Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (also The Ritman Library ) is a publicly accessible specialist library in Amsterdam , the Netherlands. It has the world's largest collection of manuscripts and printed books relevant to the Hermetic tradition .
The library emerged from the private collection of the Dutch merchant Joost Ritman and was founded in 1984 with the aim of documenting the cultural heritage related to the Hermetic Philosophy. In addition to alchemy and hermetics, a focus of the collection is Christian mysticism with particular attention to Meister Eckhart and Jakob Böhme , writings by the Rosicrucians and the Manicheans are also part of the collection, as are anthroposophical and theosophical texts. The library now has more than 22,000 books: around 700 of them are manuscripts, of which 85 from the period before 1550, approx. 5000 books from the period before 1800 and around 17,000 books from the period after 1800.
Several exhibitions have been shown in the library. The library is affiliated with the Ritman Research Institute and a publishing department. The Dutch psychologist Willem Levelt was a member of the library's “board”. Carlos Gilly was the head of the institute .
Partnerships with other libraries
Through partnerships with other libraries, exhibitions have been carried out several times and books originally from the Netherlands that had come to Russia during the Second World War have been returned. In 1992, through the agency of the Ritman Library, the Russian “Rudomino Library for Foreign Language Literature” (VGBIL) returned to the Netherlands book stocks that had come to Russia during the Second World War. The returned books were exhibited in the University Library of Amsterdam University. Some books from this collection have been returned to their owners. The library cooperated several times with the Rudomino library, in 2006 a cooperation agreement was concluded. The library has organized or co-organized several conferences during its existence.
Other European libraries that we collaborate with are the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel, the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence and the Biblioteca Nazionale Marciana in Venice.
Closing in 2010 and reopening in 2011
In December 2010, the library was initially closed because the Dutch Friesland Bank had a dispute with the owner JRRitman over a loan of 15 million euros. The Dutch state had already taken over a 40% stake in the library and declared it a Dutch cultural asset. The library reopened in December 2011 after financial problems had been resolved, including the sale of around 350 valuable copies, mainly incunabula .
Writings from The Ritman Library (selection)
- Cis van Heertum, José Bouman: Divine Wisdom - Divine Nature. The message of the Rosicrucian manifestos in the pictorial language of the 17th century . Amsterdam 2016, ISBN 978-90-716-08-37-7 .
- Cis van Heertum (Ed.): Libertas philosophandi. Spinoza as gids voor een vrije wereld. (Asclepiusreeks 1). Amsterdam 2009 (1st ed. 2008), ISBN 978-90-71608-26-1 .
- Theodor Harmsen: The magical writer Gustav Meyrink, his friends and his work illuminate on the basis of a tour of the Meyrink collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica Amsterdam, using other collections (Pimander. Texts and Studies published by the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica 17), Amsterdam 2009 , ISBN 978-90-71608-25-4 .
- Theodor Harmsen (Ed.): Jacob Böhmes Weg in die Welt (Pimander Texts and Studies published by the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica 16), Amsterdam 2007, ISBN 978-3-7728-2446-3 .
- Helen C. Wüstefeld, Anne S. Korteweg: Sleutel dead light. Getijdenboeken in de Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (Asclepiusreeks 2), Amsterdam 2009, ISBN 978-90-71608-28-5 .
literature
- Rachad Mounir Shoucri: The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. In: Kemet issue 1/2004. Kemet Verlag, Berlin 2004, pp. 81–82.
- Monika Esterman: Hort der Fregeister: The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica guards mystical and esoteric writings of the West , in: Börsenblatt for the German book trade . Vol. 164, 1997, No. 66:16
- Theodor Harmsen: The magical writer Gustav Meyrink, his friends and his work. Illuminated on the basis of a tour of the Meyrink collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam, using other collections . Amsterdam, In de Pelikaan, 2009 ISBN 978-90-71608-25-4
- Puti germes. Obzor vystavok vo Florencii, Benecii i Amsterdame, a teperʹ - v Moskve . (Vert. Anna Moščevitina). Amsterdam, In de Pelikaan, 2008. Geen ISBN
- FA Janssen et al .: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. JR Ritman Library, Amsterdam . Amsterdam, 1997. Geen ISBN.
- Margaret Lane Ford: Christ, Plato, Hermes Trismegistus. The dawn of printing. Catalog of the incunabula in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica . Amsterdam, In de Pelikaan, 1990. 2 vols. ISBN 90-6004-406-1
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Rachad Mounir Shoucri: The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. In: Kemet issue 1/2004. Kemet Verlag, Berlin 2004, pp. 81–82.
- ↑ http://heterodoxology.com/2010/11/24/save-the-bibliotheca-philosophica-hermetica
- ↑ http://www.patheos.com/blogs/wildhunt/2010/12/update-famous-hermetic-library-endangered.html
- ↑ A library like an ark ( page no longer available , search in web archives ) Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , "I just had to save my life's work" ( page no longer available , search web archives ) - announcements on the Ritman library website
Coordinates: 52 ° 22 '24.9 " N , 4 ° 52' 43.8" E