DEDICATORY LETTER

...and Lüneburg House, has shone and flourished; nay, and by Divine favor, it shall shine and flourish into eternity. For this reason, I forgo all those aforementioned praises; instead, I approach bearing a gift. It is not, to be sure, a gift of great beauty or size—though You are most worthy of the finest and greatest things—nor one gleaming with gold, silver, gems, or pearls. Such riches Your Highnesses already possess in abundance through the generous bounty and favor of the Divine original: "Numinis," referring to the divine will or the power of God, whereas Fortune has denied them to me and to men of my humble station. It is a gift, I say, made of paper, yet one unearthed from the true, most ancient, and venerable art of Proto-Chemistry original: "Proto-Chimica"; the author refers to the foundational or "first" chemistry, likely what we now call alchemy or early chemical philosophy. This art holds more in its hidden depths than its outward appearance promises; indeed, it is the very means by which the uncreated Spirit, the Craftsman of the World original: "mundi faber," a classical way of describing God as a divine architect or smith, separated the tangled elements of nature. Through this art, indeed, by...