Add MS 78346

EVELYN PAPERS. Vol. CLXXIX. `Coelum sanitatis. or, a Particular of the Vegetable & Animal Dissolvant'; [1650s-1660s]. Autograph copy or translation. Account of the chemical preparation and curative properties of a quintessential remedy, of which Evelyn remarks (f. 53), `this is for all our Philospher's Boast, but a well rectified spirit of wine'. Apparently taken from a work originally circulated in French, preceded by a preface setting the scene in a chemical laboratory in the garden of `a little villa ... not far from the city', which has resemblances to Evelyn's `elaboratory' in the garden of Sayes Court. At the beginning (f. 1) is a note in Evelyn's later hand, `A Copy of this in French which I have seen, has not a Word of this romantic Preface, who ever he was who wrot it, & translated the rest ill enough', a comment which may be intended to mask his own authorship of the preface and his translation of the rest of the work. Bookplate of the Marquess of Crewe. Geoffrey Keynes, John Evelyn: a Study in Bibliophily (Oxford, 1968), p. 20. Beal EvJ 161. Not originally part of the Evelyn Papers as purchased in 1995; purchased separately at Christie's, 26 Nov. 1997, lot 77.

ff. ii + 53. Contemporary binding of brown calf, gilt-stamped with a wheat-sheaf and with a pseudo-chemical symbol by Evelyn in ink on the front cover. 145 x 90mm.