[Rarebooks] FS: Hermes Trismegistus 1630

[Kaaterskill Books]

We offer for Sale:

Hermes Trismegistus. Rosselus, Hannibal. DIVINUS 
PYMANDER HERMETIS MERCURII TRISMEGISTI....CUM 
COMMENTARIIS R. P.F. HANNIBALIS ROSSELI. Coloniae 
Agrippinae [Cologne]: Ex Officina Choliniana, 
sumptibus Petri Cholini [Peter Cholinus], Anno M. 
DC. XXX. [1630]. [4], 43, [5], 160; [4], 161-342; 
[4], 184; [4], 204; [4], 267, [1]; [4], 206, [38] 
pp. Folio [377 x 236 mm]. Later 17th-century 
blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards. First 
edition thus. Six parts in one volume. Each part 
with a separate title page. Hoffmann II, p.208. 
Lamoen 47.

This edition is based on the Cracow, Lazarus 
1584-1590 edition enlarged with the text of the 
Greek-Latin edition of Foix de Candale of 1574.

"Little is known about Roselli (ca 1525-ca 1600): 
he was a Franciscan who taught theology first at 
Todi and later at Cracow. He met the English 
Hermeticist John Dee (1527-1608) when the latter 
remained at the Prague court of Rudolph II, and 
became his confessor. At that time Roselli was 
working on his edition of the Corpus Hermeticum. 
The voluminous work is not so much a commentary 
on the Corpus Hermeticum as an encyclopedia of 
philosophical themes, with passages from CH I-VII 
and the Latin Asclepius serving as introduction. 
The first five books are connected with the 
Corpus Hermeticum: I, De S.S. Trinitate; II, De 
spiritu et angelis; III, De ente, materia, forma, 
et rebus metaphysicis; IV, De coelo and V, De 
elementis, et descriptione totius orbis. Book VI, 
De immortalitate animae, goes back to Asclepius. 
In the fourth part, the first to be published 
(1584), Roselli announced ten parts, but he never 
completed his encyclopedia. The passages from the 
Corpus Hermeticum which Roselli quotes and 
occasionally alters are derived from Ficino's 
translation" (Lameon, F. van. Hermes 
Trismegistus. Pater philosophorum. 
Teksteschiedenis van het Corpus Hereticum, 
Amsterdam, 1990, p.78-79).

Provenance: From the Benedictine Monastery of St. 
Stephan at Würzburg, with their panel stamp on 
covers and ownership inscription on general 
title. Front cover stamped EASS above and 1679 
below the panel stamp. ABPC shows two copies at 
auction in the last 30 years.

Boards worn and soiled, lacking catches and 
clasps; front endpapers chipped, paper corrosion 
along lower fore edge of first few leaves, 
contents heavily browned with marginal 
dampstaining, worming in gutters toward beginning 
occasionally entering text but with barely any 
loss, scattered oxidized stains; overall still 
quite good. [35873] $4200.00

  http://www.kaaterskillbooks.com/img/35873.jpg

(Additional detailed images are available upon request).

Regards,

Charles Kutcher
Kaaterskill Books
P. O. Box 122
East Jewett, NY 12424
email: books at kaaterskillbooks.com
phone: 518-589-0555
www.kaaterskillbooks.com
Members ABAA/ILAB


TERMS:

Call or email us to reserve a book. We accept 
checks, money orders, American Express, 
Mastercard, and Visa. Foreign orders should be in 
U.S. funds on a U.S. bank. New York residents 
please add appropriate sales tax or forward a tax 
id number. Libraries and Institutions can be 
billed. Trade allowance. Postage for Domestic 
orders is $4.00 for the first book and $1.50 for 
each additional volume. Books are normally 
shipped Media Mail. For international orders, 
postage is calculated individually. All books may 
be returned in original condition for any reason 
within two weeks with prior notification.