Juncker, Johann | First edition of one of the most important 18th-century chemical textbooks

Juncker, Johann

Conspectus chemiae theoretico-practicae: in forma tabularum repraesentatus, in quibus physica, praesertim subterranea, et corporum naturalium principia habitius inter se, proprietates, vires et usus itemque praecipua chemiae pharmaceuticae et mechanica fundamenta dogmatibus Becheri et Stahli potissimum explicantur, eorundemque et aliorum celebrium chemicorum experimentis stabiliuntur. Halle (Saale): Impensis Orphanotropheii, 1730–1738

Two volumes in one, 4to (230 x 185 mm). Titles printed in red and black, engraved frontispiece portrait of the author, engraved vignettes; some browning in second vol., occasional light spotting. Contemporary vellum over boards; one corner and head of spine a little worn.

First edition of Juncker’s comprehensive theoretical and practical survey of chemistry, based on the doctrines of Becher and Stahl and intended as a systematic course for students at Halle. The first volume covers the foundations of chemistry, crystallization, distillation, metallurgy, and the transmutation of metals; the second volume treats fermentation, putrefaction, acids, salts, and pharmaceutical processes. The Conspectus became one of the standard university textbooks of eighteenth-century chemistry and a crucial bridge between iatrochemistry and the developing phlogiston theory.

Scarce, especially with the second volume.

REFERENCES

Partington II, pp. 688–9; Cole 732; Ferguson I, 451