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Alchemy Academy archive
August 2005
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Subject: ACADEMY: Lambsprinck manuscripts
From: Hereward Tilton
Date: 5 Aug 2005

Dear Academy,

Can anyone help me with information on early manuscript copies
of Lambsprinck's "De lapide philosophico" (the Book of Lambspring)?

I gather from Adam's remarks that there are early 17th/ late 16th
century manuscripts of the work in Zürich, Salzburg, Nürnberg and Leiden,
but do all of these copies include emblems? Which language are they
written in? And does anyone know the manuscript call numbers of the
Nürnberg and Leiden copies?

Hereward Tilton

Subject: ACADEMY: Some 16th century names
From: José Rodríguez Guerrero
Date: 6 Aug 2005

Dear Rafal,

I have read the recent additions to the Alchemy Web Site (section:
archives of the Alchemy Academy) and I have found your message
dated June 27. I think my spam filter deleted it and I didn't even get
the chance to read your commentaries.

Your references seems to be really useful. It allowed me to find the real
identity of the french physician Guillaume Rascalon (1525/26-ca.1591).
He lived in Worms and supplied Pietro Perna with a diplomatic transcription
of the work entitled 'Turba philosophorum' printed in 1572. He also prepared
for Perna the work of Lorenzo Ventura 'De ratione conficiendi lapidis
philosophici' (1571). Rascalon had copied this treatise from a manuscript
placed in the library of the Elector Palatine Ottheinrich (1502-1559).

I am writing a paper devoted to the genesis of the main compilations of
alchemical works and I think Rascalon seems to be an active agent in the
editorial programme developed by Perna between 1571 and 1572. There
were many people involved in this project and I am trying to understand
their specific role. I have a lot of references concerning Mino Celsi, Michael
Toxites and the french ambassador Pierre de Grantrye. But I am trying to
find notices about Florian Daniel Koschwitz, Luka Barthold and Valentin
Koslitz. Of course I will expressed my gratitude toward you in my paper
for your information.

Regards,

José Rodríguez Guerrero

Subject: ACADEMY: Lambsprinck manuscripts
From: José Rodríguez Guerrero
Date: 6 Aug 2005

>Can anyone help me with information on early manuscript copies
>of Lambsprinck's "De lapide philosophico" (the Book of Lambspring)?

Dear Hereward Tilton:

There is a german copy in: Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg, Ms. M-I-92,
84 ff. (date 1607). Illustrations in f. 3r, 10r, 13r, 16r, 19r, 22r, 25r, 28r,
31r, 34r, 37r, 40r, 43r, 46r, 49r, 52r.

I have found an on-line version:

http://www.ubs.sbg.ac.at/sosa/handschriften/mI92/mi92digi.htm

There is a different interpretation of "X figura". There is not "salamandra"
but a rare bird. You can find a full description in:

Anna Jungreithmayr, (1988), Die deutschen Handschriften des Mittelalters
der Universitätsbibliothek Salzburg, Wien, pp. 40-41.

Regards,

José Rodríguez Guerrero

Subject: ACADEMY: Lambsprinck manuscripts
From: Hereward Tilton
Date: 8 Aug 2005

Dear José,

Excellent! Thanks so much for that, it was exactly what I was looking
for (it even saves me ordering a copy).

Amongst other things, I was interested in getting to the bottom of this
"Lord of the Forests" appellation which we find applied by Hermes to
the Tincture in the 9th verse of the English edition on Adam's website.
I believe the original language was German (?), and in the Salzburg copy
we find the word "Hoeger" rather than "Lord of the Forests". "Hoeger"
is southern German dialect corresponding to the Middle High German
"Heger", meaning a protector of a game preserve (i.e. a forester in the
early modern sense of the word: Manwood, "Lawes of the Forrest", 1598:
"A Forester is an officier of a forest of the King (or of an other man) that
is sworne to preserue the Vert and Venison of the same forest, and to
attend vpon the wild beasts within his Bailiwick, and to attach offendors
there...").

