Kircher | Arithmologia sive de abditis numerorum misteriis, Rome, 1665, old vellum

Kircher, Athanasius

Arithmologia sive de abditis numerorum misteriis. Rome: Varese, 1665

4to (237 x 171mm.), engraved frontispiece, woodcut armorial of the dedicatee, woodcut initials, 2 folding letterpress plates and one double-page plate, with final blank, contemporary limp vellum, numerous annotations (those on flyleaf dated 1761), wormed throughout with loss of text, first few leaves browned and stained, one plate torn without loss; sold not subject to return

"The Arithmologia, one of Kircher's more curious works, is a veritable gold mine of curiosities: magic formulas, amulets, and symbolic matrices. For Kircher all knowledge was to some extent bound up in mystery, and this was particularly true of numerology" (Merrill, p. 46).

LITERATURE:

Merrill, Kircher 19

PROVENANCE:

Francesco Rossello, inscription on inside front cover; Suor Teresa Diomira, inscription on inside front cover; Gian Batt[ist]a [-] Baratto, signature on verso of flyleaf