Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica | Heterodoxology

Update: The BPH collection dissolved

Dante, Divina commedia. Venice, Giovanni Battista, Melchior and Domenico Sessa, 1564. From the BPH collection.

Almost a month after the conflict between Joost Ritman, Friesland Bank and the Dutch government became public knowledge, it now seems that things have not turned out well for the famous and unique collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica in Amsterdam. The case has been discussed in the Dutch parliament and national media during the last two weeks. Despite the petition which has gathered the support of academics world wide, and despite the pressure put on Halbe Zijlstra, the Secretary of State for Education, Culture and Science, the Dutch Government has already made the first move towards a dissolution of the collection which may indeed become permanent.

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on December 15, 2010 at 6:00 pm Comments (7)
Tags: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Friesland Bank, Halbe Zijlstra, Hermetic philosophy, History of Hermetic Philosohy and Related Currents, Joost Ritman, Koninklijke Bibliotheek den Haag, Ritman Library

Voices in support of the BPH (Ritman Library)

The tragic and grave circumstances surrounding the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica hit the news at the end of the week. The Dutch newspaper Trouw had a two-page report Thursday, while the news site Nu.nl published a shorter article on the situation. Follow the Money, a Dutch platform for financial-economic journalism currently has the most thorough information, over three articles (here, here and here – the latter mentions our petition). The Epoch Times has a piece on the Rochefoucauld Grail, the extremely valuable medieval manuscript on king Arthur which sparked the controversy between Mr. Ritman and Friesland Bank. Meanwhile, several blogs have picked up on the news as well, and kindly helped spread the petition. The Wild Hunt has a thorough account, as does Grenswetenschap (Dutch), while Cosmogono’s Weblog has kindly translated the petition text into Spanish.

Through blogs, facebook, twitter, emails, and forums, the petition has thus been distributed widely over the last few days, passing 2.500 signatories Saturday afternoon.

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on November 27, 2010 at 5:25 pm Comments (4)
Tags: Antoine Faivre, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Boaz Huss, Eileen Barker, Gavin Flood, J.R. Ritman, Jean-Pierre Brach, Lawrence Principe, Mark Sedgwick, Massimo Introvigne, Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke, Susan L. Alberth, Wilhelm Schmidt-Biggermann

Save the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica!

The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (BPH, or Ritman Library) in Amsterdam has been a very important institution for research into hermetic philosophy and related currents, particularly early modern Rosicrucianism and alchemy, for decades. In a dramatic and very unsettling turn of events, the library’s existence as we know it is now being threatened. It is all very unclear what will happen, but there is no doubt that spreading the word and creating attention around the developments is the least we can do to try and influence things in the best possible direction – to save the library, the staff, and its national heritage collection of manuscripts and printed books. Please sign this petition, and feel free to spread the word to anyone you think should know about this. For more information, read the note below.

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on November 24, 2010 at 3:02 pm Comments (82)
Tags: alchemy, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Friesland Bank, Hermetic philosophy, Joost Ritman, Rosicrucianism

Alchemy, and how to write about it: ESSWE thesis workshop

As advertised before on this blog, the European Society for the Study of Western Esotericism (ESSWE) has been organising a thesis workshop on alchemy. It took place in Amsterdam on June 24; here is a short report.

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on June 27, 2010 at 12:26 pm Comments (6)
Tags: alchemy, Andreas Kilcher, Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Boaz Huss, chemistry, chymistry, Clovis Hesteau, ESSWE, George Starkey, György E. Szőnyi, Heinrich Khunrath, Irenaeus Philalethes, Isaac Newton, Jean-Pierre Brach, Jennifer Rampling, Lawrence Principe, marco Pasi, Mark Sedgwick, Peter Forshaw, Pierre Gassendi, Robert Boyle, Stephen Clucas, William Newman, Wouter Hanegraaff

Gnosticism in Antiquity: book presentation in a historical environment

The blog has been silent for a while as I have been busy with finishing up classes and managing upcoming deadlines, among other things. To get going again, I’ll take this opportunity to write about a book presentation I went to last week. The specialist of gnosticism, hermetism and early Christianity, Roelof van den Broek, presented his latest book, Gnosis in de Oudheid: Nag Hammadi in Context in the magnificent Huis met de Hoofden (“house with the heads”) in Amsterdam. Below follows a few words about the book, the house, and the occasion.