Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica

Corpus Hermeticum: first Latin edition, by Marsilio Ficino, 1471 CE.

The Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica was founded in 1957 by Joost Ritman, opened to the public in 1984, and is not linked to any public organisation or library.[1] The Bibliotheca co-operates with international libraries and organizations, such as the Russian Rudomino Library for Foreign Literature in Moscow, 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 and artistic value. Other areas of the collection are Sufism, Kabbalah, anthroposophy, Freemasonry, Judaica and the Grail.[2] There are around 4,500 manuscripts and books printed before 1800 CE, and around 17,000 books (primary and secondary sources) printed after 1800 CE.[3] Among the treasures of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica are the Corpus Hermeticum published in 1471, 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 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.[4] Following a difficult year in the shadow of the financial crisis and cuts, The Ritman Library reopened its doors on December 16, 2011.[5]

The library is currently focussing on reshaping the once privately funded library into a self-sustaining and public institution, and on preparing the move to the Huis met de Hoofden (House with the Heads) in Amsterdam. The originally private library therefore acquired the status of a Public Benefit Institution (ANBI).[5] With the rehousing to the Keizersgracht 123, a new era begins in which the library will be passed on to a new generation and made accessible to a broader audience.[6]

In June 2016 it 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.[7]

• List of libraries in the Netherlands

• Theodor Harmsen: Der magische Schriftsteller Gustav Meyrink, seine Freunde und sein Werk. Beleuchtet anhand eines Rundgangs durch die Meyrink-Sammlung der Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica, Amsterdam, unter Verwendung weiterer Sammlungen. Amsterdam, In de Pelikaan, 2009 ISBN 978-90-71608-25-4
• Puti germes. Obzor vystavok vo Florencii, Benecii i Amsterdame, a teperʹ - v Moskve. (Vert. Anna Moščevitina). Amsterdam, In de Pelikaan, 2008. Geen ISBN
• F.A. Janssen et al.: Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. J.R. Ritman Library, Amsterdam. Amsterdam, 1997. Geen ISBN.
• Margaret Lane Ford: Christ, Plato, Hermes Trismegistus. The dawn of printing. Catalogue of the incunabula in the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. Amsterdam, In de Pelikaan, 1990. 2 vols. ISBN 90-6004-406-1

• Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica
• Youtube Channel of The Ritman Library
• Joost Ritman en de bevrijding van zijn bibliotheek
• Feature documentary film