AMPHITHEATRUM SAPIENTIAE AETERNAE SOLIUS VERAE, CHRISTIANO-KABALISTICUM, DIVINO-MAGICUM...

1653; Heinrich Khunrath; Frankfort, Tobiam Gundermannum; Full Vellum; Illustrated; Latin Text; 223 Pages; w8.3"xh12.3"; Very Rare!

ATTRIBUTES:

  • Full yapped vellum; large gilt arabesque decoration to boards; particulars debossed in blind to spine. Contents originally from the 1609 printing but now with the Frankfort 1653 title page. 

  • Eleven plates (9 of which are folding) to rear including original 1609 title page. Plates (most wholly or partially rebacked): Tablet of Jesus, Tablet of Adam, Table of Rebis, Laboratory or Laboratorium, Designation of the Pyramids or Designatio, Gateway Amphitheater or Porta Amphitheatri, Outline Gymnasii or Adumbratio Gymnasii, Campegi Area or Hypotposis Arcis and Feinde or the Figure of the Panel of Enemies (this last with creature-caused losses to top peripheral text. Watermark of a crest with 3 towers in a shield over a moat to plates. 

  • This reissue bound without "amphitheatri aeternae" & "primordialiter constituunt mundum" tables and the elusive wise owl.

  • One of the most important books in theosophical alchemy and occult sciences, mixing magic, natural philosophy and Christianity

SUMMARY:

  • Heinrich Khunrath (c. 1560 – 9 September 1605), or Dr. Henricus Khunrath as he was also called, was a German physician, hermetic philosopher, and alchemist. Frances Yates considered him to be a link between the philosophy of John Dee and Rosicrucianism. His name, in the spelling "Henricus Künraht" was used as a pseudonym for the 1670 publisher of the Tractatus Theologico-Politicus of Baruch Spinoza.

  • Khunrath's brushes with John Dee and Thölde and Paracelsian beliefs led him to develop a Christianized natural magic, seeking to find the secret prima materia that would lead man into eternal wisdom. The Christianized view that Khunrath took was framed around his commitment to Lutheran theology. He also held that experience and observation were essential to practical alchemical research, as would a natural philosopher.

  • His most famous work on alchemy is the Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae (Amphitheater of Eternal Wisdom), a work on the mystical aspects of that art, which contains the oft-seen engraving entitled "The First Stage of the Great Work", better-known as the "Alchemist's Laboratory". The book was first published at Hamburg in 1595, with four circular elaborate, hand-colored, engraved plates heightened with gold and silver which Khunrath designed and were engraved by Paullus van der Doort. The book was then made more widely available in an expanded edition with the addition of other plates published posthumously in Hanau in 1609. Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae is an alchemical classic, combining both Christianity and magic. In it, Khunrath showed himself to be an adept of spiritual alchemy and illustrated the many-staged and intricate path to spiritual perfection.

  • Amphitheatrum sapientiae aeternae solius verae, christiano-kabalisticum, divino-magicum, necnon physico-chymicum, tertiunum catholicon.

  • The Amphitgeater of Eternal Wisdom is the only true, Christian-kabalistic, divine-magical, as well as physico-chemical, Catholic third.

CONDITION:
  • Condition is Fair/Good. Some wear to edges, blemished vellum, cracking to upper front hinge, wear to hinges, peripheral worming throughout margins with two exceptions; one of which travels (without side-tracking) from a2 through z4. last plate has insect track some loss to text, age blemishing throughout, plates partially or wholly re-backed, no previous owners' names or other markings. Watermark of a crest with 3 towers in a shield over a moat to plates. This reissue bound without "amphitheatri aeternae" & "primordialiter constituunt mundum" tables and the elusive wise owl. 

IMPORTANT READ

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