Item Details

Cotnoir, Brian.

Tabula Smaragdina [Emerald Tablet] from Liber de secretis nature of Hugh of Santalla; translated by Brian Cotnoir.

New York: Khepri Press, [2014]. Limited Edition. Stamped Cloth. The Emerald Tablet one of the root texts of alchemy is a brief alchemical work attributed to Hermes Trismegistus. Historically the work is part of the Hermetic corpus and seems to have the same origins as the rest of the Corpus Hermeticum. The text was discovered, according to one version of the legend, by Apollonius of Tyana. After an earthquake a passageway opened up beneath a statue that led to a subterranean chamber. Seated there was a statue of Hermes Trismegistus holding a tablet of green stone (smaragda) engraved with the text of what is now known as the Emerald Tablet. The earliest known surviving texts are attributed to Apollonius of Tyana and it is the Arabic and Latin versions that are considered in this new work. This edition is a collection of new translations of those earliest extant Arabic and Latin versions with accompanying essay and commentary. It is a distillation of the chapter on the Emerald Tablet in my forthcoming book "Alchemy: The Poetry of Matter." There I present a more complete discussion, analysis and experimentation. Here I present it as a Hermetic work of art – a talismanic book in form, function and result. The Emerald Tablet is not only a fresh contribution to alchemical studies it is also an example of book art at its finest. Designed by Brian Cotnoir. Typeset by Lara Captan – English and Latin in Seria & Seria Sans by Martin Majoor; the Arabic in DecoType Naskh by Thomas Milo & Mirjam Somers. Letterpress printed by Roni Gross on Magnani Book paper with marbled end sheets. Cover Emblem Designs by Daud Sutton. Bound by Biruta Auna. Polymer plates by Boxcar Press. Fine. Double-sided concertina, letterpress printed, limited edition cloth bound green silk with hot stamping 23k gold. Silk edition, this copy being 39 of 71, all copies signed and numbered by the author. In red slipcase. Item #10199

Price: $850.00