Étienne-François Villain

Histoire critique de Nicolas Flamel et de Pernelle sa femme; recueillie d’Actes anciens qui justifient l’origine & la médiocrité de leur fortune contre les imputations des Alchimistes. On y a joint le Testament de Pernelle & plusieurs autres Pieces intéressantes. 1761

Publisher: A PARIS, Chez G. DESPREZ, Imprimeur & Libraire ordinaire du Roi & du Clergé de France, rue St Jacques, à saint Prosper & aux trois Vertus. M. DCC. LXI.

[7 × 4.25 in.]. 12mo. (1), [2], [xii], 403 pp., [4], (1). [French].

Very Good.

First edition of Abbé Étienne-François Villain’s critical history of Nicolas Flamel and his wife Pernelle. Flamel became one of the most famous figures in the history of alchemy, with later legends claiming that he discovered the Philosopher’s Stone and gained his wealth through alchemical transmutation. Villain takes a historical approach, using early records concerning Flamel and Pernelle, their property, finances, charitable works, wills, and surviving monuments to challenge the alchemical legend and examine the actual origins of their fortune.

Illustrated with two engraved plates, including the portrait of Nicolas Flamel as frontispiece and a folding plan of the house he had built in 1407 on the rue de Montmorency. The work also includes Pernelle’s testament and other early documents relating to the couple, along with discussion of the writings and hieroglyphic imagery attributed to Flamel. An important early work on the historical Flamel and the development of the alchemical legend surrounding him. References include Caillet 11176; Dorbon 5140; Duveen 604; Ferguson II, 491.

Modern rebind in light brown full calf with gilt title to the spine and five raised bands. New marbled endpapers, with the remainder of the volume original. Light foxing throughout and a small approximately 1-inch-long piece missing from the margin of page 359, otherwise internally very clean. This copy ends at 403 pages followed by four unnumbered pages and a final blank, as in other recorded copies. It does not include the separately found Lettre à Pernety; the Warburg Institute notes that this response may not have formed part of the original publication, and Caillet notes that it is almost always absent from copies.