Le Clefs du Cabinet Hérmetique

[Florius Frammel]

That's nice, JDP!
I would appreciate a note when the translation is available.
Thanks!

[Schmuldvich]

That manuscript is in fact now available thanks to us (I, who "discovered" the surviving copy of it located in the New York Public Library, and two other people who collaborated in getting the EXPENSIVE fee of having it scanned), not because it was graciously made available for free by some charitable institution. Had it not been for us, most people would still not know that a surviving copy of this treatise actually existed! (Fulcanelli's copy of this text, the only other one known to exist, has been "missing" for decades, the last person to see it was Canseliet, and no one else seems to have seen it since.)

Yes, he is in fact one of the people I mentioned before who helped defray the cost of having the manuscript scanned.

About how much did y'all end up having to pay when it was all said and done?

[JDP]

About how much did y'all end up having to pay when it was all said and done?

Quite a bit... Libraries do not have a tendency of scanning entire manuscripts for free, except when if it is for their own benefit. And in this case there was no other choice, as this is the only surviving copy of this text still known to exist (Fulcanelli's copy, the only other one that we have notice of, seems to have "vanished" from the face of the Earth! Canseliet saw it and gave a description of it, but that was decades ago, and no one since seems to have seen it again), so we were at the "mercy" of the NYPL; whatever they requested as a fee for scanning the manuscript we had to agree to it.

[Schmuldvich]

Quite a bit... Libraries do not have a tendency of scanning entire manuscripts for free, except when if it is for their own benefit. And in this case there was no other choice, as this is the only surviving copy of this text still known to exist (Fulcanelli's copy, the only other one that we have notice of, seems to have "vanished" from the face of the Earth! Canseliet saw it and gave a description of it, but that was decades ago, and no one since seems to have seen it again), so we were at the "mercy" of the NYPL; whatever they requested as a fee for scanning the manuscript we had to agree to it.

$10, $100, $1000, $5000?? "Expensive" and "Quite a bit" are both so vague and relative to where one is at in life...

How long did it take from initial request to completion for the NYPL to get it to you?

[JDP]

$10, $100, $1000, $5000?? "Expensive" and "Quite a bit" are both so vague and relative to where one is at in life...

How long did it take from initial request to completion for the NYPL to get it to you?

Why do you want to know the actual fee? Suffice it to say that it was in the "three digits" realm.

It took a few months for them to actually carry out the processing of the order and scanning of the manuscript, since we started making our inquiries about this in mid December, and the staff in charge of reproductions was going away for the holidays, so we had to wait until January for them to continue responding to our questions and requests.

[Salazius]

JDP you made a great thing for the Alchemical Community. Bravo and thank you very much.

Have you decided which publisher you will contact in order to make it available in french and english?

[JDP]

JDP you made a great thing for the Alchemical Community. Bravo and thank you very much.

Have you decided which publisher you will contact in order to make it available in french and english?

Aaron Cheak will be in charge of making the final review of the transcription and translation, and then publish it sometime later this year (hopefully.)

http://www.aaroncheak.com/about/

[Hellin Hermetist]

Good work JDP. I had a quick look over that text. The author says that he knew perfectly how to make the Stone, but he had never made the experience with his own hands, because he lacked the necessary time and energy. That sounds suspicious. In another point he says that there are two ways to make the stone. One is the way of the art, in which nature plays only a small role. The other is the way of Nature and the way of the ancients, where Nature works for the most part by herself and the only thing the artist do is helping Nature. Now comes the interesting part. He says that the first way, the one of Art, makes use of common metallic gold and common metallic mercury. The natural way, on the other hand, makes use of the philosophical matter. He says that Philalethes has described mainly the first way, the one invented by the moderns, which use gold and metallic mercury. But he has meddled some procedure of the natural way as well, to confuse the reader. That sounds more suspicious. Those and some other things have made me cast doubts on the credibility of that author.

[Aham]

Why do you want to know the actual fee? Suffice it to say that it was in the "three digits" realm.

It took a few months for them to actually carry out the processing of the order and scanning of the manuscript, since we started making our inquiries about this in mid December, and the staff in charge of reproductions was going away for the holidays, so we had to wait until January for them to continue responding to our questions and requests.

JDP, if you need something scanned at the NYPL, please let me know. I do go to NY a few times a year and if time permits, spend some time making copies or find someone that is willing to do the work. Just depends on the library location.

[JDP]

JDP, if you need something scanned at the NYPL, please let me know. I do go to NY a few times a year and if time permits, spend some time making copies or find someone that is willing to do the work. Just depends on the library location.

Thanks, that will do for regular books and articles, but when it comes to rare manuscripts & books they just don't allow anyone but the staff to copy them.