FOBO - The Hermetic Library (page 2/2)

The Hermetic Library (page 2/2)

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Images from Musaeum Hermeticum, or, The Hermetic Library, edited by Hermannum à Sande, and published by Lucas Jennis.

I have used images from the second edition, of 1678. The images are woodcuts, rather than eood-engravings, and hence are relatively course, with a lot of minor damage that means they are far from perfect.

The book was a collection of relatively short classics of hermetic literature, i think mainly alchemical. There was a copy in the library of Isaac Newton, for example: the book was influential.

The full title is as follows: Musæum Hermeticum, omnes sopho-spagyricæ artis discipulos fidelissime erudiens, quo pacto summa illa veraque Medicina, qua res omne, qualemcumque defectum patientes, instaurari possunt (quæ alias Benedictus Lapis Sapientum appellatur) inveniri ac haberi queat inveniri ac haberi queat. Continens tractatus chymicos novem præatantissimos, quorum nomina et seriem versa pagella indicabit. In gratiam filiorum doctrinæ, quibus Germanicum Idioma ignotum, in Latinum conversum ac juris publici factum.

The second edition contains ten documents from the first edition and also a further fourteen documents added.

Title: The Hermetic Library

Author: Various

Editor: Hermannum à Sande

Published by: Jennis, Lucas

City: Frankfurt

Date: 1678

Total items: 5

Out of copyright (called public domain in the USA), hence royalty-free for all purposes usage credit requested, or as marked.

Front Cover

This copy (i do not own it) appears to be bound in vellum, the skin of an animal after the animal stopped using it. [$]

Title Page, Musaeum Hermeticum

This book is a collection of other books, but with its own title page, shown here, all about hermeticism: alchemy, astrology, and theurgy (magical ritual for the purpose of perfecting one’s self) [more...] [$]

Alchemy Full Page Border

The title page of this compilation of occult books represents the journey towards the Great Work of alchemy, that is, of creating the Philosopher’s Stone, a stone that grants immortality (as well as turning things [...] [more...] [$]

Naked angel with caduceus

The nakedness of the angel here might symbolize perfection and unworldliness. It can also represent the raw substance from which the Grand Transformation into the Philosopher’s Stone begins, because the alchemical journey is about the self as much as it is about the stone. [...] [more...] [$]

Alchemical dragons fighting

A dragon stands on a rock in teh foreground; in the far background a castle on a hill. Between the dragon and the castle, i think two phoenixes fight a fox; i am not certain of the alchemical significance of this, but given the source [...] [more...] [$]

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