The Secrets of a Venetian Lady: Beauty, Gold and Elixirs

About this book

In 1561 a book appeared in Venice under the name of Isabella Cortese. Its title page shows a lady holding a mirror. Inside are four books of "secrets": remedies against plague, poisons and wounds; the alchemy of gold, silver and quintessences; household arts such as glues, inks, colours and mirrors; and, in the fourth book, beauty. Face waters, whiteners, "the water that makes the face as beautiful as a fifteen-year-old's", virgin's milk, ways to make hair golden, scented beads and little perfume birds, soaps, tooth powders and oils. Download the PDF and read what a Renaissance reader was told to do.

And then the puzzle: did Isabella Cortese exist at all? Outside this book there is no record of her. The Italian writer Tomaso Garzoni listed her in 1585 among the "professors of secrets", and that is about all we have. Even the famous alchemical letter inside the book (from Chiricus, Abbot of Cologne, to his "dear brother": 30 years of work with Geber and Lull and nothing to show, rules for the art, and the 8th: "teach this art to no one") is wrongly credited to her in some modern encyclopedias. Read the book and decide for yourself.

Secret knowledge, beauty, gold and the old hope of a recipe that changes everything: this is what the book promised. This edition shows it as it was written, and tells you plainly what each recipe actually did and whether it should ever be done.

We translated the complete text of the 1565 edition (Wellcome Collection, London, Public Domain Mark) of "I secreti della signora Isabella Cortese", first printed in Venice in 1561. The translation, notes and indexes are ours. The edition keeps the original title page (a lady with a mirror), the dedication to Mario Cabogà, Archdeacon of Ragusa, the opening pages of the books, and three woodcuts (alchemist's vessels, a retort, a glass bell).

What is inside

• About 480 chapters and recipes in four books: I medicine (plague, poisons, wounds), II alchemy (gold, silver, quicksilver, quintessences; Abbot Kirik's letter; Benedetto of Vienna's practice), III household arts (glues, colours, inks, mirrors, leather, hair dyeing), IV beauty (face waters, whiteners, jewelled and scented things, soaps, teeth, oils).
• Recipe no. 1, an oil against poison, said to have been made for Pope Clement VII and "tested" on two condemned men.
• For the recipes, a section "What it did — and should it be done?": what the ingredients really were, what they do to the body, with sources such as WHO, ATSDR and the EU Cosmetics Regulation.
• A warning at the start: the recipes are NOT to be made (corrosive sublimate, white lead, arsenic and more).
• Indexes by topic, and a ⚠ list of dangerous substances.
• The original title page, dedication and woodcuts.
• PDF, A5 page size (148 × 210 mm), 338 pages, readable on phone, tablet and computer.

Who it is for

Readers of Renaissance history, Venice, alchemy and the history of cosmetics, anyone curious about what women and men once hoped a recipe could do, and fans of dark academia and old books. A memorable gift for a history lover.

This is a historical source, not medical or cosmetic advice. The recipes are not to be made or used: many contain mercury compounds, lead, arsenic and other poisons. No result is promised or implied. Digital PDF, delivered for download after payment.