Four Autograph Letters Signed Regarding The ChâTeau Du Plessis-Bourré. [Together With] Nine Photographs Showing Architectural Features Of The Castle And One Postcard. Canseliet, Eugene.

An evocative collection relating to the alchemical history of the 15th-century Château du Plessis-Bourré. Canseliet was the first and favoured student of the famous alchemist Fulcanelli. In 1945, he published an important work on the alchemical importance of the architecture of the castle, Deux Logis Alchimiques. These letters to the castle's owners, the Duke and Duchess of Dalmatie, illuminate Canseliet's unsated curiosity. The letters, which bracket a visit by Canseliet on Monday 17 April 1972, extend his gratitude for their hospitality and discuss the editing and expansion of Deux Logis Alchimiques. They are accompanied by nine photographs which illustrate architectural features of alchemical interest found at the castle, six of which have manuscript comments on the verso in a different hand, elucidating their subjects's importance. These images, likely unpublished, illustrate the allure of the castle's esoteric architecture. The Duke and Duchess's restoration of several key features since Canseiliet's first visit was a partial motivation for his return, to see the "the restoration of this priceless work, of this iconography as rich in art as it is in science" (25 March, our translation). He left satisfied, and confides in the Duchess on his return to Paris that it's not the historical and "speculative" side of alchemical science that interests him, "but the true realization of it in the laboratory" (19 April). The castle was built in five years, between 1468 and 1472, under the supervision of the Finance Minister Jean Bourré, the principal advisor to King Louis XI. It has been suggested that Bourré was an alchemist who hid the symbols of his vocation in the architecture of the building, most notably in the Salle des Gardes, the deeply coffered ceiling of which is composed of 24 scenes. Of these, 16 symbolize the search for the Philosopher's Stone, while the remaining 8 represent the laws an alchemist must follow. Other examples of alchemical symbols, such as the phoenix, the pregnant siren, and the donkey singing mass, can be found throughout the building. Together 15 items. Four autograph letters signed from Canseliet, each one leaf: 25 March 1972, addressed to the Duke of Dalmatie (280 x 220 mm, text recto only); 8 April 1972, to the Duchess (280 x 220 mm, recto only); 19 April 1972, to the Duchess (141 x 220 mm, both sides); 22 May 1976, to the Duchess (140 x 220 mm, both sides); with one stamped and franked envelope (10 April 1972), addressed in manuscript "Madame la Duchesse de Dalmatie, Chateau du Plessis-Bourré, 49 Cheffes-Sur-Sarthe". Together with 9 photographic prints of the château (177 x 240 mm), six of which have manuscript notes on the verso in a different hand, and one postcard of an illustration of the château (126 x 178 mm). Letters creased where folded, else in remarkably fresh condition: a bright and well-preserved collection.