The Ritman Institute

Profile of the Ritman Institute

The Ritman Institute is the independent research institute of the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica. The Ritman Institute aims to describe and make available the printed and manuscript sources of the Christian-Hermetic and Gnostic traditions in Western culture from the beginnings of the Common Era to today. It conducts historical, philological and bibliographical research in the collecting areas of the library. Research subjects are taken from the wider European cultural-historical context. In the near future research projects will focus especially on the history of Hermetica in Amsterdam and the Netherlands in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. Research results are published in descriptive thematic catalogues of the library's holdings as well as in exhibition catalogues, bibliographies, conference proceedings and monographs. These appear in the Pimander, the Hermes and in the Arbor Rosae Hermetis series. Textual editions in the Dutch language of core texts are published in the Pimander series.

Asclepius
Corpus Hermeticum
Hermes Trismegistus
Evangelie van Thomas
Valentinus de gnosticus
De Keulse Mani-Codex

The Ritman Institute also develops research, education and exhibition projects in cooperation with other research institutes (libraries, archives, universities) in order to realize publications, conferences, seminars, and exhibitions. It facilitates and/or finances research by individual scholars (independent or affiliated) working in its areas of interest and using the library’s resources.

For the library’s areas of interest also consult the Guide Hermetically Open (available from the library) See here