Splendor Solis - Facsimile Editions and Medieval Illuminated Manuscripts

Produced in the 16th-century, the treatise called Splendor Solis (The Splendor of the Sun) or Sonnenglantz, is written in German and describes the main steps of the philosopher’s stone, a legendary alchemical substance said to be able of turning metals such as lead in gold. This manuscript is remarkable for the alchemical illuminations it provides. Probably made in the years 1531-1532 and preserved in Berlin, Kupferstichkabinett, as Cod. 78 D 3, it is the oldest example of an alchemistic treatise. The extraordinary decoration of the book represents astronomic images, with personifications of the planets, along with matters of alchemic contents. ➜ Facsimile edition published by Coron Verlag in 2005.