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''Theatrum Chemicum'' (''"Chemical Theatre"''), is a compendium of early alchemical writings published in six volumes over the course of six decades. The first three volumes were published in 1602, while the final sixth volume was published in its entirety in 1661. ''Theatrum Chemicum'' remains the most comprehensive collective work on the subject of alchemy ever published in the Western world. The full title of the work is ''Theatrum Chemicum, præcipuos selectorum auctorum tractatus de Chemiæ et Lapidis Philosophici Antiquitate, veritate, jure præstantia, et operationibus continens in gratiam veræ Chemiæ et Medicinæ Chemicæ Studiosorum (ut qui uberrimam unde optimorum remediorum messem facere poterunt) congestum et in quatuor partes seu volumina digestum'',〔* name=TitleTranslation>Roughly translated as "Chemical Theatre, for a particularly selected person responsible for handling about Chemicals and the Philosopher's Stone. Ancient, truthful, pure, excellent, and working, containing: An account of True Chemicals, and the study of Medical Chemicals (how to most fruitfully accomplish the best remedy) brought together as parts in arrangement.〕 though later volumes express slightly modified titles. For the sake of brevity, the work is most often referred to simply as ''Theatrum Chemicum''. All volumes of the work, with exception of the last two volumes, were published by Lazarus Zetzner in Oberursel and Strasbourg, France. The final two volumes were published posthumously by Zetzner's heirs, who continued to use his name for publication purposes. The volumes are in actuality a collection of previously published and unpublished alchemical treatises, essays, poems, notes, and writings from various sources, some of which are attributed to known writers and others remain anonymous. Despite Zetzner acting primarily as publisher and editor, many of the contents are not believed to have been written by him. However, because the ''Theatrum Chemicum'' was more widely disseminated in comparison to most alchemical texts of the era, and its text was in the universal Latin used by most scholars of the time, Zetzner is often cited as the author of many early alchemical texts which he in fact did not compose. ==History== ''Theatrum Chemicum'' developed as an evolution of previous alchemical printing projects dating back as early as 1475, when a handful of writings believed to have been written by Geber (or pseudo-Geber) were printed with attached alchemical poems and circulated in the area of Venice, and then a decade later in Rome.〔 A more directly related ancestor of ''Theatrum Chemicum'' was a publication by Johannes Petreius entitled "''De Alchemia''", a work which contained ten alchemical tracts, which was published in Nuremberg in 1541. Petreius had been collecting alchemical documents with the intention of publishing a more complete compilation, though he never completed this task. Upon Petreius's death his collection came into the possession of his relative, Heinrich Petri of Basel who published it in cooperation with Pietro Perna and Guglielmo Gratarolo in 1561. By this time the collection had accrued a total of 53 texts and was published under the name, ''Verae alchemiae artisque metallicae, citra aenigmata, doctrina''. Though Petri would continue to publish alchemical works, it was his partner Perna who in 1572 published an entire series of expanded publications totaling seven volumes with over 80 texts. Perna intended to include the collection of his son-in-law, Konrad Waldkirch, in an even larger multi-volume series, but instead sold the collection to Lazarus Zetzner. Zetzner would publish the newly acquired 80 texts and those of Waldkirch as the first volumes of ''Theatrum Chemicum''. Over the course of the six volumes of ''Theatrum Chemicum'', Zetzner expanded the collection to include over 200 alchemical tracts.〔 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Theatrum Chemicum」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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