Dr. Ronny Spaans is Associate Professor in Nordic Literature at Nord University. He also teaches Dutch at the University of Oslo. He obtained his PhD from the University of Oslo on a thesis on the poetry of Joannes Six van Chandelier (2015).

"Focusing on the fascinating life and strategies of self-presentation of one singular druggist, Joannes Six van Chandelier, this engaging and erudite book sheds new light on seventeenth-century Dutch culture and pharmacology. Spaans analyzes expertly how Six transformed the potentially prosaic materials of global trade into compelling poetic art."- Michael Schoenfeldt, University of Michigan "By showing how Six's work as a druggist helped to shape his experience of the world, Spaans is able to weave together his interests and poetry, mind and body, head and hand. For historians of early modern medicine and empire the work will be as important as for scholars of Dutch culture and literature. It is an impressive achievement."- Harold J. Cook, Brown University

• Acknowledgements Part I: Introduction 1. Theory and reception Part II: Medicinal and sacred drugs 2. The sober druggist 3. Drugs in the Wunderkammer 4. Drugs as remedies 5. Drugs as material and linguistic cosmetics 6. Drugs as explosives 7. Drugs as sacred offerings 8. Drugs as intoxicants Part III: Divine Blood for Sale 9. The human body as a drug 10. Conclusion Appendix I Appendix II Bibliography Index