The Sophic Hydrolith

Selected Annotated Bibliography

Governing Source

Anonymous [traditionally attributed to Johann Ambrosius Siebmacher; see B07]. Wasserstein der Weysen, das ist ein chymisch Tractätlein. Francofurti: bey Lucas Jennis, 1619.

Governing German printing, including its devotional ending and the three companion tracts. The e-rara copy is held by the Stiftung der Werke von C. G. Jung, Zürich; the record identifies VD17 39:116545E and 272 numbered pages. The title-page author is anonymous.

https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-8968

https://www.e-rara.ch/cgj/content/titleinfo/2580882

https://www.e-rara.ch/cgj/content/structure/2580882

Latin Transmission

Musaeum hermeticum. Francofurti: sumptibus Lucae Jennisii, 1625.

The NLM record lists Hydrolithus sophicus, seu Aquarium sapientum and the three companions among the contents. It establishes the Latin publication of 1625 and the work’s place in an expanding collection. It should not be described as a German Musaeum edition.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/100899371

Early English Transmission

Paracelsus his Aurora, & Treasure of the Philosophers. As also the Water-stone of the Wise Men. Published by J. H. Oxon. London: printed for Giles Calvert, 1659.

Early English witness with the Water-stone beginning at p. 77. Its prefatory address invokes Böhme’s testimony. The Oxford Text Archive supplies the EEBO-TCP transcription A28633. The two Wellcome records describe the relation to Böhme differently; the original preface should govern that particular claim. The initials of the printed attribution are retained here.

https://ota.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/repository/xmlui/bitstream/handle/20.500.12024/A28633/A28633.html?isAllowed=y&sequence=5

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/pkt2sx56

https://catalog.folger.edu/record/142829

Later German Transmission

Wasserstein der Weysen oder Chymisches Tractätlein. New edition with two responses associated with F. R. C. Franckfurt am Mäyn: bey Christoff le Blon, 1661.

The NLM record establishes the German reissue and its announced addition of two responses. The HAB digitised copy supplies the governing text of the present later appendices: Prima Responsio, pp. 200–205, and Secunda Responsio, p. 206. Their enigmatic journeys and collective address give these additions a distinct literary form.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/nlmcatalog/101466694

https://diglib.hab.de/drucke/qun-642-1s/start.htm

https://diglib.hab.de/drucke/qun-642-1s/start.htm?image=00206

https://diglib.hab.de/drucke/qun-642-1s/start.htm?image=00212

Later Latin Transmission

Musaeum hermeticum reformatum et amplificatum. Francofurti: apud Hermannum a Sande, 1678.

Enlarged Latin collection. Wellcome records 863 pages and notes an added engraved title dated 1677. The Science History Institute provides selected title pages and plates, rather than a complete digitisation of the textual volume. Its partial image set should not be mistaken for a full text witness.

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/x2rpernn

https://digital.sciencehistory.org/works/5t34sk63f

English Reception

The Hermetic Museum, Restored and Enlarged. 2 vols. London: James Elliott and Co., 1893. Revised and edited by A. E. Waite; translation by an unnamed translator.

Influential English collection based on the 1678 Latin edition. Waite’s own preface disclaims the translator’s role, identifies his work as revision and acknowledges shortening. It is useful for the history of reception; it is not the translation base of this edition.

https://archive.org/details/b24927363_0001

https://wellcomecollection.org/works/qj63vmz7

Research on Authorship

Zuber, Mike A. Spiritual Alchemy from the Age of Jacob Boehme to Mary Anne Atwood, 1600–1900. PhD thesis, Universiteit van Amsterdam, 2017. Chapter 2, “Johann Siebmacher and His Wasserstein der Weysen (1607; 1st ed. 1619)”, pp. 75–95.

Research on attribution, manuscript transmission and spiritual rebirth. Consult especially the evidence distinguishing the writer from the heraldic engraver and challenging the middle name Ambrosius. This edition reports the argument briefly and retains the printed witness’s anonymity.

https://pure.uva.nl/ws/files/13086025/01.pdf

Documented Early Circulation

Koopstra, Anna, with appendix by Thomas Fusenig. “New Insights into Hendrik van Steenwijck the Younger’s Working Methods and Milieu.” Journal of Historians of Netherlandish Art 11, no. 1 (Winter 2019). https://doi.org/10.5092/jhna.2019.11.1.3.

Fusenig’s appendix publishes and discusses a 1632 letter naming the Wasserstein among texts sent to the painter. It documents circulation in a network interested in alchemy and Böhme. The letter is evidence of exchange; it does not establish the book’s authorship.

https://jhna.org/articles/new-insights-into-hendrik-van-steenwijck-the-youngers-working-methods-and-milieu/

https://jhna.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/JHNA_11.1.3_Koopstra.pdf

A Historical Terminology Aid

Ruland, Martin, the Younger. Lexicon alchemiae sive Dictionarium alchemisticum. Frankfurt: Zacharias Palthenius, 1612.

Contemporary Latin dictionary with German equivalents and numerous alchemical names. The Frankfurt University Library exhibition identifies its copy and publication details. It can contextualise a term but cannot establish that the Hydrolith uses every term with Ruland’s meaning.