Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Solius Verae Christiano - Kabalisticum, Divino - Magicum. nec nom Physico - Chymicum, Tertriunum, Catholicon.
Hanoviae (Hanau): Guilielmus Antonius, (1609). First Edition Thus (Enlarged). Hardcover, Folio (Approx. 12 x 8 inches). (iv: engraved title & engraved portrait) 60 + 222pp (ii: colophon/blank) + tables and illustrations. Bound in 18th- or early 19th-century speckled papered-boards. Edges speckled red. Engraved title-page, engraved portrait of the author, 4 double-page "circular" plates, all signed Paullus Vandre Doort; 4 (of 5) double-page "rectangular" plates; 2 double-page letter-press tables (thus lacking the often-missing small "owl with eyeglasses" plate and one of the rectangular double-page plates). Engraved head and tail pieces, decorative initials. Main text printed in double-columns within ruled borders. One of the most important works in the alchemical and hermetic canon: Waite has suggested that it is one of the first works to emphasise a spiritual dimension to alchemy, predating Fludd and the Rosicrucians, and Peter Forshaw has noted that it is probably the first printed work to include explicitly alchemical glyphs in its engravings. Katherine Eggert eloquently described it as "One of the most beautiful books ever produced in the cause of alchemy ...a pioneering argument for the use of alchemy for the purposes of spiritual transformation and regeneration, Khunrath's volume in its [2nd] edition (1609) bore an expanded title that indicates his treatise's grand ambitions … which Peter Forshaw translates as 'The Universal Ter-tri-une Christian-Cabalist, Divinely Magical, and Physico-Chemical Amphitheatre of the Only True Eternal Wisdom.' It immediately became famous, however, less for its text than for its illustrations, which sparked a rage for sophisticated illustration techniques in alchemical emblem books. In four elaborate... circular engravings, the Amphitheatrum illustrates alchemy in action as a process that washes clean the impurities of body and soul" ("Disknowledge: Literature, Alchemy, and the End of Humanism in Renaissance England," p.110).
The book is beautifully produced: the double-page plates and tables have each been mounted on a stub, rather than being sewn in directly at the inner margin, which means that they can be opened fully and the complete text and design of each is visible and not obscured at the fold as is the case with all but the most expensively-produced books.
Heinrich Khunrath (1560 - 1605) was a German, physician, alchemist and hermetic philosopher. A disciple of Paracelsus, he practiced medicine in various German cities. He famously met Dr John Dee in Bremen in 1589 and is known to have been greatly taken with his work: curiously Dee's "Monas" symbol appears in two of the engravings in the "Amphitheatrum." Khunrath then took up a position in Prague in the court of the mystically-inclined Rudolf II where he met the alchemist Edward Kelley who had remained behind in Prague after he and Dee had parted company. Khunrath's most famous work, the "Amphitheatrum," was first published in Hamburg in 1595, but that edition had only the four circular plates, and is of the greatest rarity, with only four copies known. This, the 1609 edition, includes those same four plates, as well as six others, five of which are double-page. In his excellent essay "Alchemy in the Amphitheatre" Peter Forshaw observes that "A curious fact about the copies of the 1609 "Amphitheatre" is that they all have the engravings bound in different sequences" - although he agrees with Umberto Eco that there is, or at least should be, a sequence to the four circular plates. Interestingly the four circular plates in this volume do follow the sequence that they suggest, and the overall sequence of plates in this copy exactly matches that of the copy in the Warburg Collection, University of London. The illustrations and tables, in bound sequence, are: 1. Engraved Title Page with symbols, two obelisks and vignette portrait of the author; 2. Engraved portrait of the author (frontispiece); 3. Double page table 'Summa Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeterae'; 4. Double page engraved plate with landscape of the routes to the hermetic mountain with pathway mountains, a river and various figures and symbols, headed "Porta Amphitheatri Sapientiae, Aeternae Solius Verae." 5. Double page engraved plate - The Way of the Wise, leading to the Porta Ampitheatri Sapientiae Aeternae. "Procul Hinc Abeste Profani" at head of the page, depicts figures ascending a stone stairway towards a the portal of wisdom. 6. Double page engraved plate, the Emerald Table of Hermes Trismegistus, with elaborate text engraved in Latin and German. 7. Double page table "Triasunt quae primordialiter constituunt Mundum; 8. Double page engraved plate of the Alchemical Citadel. A seven-sided walled and moated citadel, surrounded by a circle divided into 21 "gates" only one of which leads into the citadel. Rural, coastal and townscapes outside the circle. 9. Circular double-page engraved plate, sometimes known as the "Cosmic rose," or schema of Christian cabalism showing the figure of Christ at the centre of a cabalistic diagram of Hebrew names. 10. Circular double-page engraved plate. "Man the microcosm as Adam-Androgyne at the centre of hyperphysical or supernatural magical practices." 11. Circular double-page engraved plate. Rebis and Herme's bird representing the macrocosm and alchemical processes. 12. Circular double-page engraved plate. The alchemist in his laboratory/oratory. As noted the volume is missing one double-page plate, "the Calumniators" (which depicted Khunrath's detractors as fiendish winged creatures), and the small plate of the owl, which was illustrative of an old German proverb. At the very beginning of the 20th century Caillet had observed that "it is rare to find this work complete with both text and engravings", noting in particular that "The plate which represents Khunrath surrounded by his enemies ... [is] ... missing in almost all copies" ("Il est trés rare de trouver cet ouvrage complet aussi bien de texte que de gravures. La planche qui représente Khunrath entouré de ses ennemis .. [est] manque dans presque tous les exemplaires"). The only other plate lacking, a small allegorical engraving of an old owl wearing glasses, is also frequently missing, and, Krown & Spellman in their Catalogue #44, quote Stanislau de Rola as suggesting in conversation, "that the 'owl' plate was added after the original 1609 edition was printed which would explain it being missing from many copies" (including the one they were then offering). References: Caillet II, 5747; Brunet III, 658; Ferguson, I, 463 Boards rubbed and rounded at corners, a few discolored spots (one largish) on front board, but the binding is still strong and attractive. Two small (18th or 19th century) ownership names on front free endpaper, small neat early two-line note on verso of the same. As indicated lacking only the small "Owl" plate and the two-page plate "the Calumniators," but importantly with all the most significant plates, notably all 4 circular plates including the famous depiction of the "alchemist in his laboratory/oratory." Two of the double-page plates have closed tears along the central fold, but these are clean tears without loss, and could easily be repaired. The plates themselves are struck with good, clean impressions, and are brighter and less darkened than sometimes seen. The title-page and a few other leaves have an innocuous old reinforcement at the gutter. Light marginal water staining to some leaves at the end of volume, occasional moderate browning and general age-toning, but significantly less than in most other copies. Overall a solid, pleasing unsophisticated, well-margined example of this rare book, in VG or better antiquarian condition. A large book which will require postage and insurance charges additional to those automatically quoted. Once we know the destination we will quote the appropriate extra amount needed. Item #66851
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