The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Name: The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I
Author: Attributed to Abraham the Jew

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures

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The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume IThe Flower on the Mountain and Solution · Manuscript 17r · Scan 53

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The Flower on the Mountain and Solution · Manuscript 17r · Scan 53

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French

Ms. 17r

porte et est le véhicule du soufre d’or ; nous supposons le vent Borus qui souffle violemment du côté du nord, et notus du côté du midi, qui tous deux changés en air ou en nuée, sont enfin résolus en eau. Les poètes ont dit que ces vents étaient comme des comètes qui se résolvaient en pluie d’or et en pluie d’argent, et que le vaisseau du prince Jason au moyen de leur souffle favorable, arriva heureusement au port ; car, qu’est-ce que le premier si ce n’est l’esprit sec et chaud de l’or qui dore tout ce qu’il touche, et le second, sinon l’eau argentée chaude et humide de mercure qui teint pareillement ce qu’elle touche.

Quoique nous ayons dit l’espèce chaude et humide du vif-argent, elle est très froide et très sèche au commencement de sa préparation et de sa nature, ce qui fait que par le froid de l’aquilon, elle est convertie en sèche, de sèche en humide, et d’humide en chaude, pour parcourir tous les éléments.

De plus, comme l’on dit que le vent septentrional froid et sec chasse les nuages et purifie l’air, et qu’au

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Flower on the Mountain and Solution

Ms. 17r

carries the sulfur of gold and is its vehicle. We posit the wind Borus, blowing violently from the north, and Notus from the south; both, changed into air or cloud, are finally dissolved into water. The poets have said that these winds were like comets dissolving into showers of gold and showers of silver, and that Prince Jason’s vessel, through their favorable breath, reached harbor safely. For what is the first, if not the dry and hot spirit of gold, which gilds everything it touches? And what is the second, if not the silvery, hot, and moist water of mercury, which likewise tinges whatever it touches?

Although we have spoken of the hot and moist kind of quicksilver, it is very cold and very dry at the beginning of its preparation and in its nature. Thus, through the cold of the north wind, it is converted into the dry state, from dry into moist, and from moist into hot, in order to pass through all the elements.

Furthermore, just as it is said that the cold and dry north wind drives away the clouds and purifies the air, and that, on the

About This Reading Edition

The first manuscript in the Manly Palmer Hall collection at the Getty Research Institute: the Book of Hieroglyphic Figures, presented in French and English with 463 explanatory notes, 13 manuscript plates, 25 source details, an introduction, chapter outline, glossary, bibliography, and register of readings.

Historical Text and Translation

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures (Livre des figures hiéroglyphiques), attributed in the witness to Abraham the Jew. Getty Research Institute, Manly Palmer Hall collection of alchemical manuscripts, accession 950053, Box 1, Hogart manuscript 3; French witness catalogued circa 1800. Manly Palmer Hall is the collector, not the author.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

The circa 1800 source manuscript is public domain. The supplied 2026 French reading transcription, English translation, introduction, notes, outline, glossary, register, and editorial arrangement are published with the site owner’s authorization. Source photographs are credited to the Getty Research Institute and Internet Archive in the supplied edition.