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40-613: The Embassy of the Free Mind is a museum, library, and intellectual platform inspired by the collection. The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica was founded in 1957 by Joost R. Ritman and opened to the public in 1984. The library is now supported by a foundation and is a public institution. The Bibliotheca co-operates with international libraries and organizations, such as the Russian Rudomino Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow ,

80-409: A colophon or on the title page became more widespread. There are two types of printed incunabula: the block book , printed from a single carved or sculpted wooden block for each page (the same process as the woodcut in art, called xylographic ); and the typographic book , made by individual cast-metal movable type pieces on a printing press . Many authors reserve the term "incunabula" for

120-435: A printed book as an incunable does not reflect changes in the printing process, and many books printed for some years after 1500 are visually indistinguishable from incunables. The term " post-incunable " is now used to refer to books printed after 1500 up to 1520 or 1540, without general agreement. From around this period the dating of any edition becomes easier, as the practice of printing the place and year of publication using

160-679: A single volume of a multi-volume work as a separate item, as well as fragments or copies lacking more than half the total leaves. A complete incunable may consist of a slip, or up to ten volumes. In terms of format , the 30,000-odd editions comprise: 2,000 broadsides , 9,000 folios , 15,000 quartos , 3,000 octavos , 18 12mos, 230 16mos, 20 32mos, and 3 64mos. ISTC at present cites 528 extant copies of books printed by Caxton , which together with 128 fragments makes 656 in total, though many are broadsides or very imperfect (incomplete). Apart from migration to mainly North American and Japanese universities, there has been little movement of incunabula in

200-669: A wise merchant (Mercator Sapiens). Lodewijk and Laurens de Geer , from 1634 residents of the House with the Heads for 150 years, were besides affluent entrepreneurs also patrons of free thinkers and made the printing of their works possible. Their home library of approximately 6,000 books shows similarities with the books that are now once again in the museum library. The museum has a collection of more than 25,000 books on Hermeticism , Rosicrucianism , alchemy , mysticism , gnosis , Western esotericism and religious studies . Other areas covered within

240-480: Is Schedel's Nuremberg Chronicle ("Liber Chronicarum") of 1493, with about 1,250 surviving copies (which is also the most heavily illustrated). Many incunabula are unique, but on average about 18 copies survive of each. This makes the Gutenberg Bible , at 48 or 49 known copies, a relatively common (though extremely valuable) edition. Counting extant incunabula is complicated by the fact that most libraries consider

280-468: Is at least 20,000. Around 550,000 copies of around 27,500 different works have been preserved worldwide. Incunable is the anglicised form of incunabulum , reconstructed singular of Latin incunabula , which meant " swaddling clothes", or " cradle ", which could metaphorically refer to "the earliest stages or first traces in the development". A former term for incunable is fifteener , meaning "fifteenth-century edition". The term incunabula

320-462: Is currently focusing on reshaping the once privately funded library into a self-sustaining and public institution. The originally private library therefore acquired the status of a Public Benefit Institution (ANBI). With the rehousing to the Keizersgracht 123 in 2017, a new era begins in which the library will be passed on to a new generation and made accessible to a broader audience. In June 2016 it

360-495: The Hypnerotomachia Poliphili printed by Aldus Manutius with important illustrations by an unknown artist. Other printers of incunabula were Günther Zainer of Augsburg , Johannes Mentelin and Heinrich Eggestein of Strasbourg , Heinrich Gran of Haguenau , Johann Amerbach of Basel , William Caxton of Bruges and London, and Nicolas Jenson of Venice . The first incunable to have woodcut illustrations

400-609: The Grail . The entire Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica collection consists of around 28,000 books, including around 7,500 books printed before 1800, 70 incunables , 700 post-1550 manuscripts, and 25 manuscripts written before 1550. The remaining books are post 1800. Many items in the library are one of a kind. Among the treasures of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica are the Corpus Hermeticum published in 1471,

440-832: The Herzog August Bibliothek in Wolfenbüttel , the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence , and the Biblioteca Marciana in Venice . To date, the library holds more than 23,000 volumes on hermetica , Rosicrucianism , alchemy , mysticism , gnosis , esotericism and comparative religion , and has great scientific, artistic, and cultural value. Other areas of the collection are Sufism , Kabbalah , anthroposophy , theosophy , pansophy , Freemasonry , and

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480-604: The UK , the term generally covers 1501–1520, and for books printed in mainland Europe , 1501–1540. The data in this section were derived from the Incunabula Short-Title Catalogue (ISTC). The number of printing towns and cities stands at 282. These are situated in some 18 countries in terms of present-day boundaries. In descending order of the number of editions printed in each, these are: Italy, Germany, France, Netherlands, Switzerland, Spain, Belgium, England, Austria,

520-470: The history of printing include block books from the same time period as incunabula, whereas others limit the term to works printed using movable type . As of 2021, there are about 30,000 distinct incunable editions known. The probable number of surviving individual copies is much higher, estimated at 125,000 in Germany alone. Through statistical analysis, it is estimated that the number of lost editions

