Gregorius Tholosanus - Syntaxeon Artis Mirabilis - 1610

SCIENCE, MAGIC AND DEMONOLOGY: AN AUDACIOUS TANGLE TO THROW INTO THE FLAMES
Outlawed and placed on the index of forbidden books in 1580.
Fascinating sixteenth-century edition of the monumental “Syntaxeon Artis Mirabilis” by Pietro Gregorio da Tolosa, one of the most vast and ambitious speculative encyclopedias of the late European Renaissance culture. Published in Cologne in 1610 by the famous publisher Lazarus Zetzner, a central figure in spreading hermetic and philosophical literature between the 16th and 17th centuries, the work attempts to organize the entire universe of human knowledge according to a unitary and rational system. Cosmology, mathematics, astrology, music, medicine, natural magic and demonology coexist in a dizzying intellectual construction, typical of that cultural period in which science, metaphysics and occultism were not yet separated. It is not surprising that similar works were viewed with suspicion by ecclesiastical authorities: the cultural climate evoked by the volume is the one that led to the condemnation and control of numerous philosophical and magico-scientific texts in the inquisitorial indexes of the late 16th century.
MARKET VALUE
The editions of the “Syntaxeon Artis Mirabilis” printed by Lazarus Zetzner are rare on the international antiquarian market, especially in contemporary bindings and with the folded plates surviving. Complete and well-preserved copies can generally command values between €2,500 and €6,000, with higher results for particularly fresh copies, notable provenance, or exceptional states of conservation. Copies with structural defects or incomplete collation nevertheless retain considerable bibliographic interest for the cultural and symbolic importance of the work.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
2 parts in one volume. Full contemporary parchment with signs of use, slight deformations and waves compatible with the age of the volume. Two title pages with the editorial woodcut mark of Lazarus Zetzner. Presence of plates that are repeatedly folded depicting tables and synoptic schemes. Interiors with natural browning, sporadic foxing and signs of time consistent with a volume of intense consultation. Genuine and highly bibliophilic specimen, belonging to the typical philosophical-ermetic production of the Zetzner workshop. In old books, with a multi-century history, a few imperfections may be present, not always noted in the description.
Pp. (2); 554; 36nn. (2).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Syntaxeon Artis Mirabilis, in libros XL digestarum Tomi Duo: per quas de omni re proposita, multis & prope infinitis rationibus disputari, aut tractari, omniumque summaria cognitio haberi potest.
Coloniae, sumptibus Lazari Zetzneri bibliop., 1610.
Gregorius Tholosanus, Petrus (Pierre Grégoire).
2 parts in one volume.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
The “Syntaxeon Artis Mirabilis” constitutes one of the most spectacular attempts at encyclopedic construction in the late European Renaissance. Pietro Gregorio organizes human knowledge according to a universal system that embraces seemingly irreconcilable disciplines: cosmology, mathematics, astrology, medicine, music, metaphysics, natural magic and demonology are fused into a gigantic speculative architecture.
The work is born in a historical moment in which the modern distinction between science and occultism does not yet exist. Knowledge of the cosmos implies the study of astral influences, numeric harmonies, symbolic correspondences and the invisible forces of nature. In this sense the volume perfectly represents the cultural climate that fueled both the scientific revolution and the inquisitorial repression of numerous texts considered dangerous.
The association with Lazarus Zetzner’s publishing milieu further amplifies the symbolic value of the work. Zetzner was indeed one of the most important European editors of alchemical, Rosicrucian, philosophical and hermetic texts. His editions are today highly sought after by collectors of the history of esotericism, ancient science and natural philosophy.
Particularly interesting are the folded synoptic plates, typical tools of late Renaissance encyclopedic culture, designed to visualize the universal order of knowledge through combinatorial and taxonomic schemes.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE AUTHOR
Pietro Gregorio da Tolosa (c. 1540–1597), known in Latin as Petrus Gregorius Tholosanus, was a jurist, philosopher and encyclopedic thinker of France. Active in the university circles of southern France, he developed a vast philosophical system influenced by late-Renaissance Aristotelianism, encyclopedic humanism and the combinatory traditions derived from Ramon Llull. His works aimed at building a universal knowledge ordered according to logical and metaphysical principles. The “Syntaxeon Artis Mirabilis” represents the apex of his intellectual production.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
The “Syntaxeon” appeared originally at the end of the 16th century and was reprinted several times due to the interest it aroused in European philosophical and university circles. The Cologne edition of 1610, published by Lazarus Zetzner, is one of the most significant for editorial context and typographic quality. Zetzner published some of the most influential works of European hermetic culture, including alchemical collections, Rosicrucian texts and natural philosophy treatises. Complete copies of the “Syntaxeon Artis Mirabilis” are today preserved in important institutional libraries but are rare on the international antiquarian market.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
VD17 39:131360F.
USTC 2039806.
WorldCat/OCLC: institutional locations of the Cologne edition, 1610.
Graesse, Trésor de livres rares et précieux, III, p. 132.
Brunet, Manuel du Libraire, II, col. 1737.
Caillet, Manuel bibliographique des sciences psychiques et occultes, sections dedicated to Gregorius Tholosanus.
Dorbon-Aîné, Bibliotheca Esoterica, references to Renaissance Hermetic encyclopedism.
Ferguson, Bibliotheca Chemica, references to Lazarus Zetzner’s publishing activity.
Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, catalogs dedicated to universal systems of knowledge and the ars combinatoria.
ICCU/OPAC SBN, Italian censuses of the Cologne edition of 1610