55 - DIGBY (Chevalier)

DIGBY (Chevalier) A speech delivered at a famous gathering concerning the healing of wounds with “sympathy powder,” in which its composition is explained, and several other wonders of nature are discussed... Accompanied by the copy printed in Paris by A. Courbé and P. Moët, 1666, in 12mo, 160 pp. Full contemporary binding in grained calfskin. Spine with 5 raised bands, compartmentalized and decorated with floral motifs, bearing the title in gold lettering; gold roulette on the edges; marbled edges. Upper cap worn; one corner rubbed; dark circular stain on the front cover. Rare third French edition of this treatise on “sympathy powder”; the first edition dates from 1658. It is worth noting that the vitriol-based preparation, the secret of which Chevalier Digby purchased from an Italian monk, caused a sensation at the court of James I and in France under the name “sympathy powder.” In his principles of healing, Digby seems to have anticipated magnetism 100 years before Mesmer. Indeed, does he not state that “every body emits a continuous stream of atoms from itself” and that “the strong imagination of one person acts marvelously upon that of another who has a weaker and more passive imagination”? ¶ Rare Caillet No. 3124—Dorbon does not cite this edition—Ferguson I.213 (not this edition): “Digby was a member of the nucleus of experimental philosophers who afterwards founded the Royal Society”—Krivatsy No. 3242 (not this edition).