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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 83v · Scan 196

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The Incarnation and the Birth of the Stone · Manuscript 83v · Scan 196

French

Ms. 83v

d’une vierge pure, conçu par l’opération du Saint-Esprit, un fils dans la génération divine de même âge que son père, engendré sans mère et incréé.

Dans ce divin mystère de l’Incarnation, qui est-ce qui ne voit pas un fils sans père, sans embrassement de père et de mère, et sans aucune commixtion de semences ? Une génération sans corruption, une mère qui n’a eu aucun commerce avec aucun père, une vierge engrossée et chaste ? Quoique ce mystère soit infiniment au-dessus de notre faiblesse et [inconnu], je ne dis pas aux hommes mais aux anges mêmes, nous ferons cependant notre possible pour le tirer de ses ténèbres et avec le secours et la lumière de notre esprit mercuriel, qui est l’image de la Vierge bienheureuse et sans tache, nous tâcherons d’arriver à ce que nous présentent les arguments de ce mystère, car comme le corps de l’or qui est incorruptible, pur et homogène, il ne peut à cause de sa pureté se joindre avec des métaux imparfaits, il ne peut être dissous et altéré par leur moyen. Il faut donc qu’il se trouve une substance pure et incorruptible qui

Ms. 83v

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

Ms. 83v

of a pure virgin, conceived through the Holy Spirit’s operation: a son who, in divine generation, is of the same age as his father, begotten without a mother and uncreated.

In this divine mystery of the Incarnation, who does not see a son without a father, without the embrace of father and mother, and without any mingling of seeds? A generation without corruption; a mother who has had no intercourse with any father; a virgin pregnant yet chaste? Although this mystery infinitely exceeds our weakness and is [unknown]—I do not say to men, but even to angels—we shall nevertheless do our utmost to draw it from its darkness. With the aid and light of our mercurial spirit, the image of the blessed, unstained Virgin, we shall endeavor to reach what the arguments of this mystery present to us. For as gold’s body is incorruptible, pure, and homogeneous, its purity prevents it from joining imperfect metals; it cannot be dissolved and altered through them. There must therefore be a pure, incorruptible substance that

Ms. 83v

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.