#frontispiece friday

[beckerrarebooks]

We love a good alchemical frontispiece, and this one, from Alexander von Suchten’s Chymische Schrifften, is a fantastic example! All of the lettering is a bit difficult to decipher, but we can make out the planetary symbols on the top part of the page, in the heavens, while the elemental symbols are down below in the mountains (more of that alchemical/astrological connection we’re always talking about!). The four winds/cardinal directions seem to be represented in the four corners, and we can also spot the symbols for the four classical elements of earth, air, fire, and water.

Mercury occupies a very prominent position, perhaps due to the importance of mercury as a key ingredient in the creation of the Philosopher’s Stone. The three lions also have alchemical symbols over their heads, and we think they’re mercury, salt, and sulphur, which are the three primal elements in Paracelsian alchemical thought. That would make sense, as it seems that the streams pouring out of the lions are combining to create the other elements shown below.

Can anyone help us interpret any of the other symbolism?

[nemfrog]

Frontispiece. Cats. European wild (above) and Domestic striped tabby. Pets and how to care for them. 1921.

[hdslibrary]

Not a Fan

Such a distinguished volume. Yet someone wasn’t impressed with Rev. Kunad’s work!

This book actually circulated in our library until the mid-twentieth century, so it’s not at all clear when all the marks were made. The script looks older, but it’s also possible more than one person contributed to the modifications of this portrait.

Kunad, Polycarp.   Erbauliches mementomori, oder xxxiii Leichen=Trost= und Gedächtnis=Predigten, mit untermengten Stand= und Ehren=Reden; ... Benebst nöthigen Registern, zum öffentlichen Druck übergeben.  Dressden, Leipzig, Joh. Christoph Zimmermann, 1721.

[beckerrarebooks]

Happy Frontispiece Friday! This image comes from John Bulwer’s Chirologia, a 17th century work dedicated to the language of the hand. While Bulwer’s system of hand gestures influenced modern British sign language, he didn’t necessarily think of gestures as solely a means of communication among the deaf. Rather, he saw the use of manual languages as the closest thing to a “universal tongue” that could be understood by all people. 

This frontispiece uses symbolic imagery to represent the language of gestures. In the center, we see a hand with a face in its palm—somewhat strange, but indicative of the hand’s ability to speak. Water pours from the face’s mouth into the so-called “Cisterna Chirosophiae:” The Cistern of Chirosophy. It is flanked by two allegorical figures. The one on the left represents Nature, with her customary many breasts, and in this case she is explicitly identified as “Natura Loquens,” or the Natural Speech. The figure to the right is Polyhymnia, the Greek muse whose domain includes eloquence and pantomime. Below them are various hand gestures and their meanings, including eloquence, logic, and science.

[beckerrarebooks]

For last week’s Frontispiece Friday, we showed you the frontispiece from one of Steven Blankart’s anatomical texts (check it out here). This week, we’re offering up another Blankart frontispiece, this one from the Anatomia Reformata, published in 1687. While both of them feature Blankart presiding over the dissection of a cadaver, there are some notable differences between the two. The spectators in last week’s frontispiece were mostly dressed in garb reminiscent of classical Greece and Rome, but here everyone wears clothing typical of the 17th century Netherlands. This image also contains fewer allegorical flourishes and is much less detailed overall. We admit that we prefer the more elaborate frontispiece, but perhaps you feel differently!

[beckerrarebooks]

We’re closing out this week with Frontispiece Friday. This is a classic example of an anatomical frontispiece using the early modern convention of portraying an anatomist in the midst of performing a dissection with his own hands. In this case, the anatomist in question is Steven Blankart, who is accompanied by a number of figures in classical dress. The woman directly behind him is probably Hygeia, one of the daughters of Asclepius, who carries the staff associated with her father. A statue of Asclepius himself is behind her, accompanied by the rooster that was traditionally seen as payment for his services. As for the other figures, the one leaning forward might be Galen or Hippocrates, and the gentleman wearing a turban might be Avicenna?

[beckerrarebooks]

Oh, you lucky people, we managed to uncover another anatomical frontispiece for you! This one comes from Raymond Vieussens’s Novum Vasorum, a work dedicated to the anatomy of the cardiovascular system. Like so many other early modern anatomical frontispieces, it takes place in what is clearly an anatomical theatre, with the anatomist performing the dissection with his own hands before a crowd of onlookers. 

We’re also rather taken with the inscription. That handwriting is quite impressive!

[beckerrarebooks]

Happy Frontispiece Friday! We’re sending you off into the weekend with this striking image that introduces Jan Muys’s Praxis Medico-Chirurgica Rationalis, a work that contains observations on medicine and surgery. You can spy a few medical procedures in this crowded scene - the gentlemen in the foreground looks as if he’s lancing a blister or a boil, much to the patient’s dismay, while in the background, a lady is having blood let.