Lot 603
Italian alchemical manuscript
Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographs
Auction: Rare Books, Manuscripts & Photographss | 10 May 2007
Description
Secretum secretorum secretissimum sive thesaurus sapientae prophetis a de revelatus, et per Sybillam Eritrheam in numerus doctrina solus prestantionibus concessus omnia manifestans, Italian manuscript, small 4to, 72 folios, plus two loose inserted fragments, largely from 1740-60, with some later additions up to 1808, containing a variety of simple vaticinatory/cryptographic games, referred to as "Cabala", based on basic literal-numeral substitutions, the first 12 pages in Latin, the remainder in Italian
Footnote
Note: Much of the notebook is devoted to using vaticinatory methods to predict winning names or numbers of lotteries ("Estrazioni"). Reference is made to Giovanni Caramuel Bishop of Vigevano, a cabala used by St. Malachi, St. John of Capistrano and Abbot Joachim di Fiore, and the numbers of the lottery printed in Venice by the publisher Cenzo, 1800.