Lot 376
Alchemy, original correspondence--Georgevietz-Weitzer, Demeter
Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographss | 10 May 2007
Description
Collection of 19 original autograph letters signed and 17 letters signed, 26 October 1943 - 24 March 1945, 78 pages, to Dr. John Dietzel of Marbach a.d. Donau (Austria), concerning alchemical studies. Also with L.S. from Dietzel to Georgevitz-Wietzer, dated 7.Feb. 1944 and 2 4to notebooks labelled Acta pers.II and Acta pers. III, c. 150pp., from 1934 to 1945 in Georgevitz-Wietzer's hand, boards
Footnote
Note: G. Weitzer, a disciple of the noted writer on occultism Franz Hartmann (1838-1912) wrote many books and articles on occult subects including Dier Triumph der Alchemie and a vast compliation, Modern Rosenkreuzer oder die Renaissance der Geheimwissenschaften (1930) in which he discusses all panaceas from yoghurt to socialised industry in the form of a novel. His interest in alchemy led him to practical experimentation and, in May 1914, he claimed to have operated his first transmutations. Much of the correspondence relates to Paracelsus, Dietzel's communication with the invisible adepts, natural medicine, existence after death and alchemical experiments. Included in the lot is a pamphlet An alchemical correspondence in Germany under the Nazi regime by Denis Duveen & Emil Offenbacher (1951) dealing in full with the correspondence. "Of unquestionable value as one of the rare documents of the survival of the search for the philosopher's stone against the somber background of the history of our time" (Duveen).