[ALCHEMY] ROSICRUCIAN ALCHEMICAL MANUSCRIPT. MYSTERIUM MAGNUM. Illustrated alchemical manuscript of Rosicrucian origin on the 'Mysterium Magnum Studium Universale,' folio (335 x 220 mm), 18 leaves: 2 pp half-title sheet, 'Theosophia F.R.R.R. Ros. Cruc.'; 17 pp hand-colored illustrated text, 'Mysterium Magnum'; 7 pp 'Exlicatio' with hand-colored illustration in text, text in German, with Latin, 18th-century. Loose, loss to margins of leaves, sometimes affecting text, repairs filled-in. Housed in a custom cloth folding chemise, and case. Provenance: 'Budafalvi Vermes Lorant' (stamped to first and last leaf). RARE EARLY ILLUSTRATED MANUSCRIPT OF THE GREAT MYSTERY OF ALCHEMY AND THE ARCANA OF ROSICRUCIAN PHILOSOPHY. Created by the Fraternity of the Gold and Rosy Cross, an 18th century order of Freemasons, the idea of the Mysterium Magnum manuscript evolved over the course of the 18th century and culminated in the 1785-88 publication of The Secret Symbols (Geheime Figuren) of the Rosicrucians. Scholars have identified three distinct versions of the Mysterium Magnum manuscript concept—each version sharing a common core of imagery, but additionally possessing its own peculiar images (as well as its own distinctive title/name). The present manuscript is clearly an example of the earliest 'A' version. Some of the imagery of 'A' version Mysterium Magnum manuscripts has connection to the school of Jacob Boehme and the theosophical work of [Pseudo-]Valentin Wiegel: the full-page illustrations of the 'Tree of Life' and 'Pan Sophia' (Universal Wisdom) are especially famous and appear to have a basis in the Kabbalistic Tree of the Sephirot. As one would expect, different 'A' version manuscripts exhibit some variation in their style of illustration and also some minor variation in their text. The artistic style and text of the present manuscript resembles that of the Herzog August Bibliothek copy (dated to 1810), but it appears to be of higher artistic quality and earlier in date. The earliest dated instance of an 'A' version manuscript is 1748, but 1731 and 1710 are also posited as dates of original composition, with 1695 being a terminus post quem. No formal census of Mysterium Magnum (or of any Geheime-Figuren-related) manuscripts has ever been made, but our research has located 7 copies of the 'A' version, in addition to the present unrecorded example. REFERENCES: Gilly, Carlos, ed. Magic, Alchemy and Science. Herausgegeben von Carlos Gilly und Cis van Heertum. Amsterdam: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, 2002. Harmsen, Theodor. 'Fiction or a much stranger Truth. Sources and Reception of the Geheime Figuren der Rosenkreuzer – Secret Symbols of the Rosicrucians in the 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries,' IN: Aufklärung und Esoterik: Wege in die Moderne. Berlin, Boston: De Gruyter, 2013, pp 726-752. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing