Call Number:

Ms. Codex 2227

Repository:

University of Pennsylvania: Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts

Extent:

1 volume(s)

Language:

English

Preferred Citation:

John Augustus Tulk alchemical notebook, 1807-1811, Ms. Codex 2227, Kislak Center for Special Collections, Rare Books and Manuscripts, University of Pennsylvania

Date:

1807-1811 (inclusive)

Creator:

Tulk, John Augustus, 1756-1845

Form:

Codices (bound manuscripts)

Abstract:

This volume was written between 1807 and 1811 in London, England by John Augustus Tulk and contains his treatise-style writings and notes on alchemy.

John Augustus Tulk (1756-1845) was a "man of substantial means" from West London (Kislak administrative file). He was friends with numerous people associated with alchemy, including William Blake, Alexander Tilloch, Sigismund Bacstrom, and Augustus Nordenskjöld. He was also an early reader of Swedenborg and a founder of the Theosophical Society.

Tulk's son, Charles Augustus Tulk (1786-1849), was an English politician and notable Swedenborgian.

The first section of this volume includes a transcription from the Theatrum Chemicum, which is a compendium of early alchemical writings published between 1602 and 1661. It contains six volumes and is considered the most comprehensive work on alchemy ever published.

Sources:

"Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Tulk, Charles Augustus." Wikisource, the Free Online Library, Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., 28 Dec. 2020, en.wikisource.org/wiki/Dictionary_of_National_Biography,_1885-1900/Tulk,_Charles_Augustus.

"John Augustus Tulk, A Clew to the Hermetic Labyrinth, 1807, HAM – Richmond" (Kislak Center administrative file).

Rafal, Prinke T. "Theatrum Chemicum Electronicum." Wielkopolska Digital Library, 23 Dec. 2005, www.wbc.poznan.pl/dlibra/publication/6486/edition/11637/content.

"Tulk, Charles Augustus (1786–1849)." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, www.oxforddnb.com/display/10.1093/odnb/9780192683120.001.0001/odnb-9780192683120-e-27811. Accessed 11 Oct. 2024.

This volume was written between 1807 and 1811 by John Augustus Tulk and contains his treatise-style writings and notes on alchemy.

It is bound in half leather over marbled paper boards and is divided into three sections: "A clew &c" (p. 1r-10r), "Conclusion" (p. 11r-18r), and "Addenda" (p. 19r-36r). The three primary sections are followed by blank pages (p. 36v-42r) and a short section titled "Cursory thoughts on creation" (p. 42v-44v).

The first section begins with a transcription of Magister Odomar's "A perfect preparation of common salt for the Philosopher's Stone" from Book III of the Theatrum Chemicum written on the rectos with some of Tulk's own thoughts and comments written on the versos.

The second section, "Conclusion," is subtitled "with a philosophical suggestion of a more expeditious mode of educing the secret of the philosophers founded on what follows."

The "Addenda" includes numerous references to literature in addition to passages and poems, some of which may have been written by Tulk. In this section, Tulk describes and discusses Beecher's Concordatia Chymica; Peter Shaw's Philosophical Principles of Universal Chemistry; and poems by Elias Ashmole in Theatrum Chymicum Britanicum. This section also contains "Remarks upon several authors" (p. 30v-36r), including Eirenaeus Philalethes, Paracelsus, Abbe Rousseau, and Alipili the Moor.

Throughout the volume, there are a significant number of references to alchemical texts and figures.

This volume gives insight into the position and reception of alchemy in the London intellectual community at the beginning of the 19th century.