EPISTLE

...deed, when I had in my hands the works of Raymond Lull original: Raymundus Lullus (c. 1232–1315), a Majorcan philosopher and polymath to whom many later alchemical works were attributed, a Philosopher instructed in every branch of learning, I was easily moved—both by my love for this art and by the honorable requests of my friends—to deliver to the printers his Testament original: Testamentum, carefully transcribed, and his Compendium of the Soul’s Transmutation Transmutation: the alchemical process of changing one substance into another, often base metals into gold, or spiritual purification, which has been enlarged in many parts.

The Testament indeed has never before been printed, and that lack of a true version has driven many, who were deceived by counterfeit books, into error. Raymond himself divided that work into Theory and Practice, and he dedicated it to Edward V, King of the English The text reads "Eduardo V," though 1332 falls during the reign of Edward III; such chronological discrepancies are common in pseudo-Lullian literature, in the year of Christ's birth 1332.

The Compendium of the Soul’s Transmutation was indeed previously published in Frankfurt, but in a mutilated state; it was scarcely half-finished and was disfigured by many errors. Through our efforts, however, it has now been perfected and cleansed, so much so that it appears to be a completely different work from the previous edition.

I therefore offer these books to all of you who are students of these arts, so that from them you may perceive and recognize the truth of things and nature itself—a matter in which the whole...