Speculum Lapidum

Regular price €42.99
A01=Camillo Leonardi
Age Group_Uncategorized
Age Group_Uncategorized
astral magic
astrology
Author_Camillo Leonardi
automatic-update
B06=Liliana Leopardi
Camillo Leonardi
Category1=Non-Fiction
Category=ACND
Category=HBLH
Category=HRQX2
Category=MBX
Category=NHDL
COP=United States
Delivery_Delivery within 10-20 working days
diamonds
early modern Europe
emeralds
eq_history
eq_isMigrated=2
eq_non-fiction
gems
Italy
Language_English
occult
PA=Available
precious stones
Price_€20 to €50
protection from spells
PS=Active
Renaissance
rubies
semi-precious stones
softlaunch
Speculum Lapidum
stones
witches and mages

Product details

  • ISBN 9780271095394
  • Weight: 567g
  • Dimensions: 156 x 235mm
  • Publication Date: 29 Aug 2023
  • Publisher: Pennsylvania State University Press
  • Publication City/Country: US
  • Product Form: Hardback
  • Language: English
Delivery/Collection within 10-20 working days

Our Delivery Time Frames Explained
2-4 Working Days: Available in-stock

10-20 Working Days
: On Backorder

Will Deliver When Available
: On Pre-Order or Reprinting

We ship your order once all items have arrived at our warehouse and are processed. Need those 2-4 day shipping items sooner? Just place a separate order for them!

In early modern Europe precious and semiprecious stones were valued not only for their beauty and rarity but also for their medical and magical properties. Lorenzo de’ Medici, Philip II of Spain, and Popes Leo X and Clement VII were all treated with expensive potions incorporating ground gems such as rubies, diamonds, and emeralds. Medical and magical/astrological lapidaries, texts describing the stones’ occult and medical qualities as well as their abilities to ward off demons and incantations, were essential resources for their use. First published in Venice in 1502, Camillo Leonardi’s Speculum Lapidum is an encyclopedic summary of all classical and medieval sources of lithotherapy.

In describing the natural, manifest, and occult properties of precious and semiprecious stones as well as their graven images and applications, the Speculum Lapidum provides tremendous insight into the role that medical astrology and astral magic played in the life of an Italian court in the early modern period. Liliana Leopardi’s English translation, complete with critical apparatuses, gives unprecedented access to this key text within the magical lapidary genre.

A vital addition to the existing canon of lapidaria in translation, Leopardi’s work will be of special importance for students and scholars of the history of magic, medicine, religion, and Renaissance humanism, and it will fascinate anyone interested in the occult properties of precious and semiprecious stones.

Liliana Leopardi is Associate Professor of Art History at Hobart and William Smith Colleges.