Portraits Of The Greeks

MAIER, Michael (1569-1622). Symbola aureae mensae duodecim nationum. Hoc est, Hermaea seu Mercurii festa ab heroibus duodenis selectis, artis chymicae usu, sapientia et authoritate paribus celebrata ... Opus ... 12. libris explicatum ... figuris cupro incisis ... adiectis. Frankfurt am Main, Anton Humm für Lucas Jennis, 1617 [recte Dezember 1616].
Erstausgabe. Maiers erste von diversen Schriften, die er zur Verteidigung des Rosenkreuzertums verfasste, bildet auch den grossartigen Höhepunkt emblematischer Alchemie. Der 1596 in Basel bei Caspar Bauhin promovierte paracelsische Arzt und neolateinische Schriftsteller wirkte bis Anfang des Jahres 1611 als einer der Leibärzte Kaiser Rudolphs II. in Prag. Nachdem er Böhmen verlassen musste, lebte Maier mit kurzem Unterbuch bis 1616 in England, wo er alchemistische Studien betrieb und wo er Umgang mit den Alchemisten Francis Anthony und Thomas Norton pflegte. Maiers Hauptinteresse galt der Transmutationsalchemie und seine Hinwendung zur allegorisierenden Alchemie muss in Zusammenhang mit der 1614 erfolgten Veröffentlichung des sogenannten Rosenkreuzer-Manifestes gesehen werden. Im Gegensatz zu Johann Valentin Andreae und dessen Kreis bildeten aber für Maier naturwissenschaftliche Fragen eines Alchemisten und nicht reformatorische und soziale Gesichtspunkte den Mittelpunkt seines Interesses. Um eine goldene Tafel versammeln sich die zwölf bedeutendsten Alchemisten aus zwölf Nationen, um die Alchemie für die Zukunft zu retten. Maier zeichnet damit ein Bild, das als konstitutiv für das Rosenkreuzertum beschrieben wurde: das Zusammentragen des gesammelten hermetischen Wissens der Vergangenheit und dessen Umwandlung in ein christliches Wissen, das die Verwandlungskraft des Christus mit den Wandlungsvorgängen der Initiation verbindet. Zum Druck gab er seine ambitionierteste und umfangreichste Schrift zur Alchemie nach Frankfurt am Main, wo es vordatiert bereits im Dezember 1616 erschien. Das unsignierte, aber höchst wahrscheinlich aus der Werkstatt Merians stammende, Titelkupfer zeigt im breiten Rahmen die Portraits der zwölf Alchemisten, die Besitzer der goldenen Tafel und damit der wahren Chemia, die ihre Ursprünge nicht nur in Europa, sondern auch in Afrika und Asien habe. Am oberen Ende der Tafel sitzt: Hermes Trismegistus, der Ägypter, und Maria Prophetissa, die Hebräerin. Es folgen der Grieche Demokrit, der Römer Morienus, der Araber Avicenna, der Deutsche Albertus Magnus. der Franzose Arnoldus de Villanova und der Italiener Thomas Aquinus. Den Kreis beschliessen Raymundus Lullus aus Spanien, der englische Mönch Roger Bacon, der Ungar Melchior Cibinensis und als Repräsentant der Slaven der anonyme Alchemist der Sarmaten. Jedem dieser Persönlichkeiten widmet Maier ein Kapitel, worin er deren Verdienste und Erkenntnisse gegen die Feinde der Alchemie anführt. Wie nahezu alle Schriften Maiers erschien auch das vorliegende Buch in einer Offizin, die dem Frankfurter Kreis von bedeutenden Schriftstellern und Verlegern rosenkreuzerisch-pansophischer Richtung angehörten, wie z.B. Johann Theodor de Bry oder Matthäus Merian d. Ae. Vom Neffen Th. de Brys, Lucas Jennis (1590-1631) verlegt, druckte es der seit 1615 in Frankfurt wirkende Anton Humm (ca. 1595-1659) mit Kupfertitel, zwölf halbseitigen emblematischen Kupfern und einem Holzschnitt geschmückt. Nach L. H. Wüthrich (Bd. II, S. 161, Nr. 171) stammt das auf dem vierten Blatt verso gedruckte Portrait Maiers von Matthäus Merian d. Ae. Als Stecher der halbseitigen Textkupfer, die nach Art der kurz nachher veröffentlichten 'Atalanta fugiens' alchemistische-allegorische Darstellungen zeigen, wird der 1624 gestorbene Balthasar Schwan vermutet. Der ebenfalls halbseitengrosse Holzschnitt zeigt die Abbildung des (Lebens-) Baums im Rätsel von der Affinität der Metalle. - Vereinzelte Marginalien von alter Hand. - Das Blatt mit dem Portrait im Kopf- und Innensteg verstärkt, das Titelkupfer im aussensteg etwas knapp beschnitten und alt hinterlegt, mit Spuren eines Stempels im Unterrand, wenige Lage etwas stärker gebräunt, ein vorzügliches und komplettes Exemplar im zeitgenössischen Pergamenteinband. Gestochenes Exlibris mit verschlungenem Monogramm und