Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

Name: Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum
Author: Heinrich Khunrath

The 1599 German text with a new English translation, introduction, glossary, and notes.

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Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica PhilosophorumMagnesia Catholica Philosophorum · Printed Page 155

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Early New High German

p. 155

sie / vnd judicire als dann Philosophisch den Vogel aus seinem gesang / so wirstu sehen / ob Doctor Khunrath etwas PHILOSOPHISCH - GEWISSES habe / in dieser Kunst / oder nicht.

So folget auch nicht stracks / das ein jeder (ein jeder / sag Ich) der transmutiret hat / oder noch etwan heutiges tages transmutieren^† thuen kan / die wahre MAGNESIAM Erkenne; auch die Kunst / der Philosophen STEIN recht zu Præpariren / selbst gar gewis habe; vnd man solchen / gezeigeter prob wegen / als ein vnfehlbares Oraculum, nur alleine hören solte oder müsse: Sintemal Landkündig ist / WIE / auch durch WAS für geschwinde seltzame Mittel etliche Leute / die offt vnd vielmals transmutatoriè tingiret haben (Wil von betrieglich vnnd vnredlichen proie-

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum: Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum

p. 155

them, and then judge Philosophically the Bird by its song: so shalt thou see whether Doctor Khunrath has anything PHILOSOPHICALLY-CERTAIN in this Art, or not.

Nor does it straightway follow that every one (every one, I say) who has transmuted, or can still somehow do a transmuting today, therefore Recognizes the true MAGNESIA; or himself has, quite certainly, the Art of rightly Preparing the Philosophers’ STONE; or that such a one, for the proof he has shown, should or must be heard alone as an unfailing Oracle. For it is known throughout the land HOW, and by WHAT swift and strange Means, sundry People who have often and many times tinged transmutatorily (I will say nothing now of deceitful and dishonest pro-

216.No marginal gloss stands on this page. — den Vogel aus seinem gesang judiciren, to judge the bird by its song, is proverbial; Khunrath’s application of it is to his own book — read it, and judge the man by what he writes. — The distinction the page turns on is between transmuting and knowing: a man may have a tincture and not have the Art, and the proof of the first is no proof of the second. It is the mirror of the objection at p. 130, where the opponent demanded that Khunrath transmute before he speak; here the demand is turned round on those who can. — PHILOSOPHISCH - GEWISSES is set half in Antiqua and half in Fraktur capitals, the fount changing at the compounding hyphen and not at the line break that falls inside PHILOSOPHI- / SCH; it is reproduced so. — ^†The first sort of line 11 is clipped by the trimmed inner margin, as at p. 143, and transmutieren cannot be told from transmutiren. — transmutiret and transmutieren are Fraktur here; transmutatoriè tingiret at the foot of the page is Antiqua, and the two stems stand thirteen lines apart in two founts.

About This Reading Edition

Heinrich Khunrath’s Magnesia Catholica Philosophorum argues that alchemy has one universal subject, that this subject cannot be extracted from the metals, and that nothing in the work can begin without recognizing it. This complete reader begins with the supplied seven-part introduction and orientation, then presents every printed page of the 1599 German treatise opposite its new English translation.

Historical Text and Translation

The German reading text is a fresh diplomatic transcription from 600 dpi images of the Magdeburg copy printed by Johann Bötcher in 1599. It preserves Khunrath’s capitalization, word division, authorial marginal keys, glosses, errata, and three unnumbered closing pages: the errata leaf, owl emblem, and colophon.

About Diotimos Editions

Diotimos Editions prepared the new English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, collation, and editorial apparatus. The translation follows Khunrath directly, retaining his technical vocabulary, changes of register, repetitions, rhetorical questions, and distinctions between German, Latin, and coined terms.

Rights

Heinrich Khunrath’s 1599 German work is in the public domain. The 2026 English translation, introduction, notes, glossary, editorial arrangement, and related matter are original to this edition and remain © 2026 Diotimos.

supplied-bilingual-editionSupplied complete German–English scholarly edition