TO THE READER.

They should offer pure and acceptable things to the Great Giver and Distributor of every perfect gift. For this reason, let them leave nothing in the Sacred Pages The "Sacred Pages" refers here to both Scripture and the "Book of Nature"—the physical world where God's secrets are hidden. untouched so that they may celebrate the glory of His Name with a devoted soul. Let them exult with great force in songs in His presence—no differently than that Pious King David before the Ark, the symbol and monument of the Divine presence, or rather, if it is permitted to speak thus, the dwelling place of the Deity, when it was brought back to Jerusalem after a long absence. And they should receive those men who think them insane, and who consider them to profane the work in such an exultation of words, no differently than the same King received his wife Michal when she reproached him for certain movements that were perhaps unseemly for any other place or time. What wonder is it, then, if men so affected—believing themselves to stand continually and, as it were, "face to face" before God—should be entirely occupied in the celebration of virtues, and especially of the Divine Mercy toward the humble? Let it be far from us, meanwhile, that we should approve of those things which some writers, perhaps sometimes carried away too far by their own imaginings, apply to the mysteries of the Trinity, and of the Incarnation and Passion of Christ our Savior in their works, more freely than is proper and truly in an abusive manner. The editor is cautioning against "theosophical" alchemy, where authors might claim the chemical process of the Philosopher's Stone is a literal or superior explanation of the Holy Trinity.

Regarding the Treatises making up this Collection and their arrangement, the Reader should be advised that, besides certain Letters attributed to Sendivogius Michael Sendivogius (1566–1636), a famous Polish alchemist known for his "Twelve Treatises" and his work on "central nitre," often identified as oxygen today., we have inserted as few manuscript Codices as possible. This is despite the fact that countless manuscripts from Rome, from Basel, and from other places were kindly offered to us by men highly practiced in these studies. We did this because it is not safe to use them after everything of a more select nature found in all of Europe has already been "cobbled together" by others who, at various times, established compilations on the same subject. Therefore, content to complete the idea proposed by Magnus Borrichius Ole Borch (1626–1690), a Danish polymath whose Conspectus Scriptorum Chemicorum provided one of the first historical bibliographies of alchemy. in his Survey of Chemists, we have searched everywhere to satisfy his vision. Indeed, by occasionally inserting other works especially suited to Chemical Study, and arranged according to the chronological order in which the Authors wrote, we provide a sense of perfection to the work. Truly, it would not have satisfied the Curious of every rank if we had only exhibited the principal Treatises written on the Great Work term: Magnus Opus; the process of creating the Philosopher's Stone. collected into one body, unless we had first "tasted" something of the History of Alchemy, the truth of the Stone, and the Terms of the Art. We give the entire first Book of our Library made from these topics, as can be seen in the argument placed before it. Regarding the Arrangement of the Treatises that fill the Library, it will be very easy to see that in the Index that follows immediately, and therefore we refrain from explaining it further here.

An ornate decorative woodcut tailpiece. The design is symmetrical, featuring a central architectural pedestal or altar structure topped with a decorative dish. Elaborate acanthus leaf scrollwork and floral swags extend from the center, with two stylized sea creatures or dolphins with open mouths integrated into the scrolls. At the bottom center is a winged cherub's head. Two decorative tassels hang from the far left and right edges of the design.

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