Les admirables Secrets d'Albert le Grand; Contenant Plusieurs traités sur la génération de l'homme; l'influence des astres sur le corps humain et sur les animaux; l'indication des signes de la fécondité des femmes et les marques de leur pureté, sur les vertus de quelques animaux et de plusieurs matières peu connues ou souvent méprisées quoique très-utiles, etc., etc.; Nouvelle édition Augmentée d'un abrégé de Physiognomonie, de mille et un préservatifs de diverses maladies ou de secrets intéressant tous les individus quelle que soit leur position dans le monde. Traduction Soigneusement faite sur les anciens textes manuscrits, déjà publiés ou inédits, du savant auteur dont les conseils et les travaux sont plus longuement indiqués dans la table qui termine cet ouvrage
Lyon: Chez les Héritiers de Beringos fratres à l'enseigne d'Agrippa, ND (circa 1850 ?). Nouvelle Èdition. Hardcover. Trigesimo-secundo (5.5 x 3.5 inches) (iv) + 202pp (+ iipp. publisher's catalogue). Contemporary quarter leather binding over marbled paper boards. Brown calf spine, raised bands, spine decorated in gilt, and with gilt title-label. Marbled endpapers and edges. Folding hand-coloured frontis-piece (with two plates); one folding black and white illustration (with two plates); one full page black and white plate: thus a total of five plates on three pages. Ten illustrations in text. FRENCH TEXT. A book popularly attributed to the 13th century Dominican monk, philosopher, thelogian and Saint Albertus Magnus. In fact the work seems to be a composite, drawn perhaps in part from Albertus, but also from many other sources. It first appeared around 1500, and underwent numerous editions and revisions, until it began to find something approaching a standard form in the beginning of the eighteenth century in France. It originally comprised only two tracts, the first of which is largely on the "secrets" of physiology, with a particular emphasis on gynaecology, and the second on the properties of various plants, stones, and animals. Around 1722 a new edition to which two additional tracts, the first comprising practical recipes and the second a treatise on physiognomy, were added. This volume probably dates from around the mid nineteenth century, and is perhaps the most handsome of those published in the period, with its folding hand-coloured frontispiece. It is a variant text, distilled from all four tracts, but with additional material, and was published by the printery trading as the heirs of the Beringo brothers, whose name became almost synonymous with the work due to the many editions that they produced. The "Grand Albert" is often classed as a grimoire, although in the stricter sense of the term it is not one, as it deals with natural magic and alchemical recipes, rather than "black magic." The very fact that it was attributed to a Saint (Albertus was canonised in 1622 by Pope Gregory XV) probably explains why the work was largely ignored by the Church, although this began to change by the early nineteenth century, and there are stories of the copies of the book having to be hidden: with some folk secreting them underneath church altars in an effort to “bless” them. Interestingly this edition has the imprint "Lille - Imp. de Blocquel" indicating that it was printed for "les Héritiers de Beringos fratres" by Simon Blocquel (1780 -1863), bookseller, printer, and publisher whose numerous grimoires were probably the most artfully of those produced in early nineteenth century France. Bound in at the rear is a two page "Catalogue des Livres principaux qui composent la Bibliothèque de l'amateur des sciences occultes." Boards somewhat rubbed at edges and with a quarter inch x one inch strip of marbled paper missing from the top edge of the upper board, and there is also some separation where the leather spine meets the marbled-paper. A half inch tear in the leather at the tail of the joint between the spine and the upper board, but despite this both boards are still firmly attached. A little chipping, discoloration, and one short tear to the outer margin of the frontispiece, a few patches of light discoloration here and there: typical modest wear for a book of this vintage. Still a pleasant, completely original VG copy. Item #48098
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