Brief an Brundner

From Theatrum Paracelsicum
also:
Was Theophrastus seinem liebsten Freund Brunder geschrieben hat


I. Basic information


Printing History, Manuscripts. Not printed before Manacorda (1907, 1947). Three German manuscripts (the Wolfenbüttel manuscript has three slightly different copies). One manuscript with a Dutch translation.

Editions. Not edited by Huser or Sudhoff.

Relationship between different versions. All manuscripts have basically the same text. The second and third copy of the letter in the Wolfenbüttel manuscript do not have a proper caption, but preserve the same information in a postscriptum marked “NB.” (nota bene).

Structure, genre/form, perspective, style. Written in the form of a letter addressed to “Lieber Brunder” (or “Bründer”) and dated from Salzburg, but without a specific year. In the caption “Brundner” is identified as a nobleman from Carinthia. The letter is said to have been written by Paracelsus in cipher “before his death.” Written in the first person.

Relationship to other texts.

Authenticity, authorship.

Time of writing. Further study required.

II. Sources


Manuscripts:

  • Catania, Biblioteca regionale universitaria, Biblioteca Strano: U.Ms.BS.050 (olim Ms. Vent. 28), f. 11r
  • Hamburg, Staats- und Universitätsbibliothek: Cod. alchim. 673, VII, f. 10v–11r [Dutch]
  • London, Wellcome Library: MS 1156, 21
  • Wolfenbüttel, Herzog August Bibliothek: Cod. Guelf. 9 Noviss. 2°, f. 1r, 2r, 4r [3 copies]

First printed: not printed before Manacorda (1907)

III. Bibliography


Essential bibliography: CP 3: 317.

Further bibliographical references:

Guido Manacorda, “Di un codicetto tedesco posseduto della R. Biblioteca Ventimiliana in Catania,” Rivista di letteratura tedesca, 1 (1907), 222–246.

Anonimo (scuola di Paracelso), Canto della montagna, ed. Guido Manacorda (Florence, 1947).

Telle, “Paracelsus in pseudoparacelsischen Briefen” (2006–2007), 155 n. 30.