Customer Reviews

Alchemy and Mysticism: The Hermetic Museum (Klotz)

5 star:		(11)
4 star:		(1)
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2 star:		(1)
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I bought this book, not having much background in alchemy. I was suprised to find such a treasure and for such a cheap price. Although the book is in a smaller format, most of the pages are taken up with beautiful full color pictures. Each picture has a alchemic saying beside it, as well as an interpetation. For someone who has no understanding of the visual format of alchemy, this book is a must. There is also some background info in the front. The other pleasing thing about this book is the time Alexander Roob has taken in laying out his information. Each chapter is preceeded by an well thought out intro and quotes from alchemist. I thought that this was one of those rare books that presented as well as informed. Strongly recommended.

There are lots of books where you can find reproduction of the occult woodcut illustrations that are some of our best records of Renaissance alchemical culture, but this book is the new contender: very clean reproductions, a broad range of history up to the present day, and great depth. I was lucky to buy a copy of this a few years ago during a trip to Heidelberg, and couldn't wait until Taschen put out the English-language edition. Great paper stock, well-written captions, and many rarely-reproduced images along with the classics.

And Lo, All things were made from the ONE... OMNIA AB UNO....This book is like a Peter Greenaway Movie made from the History of Alchemy. Every page is a gorgeous full color or true color representation of an original text or illustration. Taschen books are always colorful, but this one is profound... And try to find anything on the web about Hugo Hoeppner's Cubic Theosophical Temple.. ain't gonna happen... This book is nothing less than one of the finest paperback image and short quote encyclopedias on alchemy and mysticism produced in recent times. Do not miss it! It is fuel for your subconscious. This is the stuff that spawned Surrealism and is capable yet of producing revolutions... Alchemy is a vivification of being's materiality.. and matter's search for meaning in matter... and he followed the mercurial hare into the forrest.. mysterious old bones...

This book is a pictorial introduction to the spiritual practice of alchemy as it appeared in the the 14th, 15th, and 16th centuries. A well-researched introduction gives an overview of the development of alchemical thought. Following that are sections titled according to their theme: Cosmic time, Music of the Spheres, Cosmic Egg, etc. Each section is filled with stunning reproductions of images from the Middle Ages and Renaissance, many in full color. Although the author annotates each image, and it is worth while reading all he has to say, it is not entirely necessary to do other than meditate on the images, as most have the power to speak to the depths of the mind with no translation needed. They are catalytic in the deepest psychic sense, and add up to make this little book quite a powerful transformer........

Hot off the shelf from some wizard harem this "brickbook" consisting of about a 1000 full-color illustrations on over 700 pages of glossified paper from the Renaissance & Enlightenment eras' for the most part, but going back to the early post-crucfixion days of the prevailing Mystery Religions and into our terrifying millenary day with a few examples of Modernist/Post-Modernist Art such as Duchamp's work & the playwright August Strindberg's cosmological photographic exposures to the night sky; several references to Fulcanelli as well as Theosophical Architectural drawings...around 30 pieces from the AURORA CONSURGENS (14-17th cen./see CGJung's writings) are celebrated herein, they are some of the most intriguing works I have ever seen!; all variety of outtakes from myriad illuminated manuscripts & Medieval incunabula fill these pages; but it is mostly the Renaissance Hermetic texts of the Alchemists and Mystics (hence the title) that is represented in the finest detailed prints; from Anastasius Kircher's beautiful cabalistic diagrams to the mnemonic palaces & Hermetic/Alchemical graphics of Robert Fludd, H.Khunrath, Jacob Bohme, M.Maier...the names go on in a never ending procession of Renaissance & Enlightenment Artistic brilliance. There is no other work ever printed in the last few hundred years, at least that I have ever even heard of mythologized by bibliophiles & collectors or Antiquarians that warrants comparison with such a high-quality work as this is and for such a trifle of a price! For the sheer bulk, much less the quality prints that one gets from Sir Benedikt Taschen's wondrous press (which is unequalled in the Art world!) the price is practically nil as even a lesser book consisting of half the number of the same works would go for 10 times what Mr. taschen's offering it to the world for!...and only Taschen could ever come up with a second volume to match it! I & many others I suppose have fantasized for hundreds of years perhaps for a book like this to be published at under a 1000 dollars say; for it is definitely a luxury item for poorer students & scholars both independent and academic to be able to afford such a sublime effort and product as this, for which I thank Taschen press from the bottom of a bookish passion for all they have done in just the past decade or so. The work defends itself, nay it has no need but only should be championed by anyone who appreciates and admires history itself. This book is a lens by which one can focus in on lost eras whose words cannot be trusted nearly as much as these illustrative works; it's a catalogue of dreams, maps of lost and/or forgotten utopian ideals, charts of spiritual aspirations and records of strange initiations; a massive book of riddles in pictograph, for which the puzzle-subject is one's very own microprosopus-being whose final assembly means heaven reached or paradise achieved; & at the least intellectual delight/enlightenment, & gnosis at best. The artwork is perhaps from the most sublime genre of them all, the human tradition at the heart of all scientific endeavor & religious searching; it is no less than an journey into both inner & outer space, whose realms the artists' believed an iron lung was not necessary in order to explore, and which many mystics & theologians of contemporary times as well as philosophers & scientists of the past are inclined to agree. The book should give "Occulture" a whole new rightful respect for it's rich past filled with sheer artistic brilliance and depth of knowledge, and I need not mention those aspirations which are the highest humankind can ever aspire to in any age that are herein depicted and portrayed in the most profound ways imaginable that many dragons herein seem almost ready to take flight in many a reader's enriched mind...ouroboros, the snake that eats itself revolves furiously and only ceases and stands still when the book is opened so that its admirers may better perceive its classical serpentine symmetry...such is the magic that is just barely contained in this museum catalogue from the deepest recesses of humankind's time here in these terrestrial & celestial spheres in the immense spaces, sublime in all the terror they hold for such miniscule beings, ("Aliens of Universal charity" as Constant said) aspiring to so large a consciousness which is charted in the finest infinitesimal details in this atlas of human history.