560-506: The 17th century. Michel Maittaire (1667–1747) and Georg Wolfgang Panzer (1729–1805) arranged printed material chronologically in annals format, and in the first half of the 19th century, Ludwig Hain published the Repertorium bibliographicum —a checklist of incunabula arranged alphabetically by author: "Hain numbers" are still a reference point. Hain was expanded in subsequent editions, by Walter A. Copinger and Dietrich Reichling , but it

600-880: The Czech Republic, Portugal, Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Turkey, Croatia, Serbia, Montenegro, and Hungary (see diagram). The following table shows the 20 main 15th century printing locations; as with all data in this section, exact figures are given, but should be treated as close estimates (the total editions recorded in ISTC at August 2016 is 30,518): The 18 languages that incunabula are printed in, in descending order, are: Latin, German , Italian , French , Dutch , Spanish , English, Hebrew , Catalan , Czech , Greek , Church Slavonic , Portuguese , Swedish , Breton , Danish , Frisian and Sardinian (see diagram). Only about one edition in ten (i.e. just over 3,000) has any illustrations, woodcuts or metalcuts . The "commonest" incunable

640-576: The Free Mind as well as the state owned portion located at the Allard Pierson Museum was granted special 'Memory of the World' status by UNESCO Nederlandse. 52°22′27″N 4°52′56″E  /  52.3743°N 4.8822°E  / 52.3743; 4.8822 Embassy of the Free Mind The Embassy of the Free Mind is a museum, library and platform for free thinking inspired by

680-607: The Grote Sael. Admission is free with a museum card/city pass/icom/Amsterdam City card. Incunables An incunable or incunabulum ( pl. : incunables or incunabula , respectively) is a book, pamphlet, or broadside that was printed in the earliest stages of printing in Europe, up to the year 1500. Incunabula were produced before the printing press became widespread on the continent and are distinct from manuscripts , which are documents written by hand. Some authorities on

720-453: The authors who are a lasting source of inspiration to him. When he conceived the plan to turn his private collection of books into a library, his vision was to bring together under one roof manuscripts and printed works in the field of the Hermetic tradition , and to show the interrelatedness between the various collecting areas and their relevance for the present day. Following a difficult year in

760-514: The collection. The Embassy of the Free Mind was opened in October 2017 by author Dan Brown . The roots of the museum lie in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (or, the Ritman Library). It is a scientific research library with a collection of 25,000 books and its own publisher, and dates to 1958—when Amsterdam-based businessman Joost Ritman started it as a private library. In 1984, the library

800-426: The core BPH collection. On the first floor, an exhibition room offers space for temporary installations and the display of rare books from the collection. In addition, there is a reading room with approximately 2,000 modern books and several works of art, such as the 'Grail of Amsterdam'. The museum offers daily guided tours of the museum and the exhibition. Monthly lunch concerts with conservatory musicians take place in

840-416: The exhibitions of the museum, the courses offered in the academy, and the publications of the research institute. The central institution is the library and the content for the other institutions grows out of the books and manuscripts held within it. The building Huis met de Hoofden is currently undergoing a major renovation to create more space for its programs. In 2022 a new reading room was established on

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880-423: The first illustrated edition of Dante's La Divina Commedia from 1481, and Cicero 's De Officiis printed in 1465. The founder of the library, Joost R. Ritman (1941), was an Amsterdam businessman with a deep interest in spirituality. He began collecting rare books at a young age, after his mother had presented him with a copy of a seventeenth-century edition of “The Aurora”, a work by Jacob Böhme , one of

920-517: The last five centuries. None were printed in the Southern Hemisphere , and the latter appears to possess less than 2,000 copies, about 97.75% remain north of the equator. However, many incunabula are sold at auction or through the rare book trade every year. The British Library 's Incunabula Short Title Catalogue now records over 29,000 titles, of which around 27,400 are incunabula editions (not all unique works). Studies of incunabula began in

960-800: The latter. The spread of printing to cities both in the North and in Italy ensured that there was great variety in the texts and the styles which appeared. Many early typefaces were modelled on local writing or derived from various European Gothic scripts, but there were also some derived from documentary scripts like Caxton 's, and, particularly in Italy, types modelled on handwritten scripts and calligraphy used by humanists . Printers congregated in urban centres where there were scholars , ecclesiastics , lawyers , and nobles and professionals who formed their major customer base. Standard works in Latin inherited from

1000-513: The library include sufism , kabbalah , anthroposophy , theosophy , pansophism , freemasonry and the Holy Grail . The library owns about 4,500 manuscripts and printed books from before 1900, and more than 20,000 books (primary and secondary sources) printed after 1900. The collection of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica includes Corpus Hermeticum (1503) printed on parchment, Robert Fludd 's Utriusque cosmi historia (1617). Moreover,

1040-611: The library obtained the status of Public Benefit Organisation (PBO). By moving to the House of the Heads in 2017 and obtaining the status of museum, resulting in the Embassy of the Free Mind, the organisation aimed to expand the museum to a wider audience. The Embassy of the Free Mind is located in the 17th century Amsterdam building the Huis met de Hoofden on the Keizersgracht 123. The canal house

