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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 ISpirits of Orpiment · Manuscript 62v · Scan 152

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Spirits of Orpiment · Manuscript 62v · Scan 152

French

Ms. 62v

fils de Vulcain qui est le soufre qui ne vit que de ce qu’il vole, et de ce qu’il prend sur les autres, comme le feu qui consomme et détruit tout sans s’épargner lui-même, et est enfin consumé par une rouille qui le détruit lui-même. C’est ce qui a engagé les poètes à dire que Typhon a été enseveli sous les flammes du mont Etna dont il a été brûlé et consumé, ou à le comparer à Sisyphe qui est attaché sur un rocher, car il est si fort garroté par les durs liens de son soufre terrestre, qu’à peine peut-on l’en séparer, de sorte qu’il semble né non seulement pour sa perte mais pour la destruction de tout le monde.

Esprits de l’orpiment.

On trouve dans l’orpiment cru certains esprits cachés semblables aux démons du Styx ou damnés qui sont entièrement opposés aux premiers et plus purs esprits des anges et du soleil et qui sont d’autant plus nuisibles et contraires que les autres sont favorables et profitables à tout l’univers ; c’est ce que publient ouvertement les ennemis les plus déclarés de toute la nature, et ceux qui dressent le plus d’embûches à

Ms. 62v

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: Spirits of Orpiment

Ms. 62v

son of Vulcan, which is sulfur that lives only on what it steals and takes from others, like fire that consumes and destroys everything without sparing itself. Finally it is consumed by a rust that destroys it in turn. This led the poets to say that Typhon was buried beneath the flames of Mount Etna, by which he was burned and consumed, or to compare it to Sisyphus fastened upon a rock. For it is so tightly bound by the hard bonds of its earthy sulfur that one can scarcely separate it from them; thus it seems born not only for its own destruction but for that of the whole world.

Spirits of orpiment.

In raw orpiment certain hidden spirits are found, resembling the demons of the Styx or the damned. They are wholly opposed to the first and purest spirits of the angels and the sun, and are as harmful and hostile as the others are favorable and beneficial to the whole universe. This is openly proclaimed by nature’s most declared enemies and by those who lay the most ambushes for

Ms. 62v

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.