German translation and chemical commentary on Michael Maier’s Viatorium (1618)
The Viatorium project is an ongoing translation project consisting of a German translation and chemical commentary on Michael Maier’s Viatorium (1618).
It is conducted in collaboration with the chemist Rainer Werthmann and the philologist Aaron Plattner. The project has been progressing in the background for several years at this point. Although we aim to complete it as soon as possible, the extended duration has also enabled us to identify connections that were not apparent during the early stages of the work. We now know the material exceptionally well and hope to publish the project as a book in the near future.
As preliminary work from this project, I characterised Viatorium as a work (Lang, 2021) and wrote about its emblem images (Lang, 2024).
References
2024
Imago et error. Decrypting the Allegorical Images of Michael Maier’s Viatorium (1618)
Sarah Lang
In Michael Maier und die Formen (al)chemischen Wissens um 1600, 2024
This essay interprets the images in chymist Michael Maier’s (1568–1622) Viatorium (1618) as didactical devices, rather than emblematic riddles with a purely ornamental function. This interpretation places them in a different context than Maier’s paratextual admonitions to maintain the alchemical vows of secrecy, as presented in texts located in the front matter, such as the dedicatory epistle, the praefatio ad lectores, and the tractatus divisio. The essay further argues that each of the images’ didactic purpose within the Viatorium is to engage readers in a deep meditation on a chymical error or common misunderstanding Maier is trying to clear up. Most of the allegorical narratives corresponding to the images are set up in a twofold structure: The first layer offers a literal interpretation of the story behind the image, revealing the error therein. The second layer connects this story’s error to the chemical subject of the chapter in which it is located, relating it to one of the seven metals.
@incollection{Lang2024ImagoEtError,author={Lang, Sarah},title={Imago et error. Decrypting the Allegorical Images of Michael Maier's Viatorium (1618)},booktitle={Michael Maier und die Formen (al)chemischen Wissens um 1600},editor={Wels, Volkhard and Brandl, Simon},publisher={Harrassowitz},address={Wiesbaden},pages={239--256},year={2024},doi={10.13173/9783447121453},keywords={Viatorium (1618), alchemy, chemical interpretation, emblem, allegory, mythoalchemy, Michael Maier}}
2021
Michael Maier, Viatorium, hoc est, de monitibus planetarum septem seu metallorum, Oppenheim: Johann Theodor de Bry 1618, Exemplar Universitätsbibliothek der Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Slg. G. Freytag H 1329 und Signatur Bibliothek Senckenberg 8° R 523.670
This short article provides a description and contextualization of Michael Maier’s (1569–1622) Viatorium (1618).
@online{Lang2021MaierViatorium,author={Lang, Sarah},title={Michael Maier, Viatorium, hoc est, de monitibus planetarum septem seu metallorum, Oppenheim: Johann Theodor de Bry 1618, Exemplar Universitätsbibliothek der Goethe Universität Frankfurt, Slg. G. Freytag H 1329 und Signatur Bibliothek Senckenberg 8° R 523.670},year={2021},editor={Wagner, Berit},booktitle={Virtuelle Ausstellung Matthäus Merian d.Ä. und die Bebilderung der Alchemie},url={https://merian-alchemie.ub.uni-frankfurt.de/ausstellung/ii-alchemische-bildwelten/maier-viatorium-1618/},keywords={history-of-science-alchemy, viatorium}}