AGRIPPA (Heinrich-Cornelius)

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AGRIPPA (Heinrich-Cornelius)
De occulta Philosophia Libri Tres. S.l.n.a. [to the colophon]: Antwerp, Joannes Grapheus, February 1531. In-4, granite basane, double gilt fillet, spine gilt, edges speckled with red (Binding: 17th century). First edition, extremely rare, of this famous treatise. The De occulta philosophia, together with the De incertitudine de vanitate scientiarum, also published by Grapheus in 1530, is one of the two major texts of Henri-Corneille Agrippa de Nettesheim (1486-1535), a humanist born in Cologne, a great theorist of the occult sciences and the Kabbalah, and an undisputed master of natural magic. The work presents itself as a summation of the knowledge of the time in matters of magic elevated thanks to its status as occult philosophy. Agrippa distinguishes three main groups that govern occult philosophy: natural magic, celestial magic and ceremonial or divine magic. To each of them is dedicated one of the three books of his work. Despite the indication Libri tres on the title, this Antwerp edition contains only the first book of the work, which was not published in its entirety until 1533 in Cologne. It is adorned with two beautiful full-page woodcut portraits of Charles V and Empress Isabella of Spain. The title is set within an architectural woodcut frame, signed with the initials I. G. This one comes from the typographical material of the Antwerp printer-librarian Joannes Grapheus, whose pretty mark representing Charity is on the back of the last page (cf. Silvestre, no. 630). The publishing privilege, dated Mechelen, 12 January 1529 (n.s. = 12 January 1530), was granted by Charles V to the author for the publication of four of his treatises: the De occulta philosophia, the De incertitudine, the In artem brevem Raimundi Lulli commentaria, and the Quaedam orationes et epistolae. It is written in French, which was the official language of the Court of Brabant, and was printed in Gothic characters. Fewer than ten copies of this edition are l
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