Lot 84: HEINRICH KHUNRATH (1560-1605)

HEINRICH KHUNRATH (1560-1605) Amphitheatrum Sapientiae Aeternae Solius Verae, Christiano-Kabalistum, Divino Magicum, Physico Chymicum. Hanover: Guilelmus Antonius, 1609. 2° (297 x 192mm). Engraved portrait and title, woodcut initials, head- and tail-pieces, 9 double-page plates, 2 double-page tables, all mounted. (Lacking small plate of an owl, first leaves including portrait and title heavily browned and remargined together with one other plate, some occasional lighter browning, ink drawing on verso of S4.) Modern vellum in period style (joints splitting). An extended version of Khunrath’s treatise of which a shorter form first appeared in 1595. The privilege in this edition is dated 1598 but most plates are dated 1602. Several different issues of the text were printed at the time and some have a letterpress title with a Magdeburg imprint of 1608 and 1609, or a Frankfurt later imprint of 1653. Khunrath, a doctor by profession and a follower of Paracelsus, was a famous alchemist and kabalist; this treatise was condemned by the Sorbonne in 1625 for its heretical and impious nature. Brunet III, 658; Caillet 5747; Ferguson I, 463; Mellon 62; VD17 1:078059R; Wellcome I, 3560.