[ALCHEMY]. BARLET (Annibal). The True and Methodical Course in Resolutive Physics, Commonly Called Alchemy […] for Understanding Ergocosmic Theotechnics, That Is to Say, the Art of God in the Work of the Universe. Paris: N. Charles, 1657. Small quarto, half-calf, decorated ribbed spine (18th-century binding). [VIII] + 626 + [XXI + I (blank)] + [XIII + I (blank)] pp., signed: à4, A-Z4, Aa-Zz4, Aaa-Zzz4, Aaaa-Kkkk4, L2 (L3 & L4), Mmm4, Nnn2, à4 & é3. “Second edition” of this work, first published in 1653. A frontispiece title page, four plates, and four double-page tables mounted on tabs; 36 full-page engraved figures. From the library of Dom C. C. de Bourlamaque, with a wet-stamped ex-libris on the title page. Binding damaged (front cover nearly detached); pages foxed and with foxing spots; minor restoration in the margins of ff. M1 & M2 with missing text carefully restored. “In this second edition, one plate (the opening of the course) is slightly different, and it includes, in addition to the previous edition, 2 double-page spreads and 13 pages of additions. ” (Dorbon 216); “In short, one of the most interesting and best-documented works of its kind, very rare” (Guaïta, 1134); Caillet, 730.