1080-576: The medieval tradition formed the bulk of the earliest printed works, but as books became cheaper, vernacular works (or translations into vernaculars of standard works) began to appear. Famous incunabula include two from Mainz , the Gutenberg Bible of 1455 and the Peregrinatio in terram sanctam of 1486, printed and illustrated by Erhard Reuwich ; the Nuremberg Chronicle written by Hartmann Schedel and printed by Anton Koberger in 1493; and

1120-481: The museum possesses Atalanta Fugiens (1617) written by Michael Maier , the Biblia Polyglotta (1573) printed by Christoffel Plantijn , and a collection of works by Gustav Meyrink . The permanent exhibition of the Embassy of the Free Mind consists of 200 reproductions of images from manuscripts and old printed books from c. 1500–1900. The images display the contents of the books on the collected wisdom from

1160-596: The philosophy of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica collection. The museum focuses on the European culture of free thinking of the past 2,000 years with Hermetic wisdom as the source of inspiration: insight into the connection between God, cosmos and man. This connection is reflected in the Hermetic, alchemical , astrological , magical , mystical , kabbalistic and Rosicrucian texts and images in

1200-439: The printed book evolved fully as a mature artefact with a standard format. After about 1540 books tended to conform to a template that included the author, title-page, date, seller, and place of printing. This makes it much easier to identify any particular edition. As noted above, the end date for identifying a printed book as an incunable is convenient but was chosen arbitrarily; it does not reflect any notable developments in

1240-401: The printing process around the year 1500. Books printed for a number of years after 1500 continued to look much like incunables, with the notable exception of the small format books printed in italic type introduced by Aldus Manutius in 1501. The term post-incunable is sometimes used to refer to books printed "after 1500—how long after, the experts have not yet agreed." For books printed in

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1280-466: The rise and progress of the typographic art"; 1640), but he was quoting Junius. The term incunabula came to denote printed books themselves in the late 17th century. It is not found in English before the mid-19th century. Junius set an end-date of 1500 to his era of incunabula , which remains the convention in modern bibliographical scholarship. This convenient but arbitrary end-date for identifying

1320-423: The second floor of the building. This room contains a selection of the most important secondary research literature for students, researchers and the public. There are further stacks of research literature in the basement of the building that can be accessed on request. The core collection of rare historic books, manuscripts, and incunables can also be viewed and studied on request for academic purpose. The library

1360-558: The shadow of the financial crisis and cuts, The Ritman Library reopened its doors on December 16, 2011. In 2016, Ritman purchased and donated a national monument, the Huis met de Hoofden (House with the Heads) located at Keizersgracht 123 to house the BPH collection and make possible supporting programs – including exhibition spaces, a research institute, and seminar rooms. In 2016 a major digitization project

1400-478: Was Ulrich Boner 's Der Edelstein , printed by Albrecht Pfister in Bamberg in 1461. A finding in 2015 brought evidence of quires , as claimed by research, possibly printed in 1444–1446 and possibly assigned to Procopius Waldvogel of Avignon , France. Many incunabula are undated, needing complex bibliographical analysis to place them correctly. The post-incunabula period marks a time of development during which

1440-462: Was announced that author Dan Brown , who did research in the library for some of his books, was donating €300,000. This money was to be used to digitize the library's core collection of 4,600 early printed books and 300 older manuscripts. These were to be available online in spring 2017. The Prins Bernhard Cultuurfonds was donating €15,000. In November of 2022 the BPH collection housed at the Embassy of

1480-593: Was begun and by Spring of 2017 over 2000 of the rarest works were made available on-line. Following a ceremonial grand opening of the museum by the Ritman family and author Dan Brown , the Embassy of the Free Mind opened its doors to the public in 2017. The “House with the Heads” currently houses four major institutions that are linked to one another: a library, museum, research institute and academy. The library and research institute work together to develop content that flows into

1520-508: Was built in 1622 by Hendrick de Keyser and is listed as one of the 'Top 100 buildings of the Dutch Rijksdienst'. Six heads adorn the façade. They depict the Roman gods Apollo , Ceres , Mercury , Minerva , Bacchus and Diana . God of commerce Mercury and goddess of wisdom Minerva were placed left and right of the central entrance in the 17th century to make it clear that this was the home of

1560-557: Was first used in the context of printing by the Dutch physician and humanist Hadrianus Junius (Adriaen de Jonghe, 1511–1575), in a passage in his work Batavia (written in 1569; published posthumously in 1588). He referred to a period " inter prima artis [typographicae] incunabula " ("in the first infancy of the typographic art"). The term has sometimes been incorrectly attributed to Bernhard von Mallinckrodt (1591–1664), in his Latin pamphlet De ortu ac progressu artis typographicae ("On

1600-534: Was opened to the general public and moved within Amsterdam to the Bloemstraat. Ritman brought together Hermetic manuscripts and printed books, took care of the collection, and showed their importance to the world. Since the opening, the library focused on activities like expanding the collection, the development of expertise within the Ritman research institute, and the growth of its own publisher in de Pelikaan. In 2009,

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