Besitzerschildchen von Bernard Ephraim Julius Pagel, Britischer Astrophysiker (1930-2007). Brüning 1204; Mellon I, 75; VD 17 (Online Kat.) 23:291341V; Hogart, Alchemy - Manly P. Hall Collection (1986), 106; Landwehr, German, 414; cf. Praz 410; Ferguson II, 64; Wellcome 3979; Tilton, The Quest for the Phoenix (2003), 139f.; Craven, Count Michael Maier (1910), 68f.; Leibenguth, Hermetische Poesie des Frühbarock (2002), S. 495, Nr. 37.1. Scarce first edition of Maier's first published work in defense of Rosicrusianism and one of the crests of emblematic alchemy. Maier, "reputedly the most able and the most trustworthy of the Rosicrucian witnesses" (R. C. Hogart) gives four reasons for his history of Alchemy which he published as his most ambitious and most voluminous book predated in December 1616. The antiquity and the widespread fame of Chemia in different nations and places deserved to be recorded and better known. Its true authors, practisers, and writers should be rescued from malevolent and untrue aspersions. That, the adversaries of the art should be known, the fallacy of their sayings should be indicated, so that the true place of Chemia, as the queen of the arts, should be duly upheld and the truth of her labours for thousand of years recorded. Mayer who earned his promotion in medicine under Caspar Bauhin in Basel worked until 1611 at Prague as one of Emperor Rudolph II personal physicians. After he had to leave Bohemia he lived in England until 1616. His present book which is dedicated to Ernst III, Count of Holstein-Schaumburg (1569-1622) commences with laudatory poems by P. Finxius and J. Cnorrius, the encomiums of Socrates and Heracletus, and goes on to the praise of 'Chemia', who as the very science of sciences has its source not only in Europe, but also in Africa and Asia. Sometimes considered Maier's magnum opus it is a defence and legitimation of the alchemical tradition with reference to the practitioners of twelve nations - Hermes Trismegistus of the Egyptians, Maria Prophetissa of the Hebrews, Democritus of the Greeks, Morienus of the Romans, Avicenna of the Arabs, Albertus Magnus of the Germans, Arnoldus de Villanova of the French, Thomas Aquinas of the Italians, Raymondus Lullius of the Spanish, Roger Bacon of the English, Melchior Cibinensis of the Hungarians, and an anonymous author from Sarmatia, figurehead of theSlavic practitioners. Maier places his protagonists within an allegorical arena of debate - a banquet held in honour of the Virgin Queen Chemia. The distinguished alchemists preside at a circular banquet table, formed 'in the image of the world'. Maier's Symbols of the Golden Table marks the first usage of the denomination Collegium Philosophorum Germanicorum de R. G., which was propagated in the 19th century amongst certain esoteric initiatory societies (cf. Arthur Edward Waite, Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross, p. 324). Whilst discussing Paracelsus as a compatriote of Albertus Magnus, the author states that the 'hithertho unknown' Rosicrucian Brethren have given favourable testimony concerning this man - a reference to the Fama Fraternitatis, the key document of the Rosicrucian movement published in 1614. Published by Lucas Jennis (1590-ca. 1630) - from the Frankfurt circle of writers and publishers of rosicrucian-pansophic persuation, such as Johann Theodor de Bry or Matthaus Merian the Elder - the Symbola Aureae Mensae was printed on the press of Anton Humm (ca. 1595-1659), who had opened his printing shop at Frankfurt in 1615. According to Lucas Heinrich Wüthrich (vol. II, p. 161, no. 171) the large portrait on leaf IV verso was engraved by Matthäus Merian the Elder. The engraver of the twelve emblematic text engravings - similar to those in the shortly afterwards published Atalanta Fugiens, was most probably Balthasar Schwan who died in 1624. The half-page woodcut shows the tree of life in the enigma of the affinity of metal discussed in the chapter on Albertus Magnus.- Vew single marginalia by a contemporary hand. - Upper and inner margin of the leaf with the portrait engraving strenghened, few quires browned as usual. - Contemporary vellum with flaps (lower spine restaured. lightly stained).

