The Golden Chain of Homer

Annotated Bibliography

The 1723 German witness governs the translation. Later editions and historical studies are listed for comparison and context; their inclusion does not imply that their translations or editorial additions have been reproduced.

Primary Text

[Attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger]. Aurea Catena Homeri. Oder: Eine Beschreibung von dem Ursprung der Natur und natürlichen Dingen. Franckfurt und Leipzig: Johann Georg Böhme, 1723.

Governing historical edition. Wellcome describes 404 numbered pages, preliminary and concluding matter, and folded diagrams. The e-rara copy is held by the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung, Zürich; its structured contents give detailed access to the two-book arrangement.

Sources: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/h9pqthwg; https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-3819

Other Historical Editions

[Attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger]. Aurea Catena Homeri. Leipzig: Samuel Benjamin Walther, 1738.

The Bavarian State Library's record gives detailed physical and binding information for the plates and separate explanatory leaf. Useful for avoiding an assumption that the order of illustrated matter is identical in all copies.

Sources: https://www.digitale-sammlungen.de/de/details/bsb10252695

Other Historical Editions

[Attributed to Anton Joseph Kirchweger or Herwerd von Forchenbrunn]. Aurea Catena Homeri. Neue Auflage. Jena: Christian Henrich Cuno, 1757.

A German edition; Wellcome records 482 numbered pages and illustrations. Distinguish it from the Latin edition of 1762.

Sources: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/jseygj7x; https://books.google.at/books?hl=de&id=aGMOAAAAQAAJ

Other Historical Editions

Annulus Platonis: oder physikalisch-chymische Erklärung der Natur nach ihrer Entstehung, Erhaltung und Zerstöhrung. Berlin und Leipzig: George Jacob Decker, 1781.

A revised and annotated form of the work. Wellcome's record explains its attribution to Herwerd von Forchenbrunn and Kopp's later attribution to Kirchweger. A witness to the work's evolving editorial identity.

Sources: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/yt5x3gm8

Early English Reception

'The Golden Chain of Homerus.' Lucifer 7, no. 42 (February 1891): 500–504; 8, no. 44 (April 1891): 105–109; 8, no. 45 (May 1891): 248–251.

Early printed English installments associated with Bacstrom's translation and revision from manuscript. Do not treat these short installments as evidence that the whole surviving English manuscript was published in 1891.

Sources: https://theosnet.net/dzyan/lucifer/lucifer_v7_september_1890_february_1891.pdf; https://theosnet.net/dzyan/lucifer/lucifer_v8_march_1891_august_1891.pdf; https://theosophicalsociety.org.au/union_index/publications/65/entries?page=26

Historical Translation Witnesses

Aurea Catena Homeri: The Golden Chain of Homerus, That Is a Description of Nature and Natural Things. Translated by Sigismund Bacstrom; from the unpublished manuscript. San Francisco: Alchemy Books in conjunction with Sapere Aude Metaphysical Republishers, 1983.

Wellcome records a limited edition of 550 copies. Its title's reference to an unpublished manuscript makes the publication history of particular English passages important for rights assessment.

Sources: https://wellcomecollection.org/works/dyewe48z

Modern English Editions

Hamilton, Gregory S., and Philip N. Wheeler. The Golden Chain of Homer: Aurea Catena Homeri. iUniverse, 2012.

The publisher gives September 26, 2012, and describes an English translation with detailed footnotes and commentary. Bibliographical inclusion does not authorize reproduction of its translation or additions.

Sources: https://www.iuniverse.com/en/bookstore/bookdetails/370051-the-golden-chain-of-homer

Reception and Historical Bibliography

Goethe, Johann Wolfgang von. Aus meinem Leben: Dichtung und Wahrheit. Part II, Book VIII.

A primary, retrospective account of Goethe's alchemical reading, including his qualified appreciation of the Aurea Catena Homeri. Consult the passage in its setting before drawing conclusions about later literary influence.

Sources: https://resources.warburg.sas.ac.uk/pdf/eeh1465b2247578v23.pdf

Reception and Historical Bibliography

Homer. Iliad 8.18–27.

The golden-chain challenge of Zeus, the ancient passage relevant to the alchemical title. This reference does not establish direct dependence or an unbroken doctrinal transmission.

Sources: https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0134%3Abook%3D8

Reception and Historical Bibliography

Kopp, Hermann. Aurea Catena Homeri. Braunschweig: Friedrich Vieweg und Sohn, 1880.

Historical investigation of the work. The Badische Landesbibliothek supplies a digitization with OCR and identifies it as a dedication to Friedrich Wöhler on his eighty-first birthday. For Kopp's attribution to Kirchweger, see also the explicit account in the Wellcome record of the 1781 edition.

Sources: https://digital.blb-karlsruhe.de/blbihd/content/titleinfo/4527608; https://wdl.warburg.sas.ac.uk/object-wdl-awm-aagz

Specialist Studies

Heym, Gerard. 'The Aurea Catena Homeri.' Ambix 1, no. 1 (1937): 78–83. https://doi.org/10.1179/amb.1937.1.1.78.

A specialist study specifically devoted to the work. Included as further reading; no claims in the introduction depend on inaccessible portions of the article.

Sources: https://doi.org/10.1179/amb.1937.1.1.78