Letters on Natural Philosophy – The Scientific Correspondence of a Sixteenth–Century Pharmacist, with Related Texts

Camilla Erculiani was a sixteenth-century apothecary and natural philosopher. Eleonora Carinci is the editor of the Italian edition of Erculiani’s Letters. Hannah Marcus is the author of Forbidden Knowledge: Medicine, Science, and Censorship in Early Modern Italy.

• Acknowledgments Illustrations Foreword: Aristotle in the Pharmacy: The Ambitions of Camilla Erculiani in Sixteenth-Century Padua, by Paula Findlen Introduction: Camilla Erculiani, a Woman and a Natural Philosopher, by Eleonora Carinci, translated by Hannah Marcus Note on the Translation, by Hannah Marcus Camilla Erculiani, Letters on Natural Philosophy, translated by Hannah Marcus To Philosophers To the Most Serene Queen Anna, Queen of Poland, Grand Duchess of Lithuania, etc. To Readers By Andreas Schonaeus of Glogów, A Song of Praise To the Most Excellent Signor Georges Guarnier, in which is discussed the natural cause of the Flood and the natural temperament of man Letter from the Most Excellent Signor Georges Guarnier to Signora Camilla Herculiana, in which is discussed the denial of the Flood Letter from Camilla Herculiana to the most excellent Signor Georges Guarnier, in which is discussed the truth of the Flood and the natural formation and appearance of the rainbow To the magnificent and most excellent Signor Knight, the Signor Martin of Berzeviczy, Transylvanian Chancellor of the holy majesty of the invincible King Stephen of Poland Sebastiano Erizzo, Letters to Camilla Erculiani, translated by Hannah Marcus Giacomo Menochio, Consilium 766: In Defense of Camilla Erculiani, translated by Hannah Marcus Bibliography Index

“This edition and translation of the Letters on Natural Philosophy of the sixteenth-century pharmacist Camilla Erculiani makes an important contribution to the history of science, Italian literary history, and the study of early modern women and gender. The critical introduction discusses Erculiani’s biography and the world of the apothecary, while the contextualization of the ideas Erculiani engages with and challenges demonstrates the editor’s deep grasp of the texts that follow. Those texts include not only Erculiani’s letters, but also letters of the Venetian thinker Sebastiano Erizzo, which help make the case for Erculiani’s real correspondence with other philosophers, and the Consilium of jurist Giacomo Menochio, which highlights the precariousness of the intellectual territory into which Erculiani wandered.”