Ongoing activities and past events at the J.R. Ritman Library
Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
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Since the library became an institution in 1984, it has actively engaged in contacts with other libraries and related institutions, resulting in loans to exhibitions, and participation in projects and manifestations. The library's own publishing-house, 'In de Pelikaan', publishes the exhibition catalogues of the BPH and relevant studies. A survey of the main activities now follows:
Selected activities in 1998
From June the library showed highlights from its collections.
The library opened its doors for participants of the International Federation of Library Associations' conference in August, which this year was held in Amsterdam.
Selected activities in 1997
The library lent a number of books to the exhibition 'Science at the Court of Rudolf II', part of the impressive manifestation around Rudolf II and Prague, which included exhibitions in various locations, a symposium, lectures and broadcasts. Among the books lent by the BPH was a 16th-century manuscript version in Czech of Paracelsus' Prognostication auf xxiiii jar zukünfftig (1536) This translation was probably produced early in the reign of Rudolf II, under whose aegis Prague flowered into a centre for Hermetic studies.
The library also lent a number of works, including one of its oldest manuscripts, the 13th-century Grail-Merlin-Lancelot manuscript to the exhibition devoted to the Dutch late medieval 'man of letters' Jacob van Maerlant, held in Damme (Belgium).
Selected activities in 1996
On 27 February the library presented the first Dutch translation of the Hermetic Asclepius in the University Library Amsterdam. The Latin Asclepius was the only known work attributed to Hermes Trismegistus before the Renaissance, when the newly-discovered Corpus Hermeticum was translated by Marsilio Ficino at the request of his patron Cosimo de Medici. Professor Quispel translated the text from Latin, investigated other versions (including Coptic and Greek fragments) of the Asclepius, and added extensive commentary to the text.
The library lent the 13th-century Grail-Merlin-Lancelot manuscript to a large exhibition devoted to Jacob van Maerlant in the Museum of the Book in The Hague. Van Maerlant's literary activitities extended to the Grail: he adapted the Grail material in his own work in the 13th century.
The BPH also contributed to an interactive project which ran in Amsterdam and focussed on one of the educational works of Jan Amos Comenius: 'Orbis pictus revisited: an interactive exhibition'.
Selected activities in 1995
J.R. Ritman was presented with the Laurens Jansz Coster award by the mayor of Haarlem for his merits as a book collector and founder of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. The ceremony took place in the Haarlem town hall, where the library had mounted a small, special exhibition for the occasion.
Selected activities in 1994
In May the library lent a number of books for a commemorative exhibition in the Pushkin museum St Petersburg on the Russian masonic writer N.I. Novikov.
In November Frans A. Janssen spoke at the opening of the 10th 'Festival International des Philosophies et Traditions' in Carcassonne, a biennial festival in which the library participated actively in the late eighties and early nineties.
In December Dr E.U. Genieva presented J.R. Ritman with the proceedings of the conference '500 years of Gnosis in Europe' which was held in Moscow in 1993 (see under Exhibitions in 1993).
Selected activities in 1992
In June an exhibition of a number of books of Dutch origin was shown in the Rudomino Library for Foreign Literatures in Moscow under the title Dutch books, victims of the war. This public exhibition presented the culmination of joint efforts by the director of the BPH and the director of the Rudomino Library to call attention to the plight of collections of books looted by the German occupiers in WWII which after the war were transported to Russia by the victorious army. These books, of Dutch provenance, were returned to the Netherlands in September and officially presented to the Amsterdam University Library. A catalogue of the books, including an index of owners, compiled by staff of the Rudomino Library with a preface by Frans A. Janssen, was also presented.
The first Dutch translation of one of Comenius' pansophical works, Via Lucis, commissioned by the BPH, was presented in the library in October. Carlos Gilly wrote an introduction discussing the connection between Comenius and the Rosicrucians.
Jan Amos Comenius. Via lucis. De weg van het licht. Translated by J.M. Schadd and R.M. Bouthoorn. 183 pp.
The library lent books to various exhibitions, including works by Comenius for a commemorative exhibition in the University Library of Amsterdam; an incunable formerly owned by Lorenzo de Medici for a commemorative exhibition in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence; six Books of Hours of Northern Dutch origin for an exhibition on manuscripts in the Museum Meermanno-Westreenianum in The Hague.
Selected activities in 1991
The library took part in the manifestation 'Festival de l'Ésoterisme' in November 1991 with an exhibition and accompanying catalogue under the title La gnose hermétique, an adaptation of an earlier exhibition held in the BPH.
La gnose hermétique. Exposition à l'occasion du Festival International de l'Esotérisme. Compiled by F. van Lamoen. 87 pp.
The library was the major lender to an exhibition devoted to Venice and printing, held in the Royal Palace in Amsterdam in July through September. The library supplied incunables and books printed between 1500 and 1600.
Selected activities in 1990
The library presented the first part of its incunable collection in the form of a monumental descriptive catalogue in two volumes, compiled by American incunabulist Margaret Lane Ford. The presentation of the library's incunables in a separate, lavishly illustrated, scholarly catalogue, is highly appropriate for a library dedicated to the ad fontes principle: in incunabula, representing the earliest printed editions of texts concerned with spiritual philosophy, are found the roots of Hermetic Christianity, both ancient and contemporary, which the library seeks to document.
Christ, Plato, Hermes Trismegistus. The Dawn of Printing. Catalogue of the incunabula in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. Part 1. Compiled by M. Lane Ford. 410, 207 pp.
Towards the end of the year the Dutch translation of the Corpus Hermeticum, translated from the Greek and annotated by Roel van den Broek and Gilles Quispel, was presented in the library. The Corpus Hermeticum, which was re-introduced to a Western audience in the Italian Renaissance (first edition 1471) is one of the most fundamental texts in the Hermetic tradition.
Corpus Hermeticum. Introduction, translation and commentary by R. van den Broek en G. Quispel. 1990 (fourth edition 1996). 206 pp.
Selected activities in 1989
The library lent generously to an exhibition on alchemical practice and philosophy, organized by the Institute for the History of Art of the University of Groningen. A descriptive catalogue, Het is niet alles goud...alchemistische praktijk en filosofie (Groningen 1989) recorded the 39 loans of the library.
The library lent two of its finest Books of Hours to the major manuscript exhibition 'The golden age of Dutch manuscript painting', which opened in Utrecht in December 1989, and was accompanied by a catalogue of the same name.
Selected activities in 1988
The library provided photographic material and research support for S. Klossowski de Rola's The golden game. Alchemical engravings of the 17th century (London: Thames & Hudson 1988).