Title: [YHWE] Tractatus Mago-Cabbalistico-Chymicus et Theosophicus, von des Saltzes Uhrsprung und
Erzeugung, Natur und Nutzen, wobey zugleich die Erzeugung derer Metallen, Mineralien und anderer
Salien, aus dem Grunde der Natur bewiesen wird [...] Sammt vollständigen Register aufgesetzet von
G.A.S.

Publication: Salzburg, no printer, 1729.

Reference No:   MU-RBL00074

Book Description

4to. [6], 161, [20] pp. With 58 figures on 10 (counting 1 as frontispiece) usually folding engr.
plates. Contemp. half calf with label to gilt spine.

Second edition of the work first published in Frankfurt in 1719 with a slightly different title
and under the pseudonym of "Gregorius Anglus Sallwigt", important for the history of
Rosicrucianism, "the mystical content of which is very much unclear" (Kopp). An enlarged version
entitled "Opus Mago-Cabbalisticum et Theosophicum [...]" was published in 1735 under the name of
the author (already deceased in 1727) and was reprinted in 1760 and 1784. Compared with later
copies, the present one is not only more beautifully printed, but also has larger plates and is
generally executed with greater accuracy. "The ten folding plates are of absorbing interest to
the Rosecrucian turn of mind. Goethe studied this book intensively" (Hoover 872). Details about
Welling (1652-1727), according to Hoover "a man of great learning but very superstitious", the
various editions of his works and their content may be found in Frick, Die Erleuchteten, pp. 54,
491ff. and 426ff.: "At the beginning of the eighties of the 18th century, Welling's Opus Mago-
Cabbalisticum became the most important text and instruction book of the Order of the Gold- and
Rosicrucians [...] The fourth chapter of the first part, 'De mundo archetypo', was transferred
almost verbatim into the instruction documents of the first Degree of the Order. - The fine
engravings depict geometrical figures and cabbalistic symbols, among them the "Systema Magicum
Universi". - Slightly browned and insignificantly spotted; occasional underlinings and penciled
marginalia, otherwise a good copy. - Ferguson II, 317. Duveen 526. Neu 4323. Ferchl 466. Mellon
150 (note). Kopp II, 240.