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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 Flower on the Mountain and Solution · Manuscript 15v · Scan 50

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The Flower on the Mountain and Solution · Manuscript 15v · Scan 50

French

Ms. 15v

griffons ; un d’eux très grand et qui a des ailes, se jette cruellement contre un très petit et qui n’en a point.

Ce qui convient en tout à la seconde figure du second septenaire, où est tracée la représentation d’un serpent attaché sur une croix de chêne avec des clous de fer. Le dos du dragon est bleu, et il a le ventre jaunâtre, moucheté de taches couleur de pourpre, mais il y a cette différence que, dans cet emblème, il y a un plus grand nombre de dragons vivants et regardant le rameau, comme si, les ailes déployées, ils voulaient voler dessus et faisant sur la terre plusieurs replis pour se lancer sur lui ; et que dans l’autre, il y avait la figure d’un serpent qui n’était pas vivant, mais qui était mort, et attaché au tronc d’une croix avec des clous de fer. Quoique cela ne soit que la même matière qui se présente à nos yeux, nous voyons cependant la différence de sa préparation, comme nous avons dit des couleurs de la fleur, et des dragons qui conviennent au serpent. Tous les philosophes, par le sommet de la mon-

Ms. 15v

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

Ms. 15v

griffins; one of them, very large and winged, savagely attacks a very small one that has no wings.

This agrees in every respect with the second figure of the second group of seven, which depicts a serpent fastened to an oak cross with iron nails. The dragon’s back is blue, and its belly yellowish, spotted with purple marks. There is, however, this difference: in this emblem there are more living dragons looking at the branch, as though, with wings spread, they wished to fly onto it, making several coils upon the ground to launch themselves at it; whereas in the other there was the figure of a serpent that was not alive but dead, fastened to the trunk of a cross with iron nails. Although it is the same matter that appears before our eyes, we nevertheless see a difference in its preparation, as we have said concerning the colors of the flower and the dragons corresponding to the serpent. All the philosophers, by the summit of the moun-

Ms. 15v

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.