‘Divine Wisdom-Divine Nature’

     
It’s too good to be true, but it is true. The Ritman Library is publishing a book for the quadricentennial celebration of the publication of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes that showcases the 17th century visual arts inspired by the founding literature of Rosicrucianism. From the publicity:

Divine Wisdom – Divine Nature

This lavishly illustrated work, published on the occasion of the fourth centenary of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes in 2014-16, focuses on an extraordinary range of images that appeared in Germany in the early 17th century.

The illustrations partly originated in a circle of artists and thinkers who were directly inspired by the Rosicrucian Manifestoes and also by similar sources expressing the relationship between God and Nature, the macrocosm and the microcosm.

The images were included in the works of several authors: Heinrich Khunrath, Daniel Mögling, Stephan Michelspacher, Robert Fludd, and Michael Maier. The books themselves were published in various cities in Germany: Hanau, Frankfurt, Augsburg, and Oppenheim. It is probably no coincidence that the majority of the works came out in the years 1616-18, after the publication of the Rosicrucian Manifestoes.

Divine Wisdom – Divine Nature opens with a general introductory part on the people behind the Rosicrucian Manifestoes and continues with a discussion of the images in the works of these five authors, at least four of who claimed allegiance to the ideals and aspirations of the Rosicrucian Brotherhood.


The book will be available in both English and German. Price: €30,00. No release date has been announced yet.

Click here to read Esther Ritman’s preface.

Of course the library will host an exhibition to complement the book. If you’re lucky enough to be in the neighborhood this week, do stop by. From the publicity:

This exhibition of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica examines the visual imagery that can be associated with the Rosicrucian Manifestoes. Never before was such complex imagery used to explore the relationship between God, Nature and Man. In this anniversary year, 400 years after the publication of the Fama Fraternitatis, the BPH once more returns to the sources to investigate the Rosicrucian phenomenon that is both characteristic of the atmosphere of expectancy in the early 17th century (“Europe is pregnant and about to bear a powerful child”) and typical of the continued appreciation of the Hermetic tradition.
     

‘Ritman at risk’

    
Ever skeptical of the effectiveness of on-line petitions – I’m still lobbying for the return of The Bottom Line! – I nonetheless submit to you this global rallying cry for the preservation of the Library of Hermetic Philosophy, known more widely as the Ritman Library, in Amsterdam.

According to the petitioners:

It is widely known that the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam, founded by J.R. Ritman, was in great danger in the 1990s, when the ING bank took possession of the collection and threatened to sell it. Fortunately, the Dutch government intervened, and the BPH was put on the list of protected Dutch heritage, and the State eventually acquired more than 40 percent of it. The books remained at the same physical location, integrated with the rest of the collection, and the government would eventually acquire all of it. As part of this process, there were great plans for further expansion. Largely due to the financial crisis and a change of government this was taking somewhat longer than originally anticipated, but nobody doubted that the library was safe.

Last week this turned out to be incorrect. An extremely valuable medieval manuscript owned by the BPH (The Grail of Rochefoucauld) was put on sale at Sotheby’s, and this triggered a reaction from the Friesland Bank, which took possession of the library, that had apparently been brought in as collateral, in order to get back a 15 million euro loan from Mr. Ritman. At present the BPH is closed, and intense negotiations are going on behind closed doors. It is impossible at this moment to predict the outcome, but there is no doubt that the situation is extremely serious. There is a very real possibility that the Friesland Bank will try to sell at least the 60 percent of the library that is still owned by Mr. Ritman, and nobody knows what implications this will have for the rest of the collection and the BPH as a whole, including its staff. The brand-new government of the Netherlands has announced a program of radical financial cuts in the culture section and elsewhere, which makes a renewed intervention from that side highly unlikely.

If the Ritman library would go down, this would mean an enormous blow to international scholarship in Hermetic studies. The damage would be irreversible. By signing this petition you express your concern, and ask the Dutch government and Friesland Bank to do their utmost to ensure that the collection will be saved and will remain available for the international scholarly community.

Additionally, you can express your concern by means of a signed letter. The initiative for this petition comes from the Center for History of Hermetic Philosophy and related currents at the University of Amsterdam (organizationally independent of the BPH, and not in any danger itself), so please send your letter to its director:

Prof. Wouter J. Hanegraaff
Oude Turfmarkt 141-147
1012 GC Amsterdam
The Netherlands

Or e-mail to: w.j.hanegraaff (at) uva.nl

Sign the on-line petition here.

My thanks to Paul Hardacre, editor of Alchemy Journal, for bringing this to my attention.