Little books of secrets

Alerted by a reference in William Eamon’s Science and the secrets of nature: Books of secrets in medieval and early modern culture (Princeton University Press, 1994), a scholar in France recently inquired about one of the little books of secrets in the Duveen Alchemy and Chemistry Collection here in Special Collections. In response, we have made available a digital facsimile of I maravigliosi et occulti secreti naturali by Benedetto, il Persiano, from 1613. This 8-page pamphlet (only 15 cm. tall) is one of 42 such works of Secreti italiani (1580-ca. 1640) in the Duveen Collection.