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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Attributed to Abraham the Jew

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures

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The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume IThe Incarnation and the Birth of the Stone · Manuscript 85r · Scan 199

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English Page · Branch 192 of 351

The Incarnation and the Birth of the Stone · Manuscript 85r · Scan 199

French

Ms. 85r

qu’il tire son origine du feu et de l’eau. Ses sept têtes sont les sept métaux contenus dans cette eau mercurielle ; ses sept cornes représentent la vertu dissolutive des métaux, car elles sont les symboles de la vertu et de la force et ont été données aux animaux pour armes défensives. Enfin nous appelons les sept cornes d’or sa nature qui est de faire l’or et l’argent ; en ce temps elle contient le soufre d’or et teint et dore ce qu’elle touche, qui paraît de couleur et est naturellement d’argent, et par sa queue qui attire sur la terre la troisième partie du ciel il nous désigne les vertus célestes des étoiles et des planètes que cette eau mercurielle représentée par sa queue pointue et qui fait plusieurs plis et replis attire sur la terre. Le soufre du soleil et de la lune, ou sous le soleil et la lune, qui sont les pères de tous les astres, on dit qu’ils contiennent les vertus de tout le monde.

Nous avons assez donné à connaître sa volatilité par les ailes, comme par l’ange qui frappe le dragon d’une flèche, la vertu aiguë et volitive de notre feu

Ms. 85r

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: The Incarnation and the Birth of the Stone

Ms. 85r

that it originates in fire and water. Its seven heads are the seven metals contained in this mercurial water; its seven horns represent the power to dissolve metals, for horns symbolize power and strength and have been given to animals as defensive weapons. Finally, we call its nature of making gold and silver its seven golden horns. At this stage it contains gold’s sulfur and tinctures and gilds what it touches, which appears colored and is naturally of silver. Its tail, drawing a third part of heaven down to earth, signifies the celestial powers of stars and planets that this mercurial water draws to earth; the water is represented by the pointed tail with its many folds and coils. The sulfur of the Sun and Moon—or under the Sun and Moon, which are the parents of all the stars—is said to contain the powers of the whole world.

We have made its volatility sufficiently known by the wings, and likewise, through the angel striking the dragon with an arrow, the sharp and volitive power of our fire

Ms. 85r

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.