DEDICATION

...might command you to be openly blessed by a sequence of prosperous events. This he vows, this he seeks through prayers and demands original: "Hoc vovet, hoc sciscit precibus atque exposcit"

Of Your Illustrious Senate and Renowned Order

Frankfurt,
October 10th,
1705.

With the deepest devotion of spirit, your most obedient servant,

Johann Michael Faust,
Doctor of Medicine,
Ordinary Physician original: "Physicus Ordinar." — A "Physicus Ordinarius" was a physician officially appointed by a city or region to oversee public health, forensic medicine, and the regulation of local pharmacies..

PREFACE

) o (
C

Decorative headpiece consisting of three rows of typographic ornaments: the top and bottom rows feature floral/fleuron motifs, while the middle row contains circular sun-like or wheel-like symbols.

With God's Help

original: "C. D." — likely an abbreviation for "Cum Deo" (With God) or "Consilio Divino" (By Divine Counsel), a common pious opening in early modern scholarly texts.

Preface to the Reader

By Johann Michael Faust.

There are many things indeed which drive me to the opinion that I should look a little more accurately into our Philalethes Eirenaeus Philalethes (meaning "peaceful lover of truth") was the pseudonym of a highly influential 17th-century alchemist, widely believed to be the American-born George Starkey, though his identity remained a mystery to many contemporary European scholars like Faust., whose Palace original: "Palatium" — referring to the famous alchemical treatise "Introitus Apertus ad Occlusum Regis Palatium" (An Open Entrance to the Closed Palace of the King). we are now publishing, enlightened by certain new observations. So far as my busy schedule permits, I shall bring to light a few things concerning his way of life as well as his writings, which have scarcely—if even at all—appeared in Germany. For I do not think we should listen to those who cast doubt on both, and plainly deny that Philalethes ever existed among human affairs...