The Development of the Basil Valentine Corpus and Biography
Pseudepigraphic Corpora and Paracelsian Ideas
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 12619634 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Lawrence M Principe (Johns Hopkins University, corresponding author) |
| Year | 2020 |
| Volume | 24 |
| Issue | 5-6 |
| Pages | 549-572 |
| Publication date | 2020-02-06 |
| Open Access | No |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Early Science and Medicine (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1383-7427 • E-ISSN: 1573-3823 |
| Publisher | Brill (PUBLISHER • NL) |
| DOI | 10.1163/15733823-02456p08 |
| OpenAlex | W3006059780 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 1 |
Early modern alchemical literature is full of pseudonymous corpora. One of the most famous of these is connected with the name Basil Valentine, a supposed Benedictine monk and master of both medicinal and transmutational chymistry. Accreted over a period of nearly a century, the Valentine corpus is complex and heterogeneous. This paper endeavors to organize and recount the construction of the corpus by an array of authors, editors, publishers, and bibliographers, to sort out some of its strata, and to trace the origins and modifications of some of its texts. This exercise will be useful not only for further investigations of Basil Valentine and other pseudonymous chymical corpora, but also for broader studies of forgery and book history
Alchemy · Art · Biography · Epistemology · History of science · Linguistics · Literature · Period (music · Classics · Diverse Historical and Scientific Studies · Historical Philosophy and Science · History · History of Science and Medicine · Philosophy
| Citations per year | 1 |
|---|---|
| Citation span | 2025 - 2025 (1) |
| Highly cited | No |