Kircher - Iter Extaticum II - 1657

Kircher Athanasius

Iter Extaticum II, Also Called and the World’s Subterraneans Prodomus, or the Geocosmi Opificium

Rome - 1657 -
Typis Mascardi

(24), 237, (13)p.
In 4o - 23 X 17 cm. -

THE DIRECT JOURNEY TO THE DEPTHS OF THE EARTH,
FUNDAMENTAL FOR THE HISTORY OF GEOLOGY.

First extremely rare edition of this fundamental work which became the prelude to the “Mundus Subterraneus.”

The works of Kircher relating to the Earth proved controversial for his contemporaries, on both sides of the growing theological-secular divide.
Of all his published works, however, the only volume disapproved by the Jesuit censorship for philosophical reasons was the precursor to the “Mundus Subterraneus” and its first geological manuscript, the “Iter Extaticum II,” here represented in a splendid copy.
For this reason many copies of this work were destroyed and eliminated, making the text extremely rare and unrecoverable.

The “Iter Extaticum II” was in turn an expansion of
an earlier work, the “Itinerarium Extaticum” (1655), which dealt with the cosmology of the universe.

The “Iter” represents the continuation of Kircher’s fanciful “ecstatic journey,” this time directed toward the depths of the Earth rather than outward or toward the sky.

In the work Kircher begins to outline his theories on subterranean fires, various expanses of hidden water, exhalations, and channels that connect the seas on the surface to underground reservoirs (the so-called “hydrophylacia”).

Kircher conceives a global hydraulic and volcanic system, capable of explaining phenomena such as tides, earthquakes, and eruptions.
The anatomy and internal structure of the Earth are explored, forming early theories on subterranean fires (volcanism), on the great hidden water basins, and on the mechanisms of matter transformation.

The work proved problematic for Jesuit censorship, since Kircher’s interpretation of the Earth contradicted Aristotle’s authoritative view of the natural world.

Kircher stages an ecstatic rapture; his alter ego
Theodidactus (the one who is taught by God) is guided by the angel Cosmiel and by the angel of water Hydriel:

- Dialog I -
The water element, universal principle.
Theory of the ‘Hydrophylacia,’ enormous reservoirs feeding springs and rivers.

- Dialog II -
De admirando arcanorum - Geocosmi, the arcane of the Geocosm.
Central fire, channels of fire (Pyrophylacia), air, earthquakes, volcanoes (here Kircher explains Etna and Stromboli, which he had visited in 1637-38).

- Dialog III -
Ecstatic journey into the true subterranean world.
Fossils, subterranean animals, metals, poisons, demons.

Excellent and compact contemporary binding in full semirigid parchment.
Small worm traces and slight edge erosion on the back, with faded manuscript.
Very solid block.

Pages generally well preserved, with evident signs of humidity, browning, and marginal worming at the upper margin (more evident in the central part of the volume).
However the text appears perfectly consultable.
At the frontispiece a prestigious heraldic stamp depicting a rampant lion in an oval, probably traceable to Palatinate/Bohemia, consistent with the dedication to Leopold II, King of Hungary and Bohemia.
Also present are ancient library inscriptions dated 1765, eight years before the suppression of the Jesuits in 1773, when many libraries were dispersed.
Errata on the reverse of the last leaf (2H5v) and the last blank 2H6.
Original guard pages preserved.

Rare and fundamental text of Kircher’s works, complete and original in every part.
COLLATED. COMPLETE