![HELMONT, Franciscus Mercurius van (1618-1699). Alphabeti vere Naturalis Hebraici brevissima delineatio. Sulzbach: Abraham Lichtenthaler, '1657' [1667].](https://www.christies.com/img/LotImages/2000/CKS/2000_CKS_06298_0104_000(011250).jpg?w=1)
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HELMONT, Franciscus Mercurius van (1618-1699). Alphabeti vere Naturalis Hebraici brevissima delineatio. Sulzbach: Abraham Lichtenthaler, '1657' [1667].
12° (133 x 68mm). Engraved frontispiece by J. Franck and 36 engraved plates. The frontispiece is here bound before the plates. (Spotted, light dampstain at extreme corners, weakening a few.) 20th-century red-brown calf with small central ornament in blind on sides, red spine label, red sprinkled edges.
FIRST EDITION. An alchemist, who claimed to possess the secret of the philosopher's stone, Helmont was also a talented linguist, artist, and theosophist. The Alphabetum Hebraicum is his major work. Believing the Hebrew language to be 'natural', since each of the letters in its alphabet may be articulated, Helmont proposed that through the study of Hebrew non-hearing and non-speaking people could learn to read lips. The engraved plates illustrate the position of the tongue and mouth necessary for correct pronounciation and therefore correct lip-reading. Ferguson I, 379-80; Krivatsy, NLM 17th-century, 5426; Wellcome III, p. 241.
12° (133 x 68mm). Engraved frontispiece by J. Franck and 36 engraved plates. The frontispiece is here bound before the plates. (Spotted, light dampstain at extreme corners, weakening a few.) 20th-century red-brown calf with small central ornament in blind on sides, red spine label, red sprinkled edges.
FIRST EDITION. An alchemist, who claimed to possess the secret of the philosopher's stone, Helmont was also a talented linguist, artist, and theosophist. The Alphabetum Hebraicum is his major work. Believing the Hebrew language to be 'natural', since each of the letters in its alphabet may be articulated, Helmont proposed that through the study of Hebrew non-hearing and non-speaking people could learn to read lips. The engraved plates illustrate the position of the tongue and mouth necessary for correct pronounciation and therefore correct lip-reading. Ferguson I, 379-80; Krivatsy, NLM 17th-century, 5426; Wellcome III, p. 241.
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