In the Salzburg manuscript "Hoeger" is translated into Latin as "praeses
sylvulae", "guardian of a little forest". The German version also describes
the Tincture as a 'noble forester' ("edle Hoeger"), and the emblem in the
Salzburg manuscript (as well as Merian's emblem from the 1625 printed
edition) shows the figure holding an orb and sceptre sitting within a type
of belvedere or loggia (does anyone know exactly what that is ? )

http://www.alchemywebsite.com/lambtext.html
http://www.ubs.sbg.ac.at/sosa/handschriften/mI92/34r.jpg

For some reason Merian uses a town rather than a forest as a backdrop.

In any case, the juxtaposition of royal imagery and that of a forester is
interesting. Why should the Tincture be compared to a forester? Most of
the preceding images deal with beasts in the forest, so perhaps this
provides the clue - the Tincture's position above the various other elements
of the alchemical process is being emphasised, pointing to the integration
of the polarities as Adam suggests. I'm just musing aloud, anyway.

Hereward Tilton

Subject: ACADEMY: Lambsprinck manuscripts
From: José Rodríguez Guerrero
Date: 9 Aug 2005

Dear Hereward Tilton,

I have found three early copies in German:

- Zurich, Zentral Bibliothek MS. P 2177, 16th century (1556), ff. f1r-17v:
Lamspringkh heiss ich Auss einen Freyen geschlechte [...] Unnd mit einem
sanguinis Manndell behangen.

- Vienna, Österreichen Nationalbibliothek MS. 11347, 16th century
(1566-1590), ff. 67r-77r: Lambssprunges philosophia von Stain der Weisen
[...] und mitt ainem sanguinischen Metall behangen.

- Admont, Stiftsarchiv, Ms. 829, 16th century. I have not got a full
description of this one, but I think you can ask for more information:
http://www.stiftadmont.at

Regards,

José Rodríguez Guerrero

Subject: ACADEMY: Lambsprinck manuscripts
From: Hereward Tilton
Date: 11 Aug 2005

Dear José,

Thanks again for the information you're providing. Whoever this 'Lamspring'
was, he seems to have been around in the middle of the 16th century at the
latest. Interestingly, the town of Lamspringe near Hildesheim in Lower
Saxony has a very similar coat of arms to that found on the title page of
the "Book of Lamspring/Lambspring/Lambsprinck", i.e. a lamb against a red
background on green ground. Apparently in the 16th century the monastery of
Lamspringe already had this coat of arms - monastery seals from that time
show the lamb with a crosier. Lamspringe simply means "jumping lamb".

Hereward

Subject: ACADEMY: Lucerna Salis
From: Rafal T. Prinke
Date: 25 Aug 2005

Dear Academy,
In Dufresnoy's _Histoire de la Philosophie Hermetique_ (1742)
there is a footnote (I, 348) saying that according to
Harprecht's _Lucerna salis_ Michael Sendivogius died
on 5 July 1651.

C'est donc à tort qu'HARPRECHT, dans son Livre de
_Lucerna Salis Philosophorum_, marque en étourdi que Michel
Sendivogius est mort le 5. Juillet 1651.

This is obviously incorrect - but I would still be interested to see
the original wording. However, the editions of _Lucerna salis_
I have access to do not seem to contain any such statement (unless
I missed it). I have checked the edition of 1658 (Henricus Betkius,
Amsterdam), as well as the German version in _Opus vegetabile_
by Hollandus, edited by Harprecht (1695) and Adam McLean's
edition of the English 18th c. translation.

There were, however, two versions of _Lucerna salis_ published
in Latin in 1658 (as I believe Abbe Dufresnoy refers to the Latin edition,
rather than the two German editions of 1656 and 1657 which had a
different title): one in 12mo with 212 pages (this is the one I have
inspected) and another one in 8vo which I have not seen (described by
Ferguson I, 368-369).

It is, obviously, possible that Dufresnoy made a mistake and the
source of his information is different - and therefore practically
impossible to trace. But if anyone has easy access to the 12mo
edition of _Lucerna salis_, I shall be most grateful for checking if
it contains a note like that.

Any other suggestions on how to find it would likewise be gratefully
appreciated.

Best regards,

Rafal