899J Geistliche Schöpfung (Menrad Molther; August von Lantzcron)
Geistliche Schöpffung und Reise dess wahren Israels auss Egypten, durch die Wüste in das gelobte Land :darinnen viele biszanhero unter Mosis-Decke gelegene Wörter und Namen der heiligen Schrift erklärt … werden, damit der egyptische Welt-Mensch … zur Aufferstehung in Christo geführet werde : dazu uns beydes das Alte und Neue Testament gegeben ist. ¶ Testament und Abschrifft der zwölf Patriarchen, der Söhnen Jacobs, wie ein jeder vor seinem End seine Kinder gelehret, zur Forcht Gottes und gottseligem Leben vermahnet hat seine zeit.
Franckfurt a. M : In Verlegung Christoff Le Blon, 1664/5. Price $3,700
Qyarto 21cm Signatures: : ):( 4, A4–Z4, Aa–Bb4,a-h4 (64-page appendix is sometimes separately titled Geistlicher Anhang). With engraved allegorical title by Adam and 50 copperplate illustrations by C. Meyer. Bound in full contemporary vellum.
This anonymous or pseudonymous book—sometimes attributed to Johann Georg Gichtel (1638–1710) or one of his circle and it belongs to the wave of German mystical and spiritual-allegorical literature inspired by Jacob Böhme, Valentin Weigel, and Johann Arndt.
The first part (Geistliche Schöpfung) reinterprets the Creation narrative as an inner cosmology: the rebirth of the soul as a microcosmic Genesis.
The second part (Reise des wahren Israels aus Egypten durch die Wüste in das gelobte Land) allegorizes the Exodus as the Christian’s mystical journey toward regeneration and divine union, turning the stages of Israel’s journey into steps of purification, illumination, and perfection.
Each section combines Scriptural glosses, mystical commentary, and alchemical–psychological allegory—Egypt = material bondage; the wilderness = inner trial; Canaan = divine unity. It reflects the pervasive 17th-century habit of reading the Bible esoterically, decoding “words and names of Scripture lying under the veil of Moses.”
The Engraved title-page by “Adam”, often identified as Michael Adam (active in Frankfurt ca. 1650–1670), showing the six days of creation as an inner drama within the soul. 50 copperplates by C. Meyer (Conrad or Christoph Meyer, 1621–1689), a Frankfurt engraver and draftsman known for emblematic and devotional cycles.
Each image corresponds to a stage of the Exodus and its spiritual meaning—paralleling the plates in Johann Arndt’s Paradies-Gärtlein or the Emblemata Sacra of Boetius à Bolswert.
Together, text and image create a “spiritual emblem book” of exceptional richness and typographic sophistication. Many plates are signed “C. Meyer sc.” and have lengthy engraved captions blending Scripture and meditative verse.
The Geistliche Schöpfung represents the transition from Lutheran devotional orthodoxy to theosophical inwardness, anticipating the Radical Pietist and Philadelphian currents of the later 17th century. Its heavy use of biblical allegory, cosmic correspondences, and “inner Exodus” imagery reflects Böhme’s “Wiedergeburt im Geiste” and Arndt’s “Wahre Christenthum.” Geistliche Schöpfung stands as a densely illustrated bridge between Lutheran devotionalism and the theosophical mysticism of Böhme and his followers. This is an exemplary emblematic text moving from Arndt’s practical piety toward Gichtel’s visionary interiorization of Scripture.
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VD17 12:637460N (variant issues recorded with slightly different collation). STC G 175
Landwehr, Emblem and Fable Books, no. 318.
Praz, Studies in Seventeenth-Century Imagery, p. 459.
Löwe, Theologie und Theosophie in Deutschland, § 243.
Hollstein (Meyer) nos. 201–250 for the plate series.
Faber du Faur, Deutsche Illustrierte Barockliteratur, II 312
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