219 - Pantheo, Giovanni Agostino. *Ars et theoria transmutationis metallicae cum Voarchadumia, proportionibus, numeris, & iconibus rei accommodis illustrata* [with] *Voarchadumia contra alchemiam*, an art distinct from *Archemia* and *Sophia*, a rare 16th-century alchemical treatise, with interleaved annotations

Pantheo, Giovanni Agostino. *Ars et theoria transmutationis metallicae cum Voarchadumia, proportionibus, numeris, & iconibus rei accommodis illustrata* [with] *Voarchadumia contra alchemiam*, an art distinct from *Archemia* and *Sophia*, a rare 16th-century alchemical treatise, with interleaved annotations Volume containing two works by Giovanni Agostino Pantheo, *Ars et theoria transmutationis metallicae cum Voarchadumia, proportionibus, numeris, & iconibus rei accommodis illustrata* and *Voarchadumia contra alchemiam ars distincta ab Archemia et Sophia*, both printed in Paris by Gaultherot in 1550. This copy is incomplete but has the distinctive feature of being interleaved with blank sheets, likely intended to accommodate annotations and observations by readers and scholars. These two works constitute the principal writings of the Venetian alchemist Giovanni Agostino Pantheo, active in the first half of the 16th century, whose dates of birth and death are unknown; they were first published in 1519 and 1530, respectively. In *Voarchadumia*, Pantheo distinguishes alchemy from archimia, attributing to the latter the ability to transmute metals into gold. The term *Voarchadumia*, coined by the author, combines linguistic elements that he traces back to Chaldean and Hebrew. The work includes technical recipes—such as one for the manufacture of mirrors—and esoteric texts in alphabetic script, one of which refers to Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim’s *Occulta philosophia*, while the other is linked by Pantheo to the biblical figure of Enoch. The woodcut illustrations include a frontispiece vignette featuring a small depiction of the world and illustrations within the text relating to the various stages of transmutation. A rare sixteenth-century alchemical treatise, interleaved for annotations