Herman Fictuld was a pseudonym used by an early Freemason whose identity has not been definitively determined. He wrote several books on alchemy and hermeticism and was one of the leaders of the Order of the Golden and Rosy Cross, an organization traced back to the Order of the Golden Fleece. Fictuld led an extensive reform of the organization in the 1760s and 1770s. In his recreation of the Order, he sought a return to the "old ways and ceremonies," emphasizing the "veneration of God and the welfare of humankind."
This book is a facsimile of the 1749 edition of the alchemical work *Azoth et Ignis, das ist, das wahre elementarische Wasser und Feuer oder Mercurius Philosophorum*.
Some believe that Hermann Fictuld's true identity was revealed on the final page of this book as Baron Johann Friedrich von Meinstorff, based on a substitution cipher found on page 380.