Hundertachtunddreißig ganz neu entdeckte Geheimnisse
Printing History, Manuscripts. A collection of “secrets,” first printed in 1717, reprinted at least in 1720, 1726, 1729, 1732, 1737, 1756, in some cases with newly appended secrets.
Editions. Not edited by Huser or Sudhoff.
Relationship between different versions.
Structure, genre/form, perspective, style.
Relationship to other texts. Parts of the 138 Geheimnisse are parallel to Experimenta attributed to Andreas Tentzel. These Experimenta are dated 1615, but were probably published for the first time in 1725.
Authenticity, authorship. Not a pseudo-Paracelsian work, but a collection of short texts including these texts that are attributed to or mention Paracelsus: “Daß Granat-Aepffel von allerhand Arten zusammen gesetzt/ aneinander wachsen” (23, n° 20), “Das Senechthon Theophrasti” (46, n° 41), “Von denen Olympischen Geistern des Theophrasti” (113–114, n° 122), “Von denen magischen Spiegeln” (121–122, n° 130), “Theophrasti magisches Glöcklein zu machen” (n° 131), “De Secretis Secretorum Thesauro Philosophor[um]” (127–129, n° 136).
Time of writing. According to the preface, the collector (“Der Herr Collector”) was already deceased at the time of publication. The secret n° 45 mentions university studies in 1664 in Bern (Switzerland).
Manuscripts: no manuscripts known
First printed:
- 1717 (Hundert Acht und Dreyßig Gantz Neu-entdeckte Geheimnüsse Oder Sonderbahre bißher unbekannte und noch nie an das Tages-Licht gegebene Secrete (Frankfurt a.M.-Leipzig: Johann Martin Hagen, 1717); VD18, 12226580)
Essential bibliography:
Further bibliographical references:
Will-Erich Peuckert, “Paracelsische Zauberei,” Nova Acta Paracelsica, 8 (1957), 71–94, on 92–93.
Peuckert, Gabalia (1967), 212–213, 259, 312, 337–357, 556–557.
