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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 ILucretius Ovid and the Parts of the Human Being · Manuscript 116v · Scan 268

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Lucretius Ovid and the Parts of the Human Being · Manuscript 116v · Scan 268

French

Ms. 116v

sensitives et végétatives diffèrent des facultés intellectuelles (soit si nous le voulons bien) que les esprits sensitifs et végétatifs soient de certaines dispositions ou aptitudes à recevoir l’âme qui ne s’en sert que comme d’instrument pour opérer, ce qui leur a fait donner le nom de cher vésicule [?] éthéré ; elles diffèrent néanmoins autant de l’âme que l’ouvrier de son outil qu’on ne peut point appeler ouvrier ; tout ce qui est au-dessus de l’ordre de la nature se sépare du genre de ces esprits ; on accorde à l’âme raisonnable ce qui est hors de leur famille ensuite l’espèce intellectuelle, et enfin à Dieu parce que cet esprit soit ennobli du titre d’essence subtile et éthéréenne, il sent cependant la lie des éléments, et participe de la matière quoique de la partie la plus subtile, autrement il ne serait pas un milieu pour unir les âmes avec les corps comme nous avons dit.

Enfin, qui est-ce qui, après la séparation de l’âme raisonnable et du corps, n’aperçoit pas ces esprits qui

Ms. 116v

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: Lucretius Ovid and the Parts of the Human Being

Ms. 116v

of sensation and vegetation differ from intellectual faculties. Let it be so, if we wish: sensitive and vegetative spirits may be certain dispositions or aptitudes for receiving the soul, which uses them only as an instrument through which to act. This has caused them to be given the name [ethereal vehicle?]. They nevertheless differ from the soul as much as a worker from the tool, which cannot be called a worker. Everything above nature’s order is separated from the kind to which these spirits belong. What lies outside their family is assigned to the rational soul, then to the intellectual species, and finally to God. Although this spirit is ennobled with the title of a subtle and ethereal essence, it nevertheless savors of the dregs of the elements and partakes of matter, albeit its subtlest part; otherwise it would not be an intermediary for uniting souls with bodies, as we have said.

Finally, who, after the separation of rational soul and body, does not perceive these spirits which

Ms. 116v

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.