The Library is currently working on a rare books survey – going through the back stacks of the Library’s collections to find rare books and manuscripts. During this survey work, it was discovered that the Library’s collection contained a rare 17th Century edition of the Fama Fraternitatis. The book the Library has is a later 1681 edition of the original 1614 Fama printed in German and published in Regensburg, Germany.
It is not known exactly when this book was donated to the Library. The inside cover dates the binding of the book to August of 1861. In addition the Grand Lodge of New York bookplate on the inside cover states “Presented by German Masonic Temple Association.” Many of the German Masonic lodges in New York City had their own Masonic temple on East 15th Street starting in 1880. It is possible that the Fama originally came from this German Masonic Library. During the rare book survey work for the Library, other volumes were discovered in the back stacks from the 18th and early 19th centuries that are marked with the same bookplate.
The Fama Fraternitatis was a significant book of the European Enlightenment period in the 17th Century. It was a foundational manuscript of the first Rosicrucians during the 1610s, and its publication and dissemination swiftly launched the early Rosicrucian movement in Europe. The anonymous writers of the Fama claimed that they were part of a secret and Holy Brotherhood, which possessed the hidden knowledge of the Philosopher’s Stone. They stated that they obtained this alchemical knowledge when the Brotherhood opened the tomb of Christian Rosenkreuz. In this tomb they discovered the lost books and artifacts of the past Rosicrucian Order. The Rosicrucians called for new members to join with them to help finish the work begun by their order’s founder, Christian Rosenkreuz. This work would lead to Europe’s renewal after the death and destruction of the bloody religious wars of the 16th century.
The authorship of the Fama is much debated among scholars today. Most scholars attribute the work to Johann Valentin Andrae (1586-1654), a well-educated Protestant pastor from Tübingen, Germany. The title of this work, translated roughly from the German, reads: A general and universal reformation of the whole world: written by the Fame of the Fraternity, the Honorable Order of the Rosicrucians, to all Scholars and Leaders of Europe. Now publicly published and communicated to all faithful hearts. First published in Kassel by Wilhelm Wessell, in the year 1614. Reprinted because of its extreme rarity, and supplemented with an appendix of various pertinent writings.
In addition to the Fama, this rare book also contains a few other writing from the same era:
- Traiano Boccalini’s The Universal and General Reformation of the Whole Wide World, which is an extract from Boccalini’s News from Parnassus, a work that advocates for more human love, charity, and affection, as opposed to reforming society.
- Adam Haselmeyer’s reply to the Rosicrucians: this work is significant, as it is the earliest known printed reference to the Rosicrucian Brotherhood (Haselmeyer worked as a notary public for Archduke Maximillian of Tyrol, but he was also an alchemist and translator of alchemical works).
Title Page of the Fama Fraternitatis (Left) and first page of the Fama text (Right)
This rare book was printed on hand-made paper and many of its pages contain decorative printed motifs, as shown in the images below:
Library Resources:
Churton, Tobias. The Golden Builders: Alchemists, Rosicrucians, and the First Freemasons. Boston: Weiser Books, 2005.
McIntosh, Christoper. The Rosicrucians: The History, Mythology, and Rituals of an Esoteric Order. York Beach: Samuel Wieser, Inc., 1997.