old manuscripts

Drawings from Tui bei tu, a Chinese prophecy book. This book, written by astronomers and historians Yuan Tiangang and Li Chunfen during the Tang Dynasty, contained 60 drawing with preceding poems that made predictions for the era and was likely based on the I Ching, also known as The Book of Changes. At the front of the book, the following is written:

“When examining the future, please know that the past may have been clear as a bright moon, but the future may be dark and black. Be cautious.”

The book was later deemed forbidden in the Song Dynasty but remained popular with the public. Source: World Digital Library

Permalink

Title page of De Arte divina & sacra, sine Aenigmate tradita & del praxin conscripta by Anonymous, ca. 1700. At the top of the painting you can see the Greek God Hermes, representing the element Mercury, the peacock representing the end of the Nigredo stage, and the element of air, represented by the faces blowing. From Manly P. Hall’s collection of alchemical manuscripts Box 3, MS 14

Permalink

Diagrams of alchemical furnaces in The Key of Alchemy by Samuel Norton, 1577. I love how amateur these look, it’s from a handwritten manuscript, so perhaps they’re placeholder drawings. From Manly P. Hall’s collection of Alchemical Manuscripts. Box 18, MS102, v10

Permalink