Heinrich Khunrath. Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae Solius Verae Christiano-Kabalisticum, Divino-Magicum, nec non Physi...
Description
First Complete Edition of One of the
Best Known Alchemical Works
Heinrich Khunrath. Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae
Solius Verae Christiano-Kabalisticum, Divino-Magicum, nec non
Physico-Chymicum, Tertriuntum, Catholicon: instructore Henrico
Kunrath Lips. Theosophiae amatore fideli, et Medicinae utriusq(ue)
Doct: Hallelú-Iáh! Hallelú-Iáh! Halleú-Iáh! Phy diabolo! E. Milibus
Uix Vni. Hannover: Wilhelm Anton, 1609. First
complete edition. Folio. a-g4, h2, A-2E4. [4], 60, 222, [1], [1]
pages. Engraved emblematic title page, portrait of Khunrath by Jan
Diricks van Campen as frontispiece, with the rare wise old owl
plate cut to image and pasted to verso of the engraved title page.
Lacks the nine plates and two tables; grotesque tail-pieces,
head-pieces, decorated initials [see Mellon for a full description
of the decorative elements]. Contemporary German sheepskin with
blind tooled spine, some hinge cracks, lacks spine ends but in good
condition; edges red; lower blank edge of engraved title page
replaced; some careful eighteenth century marginalia and a few
underlines; paper toned but in good condition; small upper edge
dampstain on opening leaves (no text affected). Very good. From
the Krown & Spellman Collection.Please visit HA.com/6127 for an extended description of this lot.
More Information:
Khunrath (1560-1605) was a celebrated physician, alchemist, and Kabbalist. He practiced medicine in Hamburg and Dresden, and was a follower of Paracelsus. He believed himself to be an adept of various spiritual traditions of alchemy dominated by the Paracelsian belief in the divine science of medicine as a privilege of the initiated (scientia arcanorum)...Khunrath ardently sought to find and demonstrate the secret, divine primary matter endowed with the universal virtue of ruling all natural processes...These efforts would, he claimed, afford eternal wisdom..." DSB
"Khunrath's 'Amphitheatre' forms a link between a philosophy influenced by Dee (whom he met!) and the philosophy of the Rosicrucian manifestos. In Khunrath's work we meet the characteristic phraseology of the manifestos, the everlasting emphasis on microcosm and microcosm, the stress on Magia, Cabala, and Alchymia as in some way combining to form a religious philosophy which promises a new dawn for mankind." Francis Yates, The Rosicrucian Enlightenment,1972,p38.
"I am particularly impressed with Kuhnrath's pursuit of the Philosopher's stone for the avowed end of merging with Divine Wisdom, his combined use of Kabbalah, music and alchemy and his bold interpretation of the holy scriptures. His emblems are a veritable treasure-house, and a prolonged study will constantly yield subtler levels of meaning." Stanislaus De Rola p30.
"Khunrath's Amphitheatrum Sapientiae may justly be referred to as one of the best known alchemical works: the plates with which it is illustrated are remarkable both for their subject-matter and their execution..." Duveen, The Library,5th series,1,56.
VD17 1:078059R & VD17 12:120903N. Bruning 951. BL German 17th, K183. BPH, 500 Years of Gnosis,26b. Brunet III,658. Caillet 5747. Casanetense 676. De Bure II,248. De Rola,29ff. Esoterica 2363 "Rarissime." Ferguson I,463. Graesse, Magica, 113. Guita 1494. Hall/Alchemy 90. Krivatsy/NLM 6371. Jouin 157. Lenglet du Fesnoy III,198. MacPhail 62. Mellon 62. Rosenthal 482. Verginelli 170. Wellcome 3560. Neville I,719. Scholem, Kabbalistica 659.
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