The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I

Name: The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I
Author: Attributed to Abraham the Jew

Book of Hieroglyphic Figures

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The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume IHerod and the Reduction of the Elements · Manuscript 40r · Scan 105

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Herod and the Reduction of the Elements · Manuscript 40r · Scan 105

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French

Ms. 40r

une mixtion de peu d’heures procure la première origine au grand et au petit monde que nous appelons notre pierre ; c’est pourquoi ils prennent le soufre pour le Ciel, les génitoires pour Mercure et sa vertu corruptive et solutive pour la faux, sans lequel le soufre ou la teinture, invisibles d’ailleurs, ne peut être séparée de ses extrémités, c’est-à-dire de l’eau et de la terre, pour être transplantée dans le champ du soleil, plus noble et plus fixe, et sans lequel l’or ne peut pareillement être corrompu, végété, ni être multiplié à l’infini. C’est sans doute la vertu germinative de l’esprit génératif qui descend du ciel dans la mer, de l’écume de laquelle (savoir de notre nitre) naît Vénus qui, comme soufre intérieur et radical des métaux, se mêle avec eux, sans lequel aucun argent ne se peut coaguler en métal ; c’est pourquoi il est nommé par quelques-uns métal.

Il faut maintenant faire voir ce que ces choses signifient dans le monde de notre pierre. Par les parties honteuses du père, nous apercevons le soufre à la tête de l’alambic qui est figuré par le ciel,

The Manly Hall Manuscript Collection, Volume I: Herod and the Reduction of the Elements

Ms. 40r

a mixture lasting a few hours, supplies the first origin of the great and little world that we call our stone. This is why they take sulfur for Heaven, the genitals for Mercury, and its corrupting and dissolving power for the sickle. Without it, sulfur or tincture, otherwise invisible, cannot be separated from its extremities—that is, water and earth—to be transplanted into the Sun’s field, nobler and more fixed; and without it gold likewise cannot be corrupted, made to grow, or multiplied without limit. This is undoubtedly the germinative power of the generative spirit descending from heaven into the sea. From its foam—that is, from our niter—Venus is born. As the inward and radical sulfur of metals, it mingles with them; without it no silver can coagulate into metal, which is why some call it metal.

We must now show what these things signify within the world of our stone. By the father’s private parts we perceive sulfur at the head of the alembic, represented by heaven,

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.