4to (200 x 157 mm). Titel innerhalb Kupferstichrahmen mit 12 Alchemisten-Portraits, 1 gestochenen Portrait des Verfassers wohl von Matthäus Merian d. Ae. auf Schlussblatt der Widmung verso, 12 halbseitigen allegorisch-emblematischen Kupfern, vermutlich gestochen von Balthasar Schwan und 1 Holzschnitt (Lebens-Baum) im Text. [10] Bl. (inkl. Kupfertitel), 621, [43] S. Pergamentband d. Z., mit Überstehkanten (Rücken am Fuss alt restauriert, etwas fleckig).

[SW: NATURWISSENSCHAFTEN / SCIENCES - NATURAL HISTORY Occulta Emblemata Alchemie / Alchemy]

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FRIEDEL, Adam de. [The Greeks Twenty-four portraits of the principal leaders & personages who have made themselves most conspicuous in the Greek Revolution, from the commencement of the struggle. Adam de Friedel, London and Paris, 1827].

Third edition. Folio (48 x 32.5 cm), 24 lithographed plates, all captioned in French and English, small repairs to blank outer margin of Mavrocordato portrait, Ypsilantis portrait dated 1824, all other portraits dated 1827, scattered light foxing, modern half calf gilt. The finest portraits published of the Greek Heroes and a cornerstone of any collection of Greek material. There were numerous editions of this work (first published in 1824) and as the edition went on the portraits become more "refined" and less primitive in manner. This work was never issued with a title-page or text. The title is always supplied on printed wrappers. According to Blackmer there appears to be some confusion as to Friedel's origins. It is thought he was Danish and that he travelled through Greece from 1821-24 and at some point met up with Lord Byron. There is a letter of introduction from Byron introducing Friedel to the Greek Committee in existence. Scarce. Blackmer 633; not in Abbey.

[SW: Greece, Ottoman, & the Levant]

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[COLLECTIF]: The journal of roman studies. Vol. 71. London, 1981.
Sommaire : J. A. North, The Development of Roman Imperialism. - D. W. Rathbone, The Development of Agriculture in the "Ager Cosanus" during the Roman Republic: Problems of Evidence and Interpfetation. - R. R. R. Smith, Greeks, Foreigners, and Roman Republican Portraits. - Jasper Griffin, Genre and Real Life in Latin Poetry. - Emilio Gabba, True History and False History in Classical Antiquity. - Fergus Millar, The World of the Golden Ass. - E. Lo Cascio, State and Coinage in the Late Republic and Early Empire. - Helen Cockle, Pottery Manufacture in Roman Egypt: A New Papyrus. - C. Scorpan, Cohors I Cilicum at Sacidava and Scythia Minor. - Charlotte Roueche, Rome, Asia and Aphrodisias in the Third Century. - SURVEY ARTICLE : Joyce Reynolds, Mary Beard, Richard Duncan-Jones, Charlotte Roueche, Roman Inscriptions 1976-80. - REVIEW ARTICLES. - REVIEWS AND NOTICES OF PUBLICATIONS.

In-8 br., VII-248 pp., qq. fig. en noir dans le texte, 8 planches d'ill. photogr. en noir, index. Etat de neuf.

[SW: Histoire]

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Strong, Donald E. Landmarks of the World's Art: The Classical World. New York: McGraw Hill, 1965.

The book is VERY GOOD with bumped bottom corners. The dust jacket is VERY GOOD with edgewear/chippping/closed tearing; back of cover has tape on closed tears; price-clipped. Black cloth boards with gold embossed text and illustration. 176 pages with index. 72 Black & white and 128 color illustrations. NOT remaindered. JMVintage specializes in books, magazines, and treasures related to the Duke & Duchess of Windsor..and other curious subjects. Dust jacket notes read: WHAT IMPORTANCE DOES THE CLASSICAL WORLD HAVE FOR US? The way we live now" is based on the great civilisation that the Greeks created about 2500 years ago, and which was carried throughout the western world by the Romans. The whole of our thought, science and art is built on these foundations. THE CLASSICAL WORLD embraces the great civilisations of the Mediterranean, beginning with Minoan Crete some 1700 years before Christ. It lasted until the 4th century A.D. when Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire in the reign of Constantine the Great. . The 128 full-colour plates and 109 black and white illustrations, combined with the illuminating text, bring this creative and decisive period of world history into vivid and real life: the colour and gaiety of life in the palaces of ancient Crete; the heroic age of the Iliad and the Odyssey; the splendour of the city states, the glory of Athens in the age of Pericles; Alexander the Great's astonishing conquests, which carried Greek culture deep into Asia and Africa; the mysterious Etruscans, to whom the Romans owed such a large part of their own great engineering and civic ability; Rome's adoption of Greek art which gave the civilised world a single cosmopolitan culture for the first time. These are some of the major epochs which are described and explained by this book. The whole history, art and economic development of the peoples of the Mediterranean over this long and splendid period is dramatically revealed in magnificent examples of architecture, sculpture, painting, mosaics, portraits, coins and jewellery. The heritage of the Classical World is still very much in evidence. The Parthenon at Athens and the Aqueducts of Rome, Hadrian's Wall and the temples of Palmyrathey are all visited and admired by the modern tourist. This book provides a clear explanation of how these works of art came to be produced and their prime importance in the history of western man." Boards condition: Very Good in Very Good dj

[SW: Art/Art History]

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