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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · English Edition

Gerhard Dorn and John French

A Chymical Dictionary

An Expanded Diotimos Lexicon of Paracelsian and Alchemical Language

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A Chymical DictionaryBibliography and Acknowledgments

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English Edition · Branch 729 of 740

Bibliography and Acknowledgments

A Chymical Dictionary

p. 729

Bibliography and Acknowledgments

Historical witness. A Chymicall Dictionary explaining hard places and words met withall in the writings of Paracelsus and other obscure authours. London, printed by Richard Cotes for Thomas Williams, 1650. Separately titled dictionary in A New Light of Alchymie. English version attributed to John French, based on Gerhard Dorn’s Dictionarium Theophrasti Paracelsi. The title leaf itself does not name either man.

Getty Research Institute copy. Internet Archive identifier newlightofalchym00sedz, Getty call number 374378. Dictionary title and definitions checked in PDF sequence pages 327–376. Consult the facsimile. This edition newly typesets the historical wording; it does not reproduce the page photographs.

Wellcome Collection catalogue. Record nxy235ys identifies John French, describes the dictionary’s relationship to Dorn and records the separately titled components of the 1650 volume. Consult the bibliographical record.

Project Gutenberg electronic transcription, ebook 61112. Prepared by Emmanuel Ackerman, Chris Curnow and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team from images made available through Internet Archive. Used as a transcription aid, with the dictionary checked against the printed witness. Its rearrangement and editorial interventions are distinguished from the original printing. Consult the transcription.

Diotimos Editions prepared the modernised definitions, expanded contextual articles, reading routes and finding indexes for this edition. Historical definitions and new interpretation remain separately labelled throughout. The paired digital Lexicon records use the same stable identifiers and editorial text.

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About This Reading Edition

The complete 706 historical definitions of the 1650 English dictionary, modernised and accompanied by expanded Diotimos commentary, reading routes, 15 textual notes and complete linked indexes.

Historical Text

A Chymicall Dictionary, London 1650, English version associated with John French, based on Gerhard Dorn’s Dictionarium Theophrasti Paracelsi. The containing volume also prints Sendivogius and Paracelsus; neither neighboring work changes this dictionary’s attribution.

About This Edition

Complete 706 definition paragraphs with new introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes; Diotimos Editions, 2026.

Rights

The historical 1650 English text is in the public domain. New introduction, commentary, reading guides and indexes are © 2026 Diotimos Editions and published with the site owner’s authorization.