Publication
Lazurus Zetzner (L. Zetzneri) published the Theatrum Chemicum in unsystematic editions, instead he reprinted issues of previous volumes that had appeared up to the date of the particular volume of Theatrum Chemicum as it was published.
The material is diverse, being intended as a single body of work containing all significant alchemical texts of its time. Though the Theatrum Chemicum is a book about alchemy, by its contemporary standards it represented a body of work that, in a modern context, is similar to texts such as The Handbook of Chemistry & Physics, The Physicians' Desk Reference, or other specialized texts for the practice and study of the sciences and philosophy, including medicine. The physician and philosopher Sir Thomas Browne possessed a copy, while Isaac Newton filled the margins of his copy with annotations.
Within the various volumes are found some of the most studied works in the field of alchemy, such as Turba Philosophorum, Arcanum Philosophorum, Cabala Chemica, De Ovo Philosophorum, many tracts focused upon Secretum Secretorum, The Philosopher's Stone, the Elixir of Life, the Tabula Smaragdina, and several works attributed to Albertus Magnus and Thomas Aquinas. The original publication dates of the specific writings found in the Theatrum Chemicum range from just a few years prior to each volume's publication, to as far back as several centuries in some cases.
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