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Update: Editor of Dyas chymica tripartita

Our website’s article about the alchemical print Dyas chymica tripartita (1625) has been updated with clarifying information about its editor!

The letters H.C.D. denote the editor’s pseudonym Hermannus Condeesyanus Doctor.

We would like to thank Carlos Gilly who kindly brought to our attention that the man behind the pseudonym Hermannus Condeesyanus was not Johann Grasse, as we had previously transferred from the VD 17 catalogue, but the pharmacist and alchemist Johannes Rhenanus who had close connections to the court of Moritz, Landgrave of Hesse-Kassel.

Rhenanus participated in the Rosicrucian movement. Several other alchemical prints prove his work as a publisher as well as a writer, in most cases using his pseudonym Condeesyanus. His involvement in the publication of Dyas chymica tripartita sheds further light on the book’s quite patriotic dedication to Christian I. of Anhalt-Bernburg (1568-1630) in which he emphasizes the importance of alchemy at the German courts.