If there was an earthquake tomorrow and I could only carry a few books away, this would be one of them. This book covers the history of science and thought during the time that science beagn its evolution from analog to digital.

It is beautiful. The plates are a window into another time, into a different thought process that foreshadowed the scietific processes of today and sheds light on how we got to where we are and why we traveled down this road.

the book is too small for the beautifully colored plates to be of any value besides affording some general idea of what an alchemical illustration looks like. for the price, and considering the Taschen name, I expected a larger format book. nowhere on the description page does it say that the book is hardly 5 inches by 8 inches, which makes seeing any detail in the images nearly impossible.

All the other reviewers have already said it: this book is absoluteley amazing and the price .. I feel almost guilty paying so little for it. This book is a treasure of the ages. I didn't know much about alchemy when I bought it (though the subject is one that has always interested me.) Reading it was a long, slow, contemplative journey. There's a vast wealth of information there, between the glorious pictures and the intelligent captions, the thoughtful text at the beginning of each section ... It seems alchemy is not merely a materialistic quest for profit by turning cheap metals into gold; the true goal of "philosophical" alchemy was to turn the alchemist himself into spiritual gold, in other words, to obtain enlightenment. It's a quest to find God, and many of its principles cannot be explained in words. Many of its secrets cannot be told except in cryptic hints and mysterious symbols, because discovering the key for yourself is part of the journey. Reading this book feels almost like taking a few steps down that road, and glimpsing from far away the great Light waiting at the end of it ...
This is definitely a "must read" if you have any interest in metaphysical subjects.

I spent a long time trying to figure out which version of this book (short, medium, or full version, basically) I would get. There has been a lot of confusion in these reviews, what with Amazon combining reviews for specific versions together and people leaving their review for the wrong version, and some of the versions being removed from Amazon, creating one jumbled commentary. Here are the two main versions I found:

Version 1) FULL VERSION

Paperback: 712 pages $165.00 new $45.00 used
Publisher: Taschen (May 1, 1997)
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.4 x 2.1 inches

Version 2) SHORTENED VERSION

Paperback: 575 pages $12.37 new
Publisher: Taschen; 25th edition (August 2, 2006)
Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 5.6 x 1.8 inches

I decided to go all out and get the full version, but at the used price. I have to say I was a bit disappointed, while the book is packed with fascinating information and images, I never thought to look at the size dimensions of this mammoth 712 page book before buying: 8 inches long! Basically just an inch or two larger than my hand's length. Think: the size of a guide book. I was so looking forward to this book largely for the artwork it has, which shows fine lines and details. But alas, most of the images aren't full page but half-page size, so imagine how small they actually are in a 8x6 inch book! Honestly, I felt the book, for my purposes, was not worth the $45.00 USED price. I was picturing a large coffee table sized book where I could pour over the artwork, rather than something of a pocketguide. Knowing how small the artwork and text is, I wish I would have only spent $12.37 and sacrificed the 200 pages for the sake of my wallet.

I would recommend getting one of the two versions to anyone fascinated by spiritualism, symbology, archetypes, art from 1300s-1600s, and myth/folklore/magic.

I've had a copy of this book for awhile and purchased another copy for a friend. Every time I pick up this book, something new pops out. This is absolutely the most complete book on alchemy and mysticism- the selection of color images is amazing, filling up just about every page with a description on the side. This thick book is worth it!