The Book of Lambspring is one of the few real-life cases of a centuries-old book on alchemy. Nicolas Barnaud was a French Protestant writer, physician and alchemist, from Crest, in Dauphiné, from which he took the name Delphinas. He was a member of the Monarchomaques. He is associated with a number of mysteries.
His 1597 collection Commentariolum in Aenigmaticum quoddam Epitaphium, on the Aelia Laelia Crispis puzzle inscription, included the alchemical Mass of Nicholas Melchior, still of disputed authorship. The 1599 Triga Chemica: De Lapide Philosophico Tractatus Tres was the first publication of the Book of Lambspring.
