4/13/2019 Mutus Liber - Wikipedia

Mutus Liber
The Mutus Liber, or Mute Book (from Latin: Silent Book), is a Hermetic
philosophical work published in La Rochelle in 1677. It ranks amongst the
major books on alchemy in Early Modern literature, just as much as does
Atalanta Fugiens by Michael Maier. It has been reprinted numerous times.

Consisting mainly of illustrated plates, Mutus Liber arouses contradictory

interpretations. Its meaning was pored over for a long time by authors such as
Eugène Canseliet and Serge Hutin, who claimed to be initiated alchemists.
More recent studies are striving to use its historical reality in order to reveal its
meaning.[1]

Contents
Editions
History of attributions of authorship
Interpretations Mutus Liber cover

Notes
External resources

Editions
The first edition of Mutus Liber dates from 1677, published by Pierre Savouret in La Rochelle.[2] No more than a few dozen
copies can have been printed. Twelve original copies are conserved in main Western libraries. There may be more copies,
however. As early as 1702 it was reprinted in Geneva, with new plates, and edited by Jean-Antoine Chouet and Jean-
Jacques Manget. Eugène Canseliet purports seeing some pages of a Parisian edition dating from 1725. But the existence of
this edition has not been established. A third version of Mutus Liber was entirely reprinted around 1760 in Paris, and this
third edition is extremely rare. Mutus Liber was temporarily forgotten, but then regained editorial interest in the second
half of the 19th century. Since the beginning of the 20th century, editions have multiplied, sometimes accompanied by
prefaces detailing more or less precisely its contents. The main editions of Mutus Liber are the following:

1867 by Thibaud publishing house in Clermont Ferrand;

1914, by Nourry, prefaced by Pierre Dujois, alias Magophon;
1943, by Paul Derain, the publisher;
1966 by Pauvert publishers, prefaced by Eugène Canseliert;
1967 by L’Unité publishers, prefaced by Serge Hutin;
1991 Edition Weber, Amsterdam, introduction by Jean Laplace. All plates in facsimile, 19 x 28 cm on art paper. With
the three prefaces and in depth commentaries by E. Canseliet in his edition of 1966, translated into German by Martin
P. Steiner;
2015 by Editions à l’Envers, with new plates by Raymond Meyer.

History of attributions of authorship

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Mutus Liber clearly indicates the names of its author and of its inventor. The former is Altus, a “scholar in high chemistry
of Hermès”. The latter is Jacob Saulat, Sire of Marez. However, these assertions were soon proven to be fictitious, thus the
authorship of Mutus Liber has long been in doubt.

Rev. Arcère, a noted historian of La Rochelle, claims that Jabob Tollé is the author though his very existence was even put
in doubt.[3] Tollé was in fact a Rochelais doctor reputed for using chemistry and mastering perspective.[4] These two
qualities account for the fact that he was acknowledged as the author for a long time. However, ever since the article by
Jean Flouret, it has been established that the author of Mutus Liber is in fact Isaac Baulot. Using clues in Mutus Liber and
contemporary documents, Patrick Sembel suggests three people were involved with Isaac Baulot. Abrahaim Thévenin
probably worked on the plates, as the presence of his monetary symbol on the first illustrated page of Mutus Liber
indicates. Elie Bouhéreau and Elie Richard must have contributed to the conception of the book. As doctors and scholars
who used chemistry, they would have had many contacts who would facilitate publishing the book. Elie Richard studied at
Groningen with Des Maretz, a philosopher whose name is used to designate the person who discovered Mutus Liber. Elie
Bouhéreau knew Valentin Conrard, a secretary of the Académie Francaise, as well as many major authors and
philosophers of the time. It is he who attributed authorship of Mutus Liber to Isaac Baulot.

Interpretations
The form of Mutus Liber means that is open to various interpretations. Four ways of reading the book may be
distinguished

The most widespread reading is that of ‘initiated alchemists’, started off by Pierre Dujols,[5] under the pseudonym of
Magophon. It is carried on by Eugène Canseliet[6] and Serge Hutin.[7] These authors say that Mutus Liber shows how to
proceed to achieve the magnum opus, whose ultimate purpose is to obtain the philosopher’s stone. Carl Gustav Jung
studied Mutus Liber, and owned a copy of the 1677 edition. He used it namely to illustrate his work entitled Psychology
and Alchemy.[8] In this book Jung explains how alchemy is speculative thinking looking for the spiritual equilibrium
whose metaphorical form would be the philosopher’s stone. This process is accompanied by the creation of a repertoire of
mental pictures, or archetypes, which would gradually lead to a collective unconscious. More recently Lee Stavenhagen
worked on the narrative structure used to illustrate Mutus Liber.[9] In their research Jean Flouret and Patrick Sembel
have been trying to define the contents of Mutus Liber by putting it into its religious, intellectual and scientific context.

Notes
1. See FLOURET, Jean, « À propos de l’auteur du Mutus Liber », Revue française d’histoire du livre, n° 11 – N.S., avril-
juin 1976, p. 206-211.
2. For an analysis of the editions and attributions of authorship, see SEMBEL, Patrick, Hermès Atlantique, Le Mutus
Liber, 1677, L’éloge d’éther, 2015, 65 p. ISBN 978-2-9555442-0-4.
3. ARCÈRE, M. Histoire de la ville de La Rochelle et du Pays d’Aunis, tome 2, Chez Desbordes, La Rochelle, 1757, p
394.
4. MONCONYS, Balthasar de, Journal des Voyages, Lyon, Boissat & Remeus, 1665, p. 20
5. DUJOLS, Pierre, alias Magophon, Hypotypose du Mutus Liber, Paris, Editions Nourry, 1914.
6. CANSELIET, Eugène, L’Alchimie et son livre muet, Paris, Pauvert, 1967.
7. HUTIN, Serge, Commentaires sur le Mutus Liber, Paris, Le lien, 1967
8. JUNG, Carl-Gustav, Psychologie et Alchimie, Buchet/Chastel, 1970, 756 p.
9. STAVENHAGEN, Lee, « Narrative Illustration Techniques and the Mute Books of Alchemy », Explorations in
Renaissance Culture, vol. 5 (1979), 56-6

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External resources
Jung’s 1677 copy can be consulted on e-rara : http://www.e-rara.ch/cgj/content/titleinfo/1350330
The different versions on Mutus Liber kept at the National Library (BNF) : http://data.bnf.fr/documents-by-
rdt/13334743/a/page1
The preface by Pierrs Dujols, alias Magaphon, on the BNAM site : http://bnam.fr/IMG/pdf/hypotypo2.pdf
The commentary on Mutus Liber by Serge Hutin : http://www.esoblogs.net/523/le-mutus-liber-planche-1/
The radio programme in which Patrick Sembel talks about Mutus Liber : https://rcf.fr/culture/patrimoine/le-mutus-liber-
patrick-sembel
The article which appeared in the Sud Ouest newspaper on 15 July 2015 : http://www.sudouest.fr/2015/07/15/l-
historien-qui-veut-faire-parler-le-livre-muet-2020118-1391.php

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