pdf - Roger Gaskell Rare Books

important in Rosicrucian literature, but it is not clear whether, as is generally
assumed, he came to Rosicrucian philosophy through Robert Fludd. Hall
suggests that, conversely, it could have been Maier who brought Rosicrucian
philosophy to England. This would seem to be conWrmed by the fact that
Maier claims Rosicrucianism as a one of the gifts of Germany to the world
in Verum inventum (1619, see below).
The Wne engraved titlepage has a border incorporating the Wgures of Osiris,
Typhon, Isis, Hercules and Dionysus, two obelisks with hieroglyphics, and
an ibis, an ape and a monkey. It is unsigned. Conjugate with it (here bound
after A4) there is a leaf bearing a full page engraving with a letterpress verse
on the verso. The engraving looks very much like another titlepage plate, but
with the title and imprint removed. There is a faint trace of an oval panel
between two architectural columns, which might have contained the title,
and an oblong panel at the foot might have contained an imprint. ESTC
records a variant with a dedication to Sir William Paddy stamped in the space
between the two columns.
There are three issues of the book, rather confusingly dealt with in both
STC and ESTC. This is presumably the Wrst, undated but with an engraved
titlepage and conjugate leaf with another full page engraving as described
above. Another issue has a letterpress title, a singleton, without imprint
but dated 1614, and is without the engraved bifolium. The third issue has a
singleton letterpress titlepage De hieroglyphicis aegyptiorvm libri sex ([London],
Prostat apud Societatem Londinensem, anno 1625). Since the book was
registered to Creed on 28 May 1613, it seems reasonable to date the present
issue 1613, and having the engraved title makes it likely to have priority over
the issue with the letterpress title. STC calls it ‘another issue’ of the 1614
dated edition, implying a date of 1614, and ESTC goes further, calling it a
reissue, which I think is wrong. The book was previously thought to have been
printed at Oppenheim and re­issued in London. Oppenheim is still given as
the place of printing in some catalogues and Johnson (Catalogue of engraved
and etched English title-pages) does not notice the engraved titlepage because
the work was not, in 1934, recognised as English printing.
Manly P. Hall, ed. R. C. Hoggart, Alchemy: a comprehensive bibliography of the
Manly P. Hall Collection, 1986. H. J. Sheppard, ‘The Mythological Tradition and
Seventeenth[­]century Alchemy’, in Allen G. Debus, ed., Science, Medicine and
Society in the Renaissance. Essays to honor Walter Pagel (1972) I, pp. 47–59.
129
MAIER, Michael (1568?–1622)
Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum. Hoc est, hermaea
seu mercurii festa ab heroibus duodenis selectis, artis chymicae
usu, sapientia & authoritate paribus celebrata, ad pyropolynicen seu
adversarium illum tot annis iactabundum, virgini chemiae.
Frankfurt: typis Antonii Humii, impensis Lucae Iennis, 1617.
4to: (:)–2(:) 4 3(:) 2 A–4O 4 , 342 leaves, pp. [20] 621 [43]. Title within an
engraved border, engraved portrait on (:) 4 v, 12 engravings in the text
(c. 80 x 110mm) and 1 woodcut.