated alchemist and physician at the court of the Emperor Rudolph II in Prague. 'The Atalanta Fugiens is generally regarded as Maier's rarest work and it is also the most sought after, for the splendid engravings which belong to the finest samples of Hermetical illustration' (Duveen, attributing the engravings to Theodore de Bry). Duveen p.381; Ferguson II, p.62; Landwehr German 409; Wellcome I, 3980.
Small 4° (193 x 146mm). Engraved title and 50 emblems by Matthias Merian the elder, each emblem accompanied by one of the 50 pieces of music, the 'fugues' mentioned on the title-page, portrait of the author on p.11. (Without final blank, evenly browned throughout, one or two letters of 2 lines of text on G4r illegible through small abrasion, a few margins with a small light waterstain, occasional offsetting from plates.) Contemporary panelled calf (rebacked), in a calf backed case. Provenance: Michael Wodhull, 15 May 1782 (book-collector and translator (1740–1816); inscription and some bibliographical notes on front endpaper and pastedown) — Gilbert R. Redgrave, May 1891 (inscription on front endpaper, stating this is the Wodhull copy from Thenford House, Banbury, 1885; Gilbert’s bookplate on rear pastedown) .
FIRST EDITION, second issue (only the date altered from 1617), ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS WORKS IN THE HISTORY OF ALCHEMICAL LITERATURE, MICHAEL WODHULL’S COPY. Maier was a celebrated alchemist and physician at the court of the Emperor Rudolph II in Prague. 'The Atalanta Fugiens is generally regarded as Maier's rarest work and it is also the most sought after, for the splendid engravings which belong to the finest samples of Hermetical illustration' (Duveen, attributing the engravings to Theodore de Bry). Duveen p.381; Ferguson II, p.62; Landwehr German 409; Wellcome I, 3980.
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