Page 2 - Book of quintessence

Hermetic Research Series Number 9

Rupescissa
The Book of Quintessence

John de Rupescissa's (John of Roquetaillade) key work on distillation
and the quintessence was written about 1360 a century before the
invention of printing. It circulated widely in manuscripts copied from
one alchemist to another and for this reason there were many different
variations of the text. All the versions, however, discuss the making of
the quintessence of wine, of preparing a quintessence of gold and
demonstrating the diseases and conditions it could help alleviate.

Rupescissa, a Franciscan monk, was imprisoned by the Pope, not for
his alchemical writings but for his prophecies and denunciations of
ecclesiastical abuses. These mille nialist prophecies were quickly
forgotten, but his clear and practical indications on alchemical distilling
were very influencial on later generations of alchemists. His Liber de
consideratione quintae essentiae was one of the most important early
writings of European alchemy.

This English translation was adapted by Adam McLean from an early
15th century translation contained in The British Library MS Sloane
73. The language has been extensively modernised and revised, to
make it readable by people unable to steer their way through Middle
English.

Cover illustration is a 17th century engraving of a distillation apparatus,
coloured by Adam McLean

Adam McLean
15 Keir Street
Glasgow G41 2NP
UK
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