“Memory is a firm perception of things and words and their order, and also a faithful retention of them; or, memory is a faithful retention of things perceived; or, memory is a treasury and holdfast of appearances perceived by the mind.” —Lambertus Schenckelius, Gazophylacium artis memoriae.
☛These are books about the nature of memory, or about developing a better memory.
Thesaurus artificiosae memoriae. Concionatoribus, philosophis, medicis, iuristis, oratoribus, procuratoribus, caeterisque bonarum litterarum amatoribus: negociatoribus insuper alijsq; similibus, tenacem ac firmam rerum memoriam cupientibus, perutilis. Ac omnes sui amatores & possessores valde locupletans, insimulque decorant. Cum rerum cælestium atque terrestrium tenax, ac tutum scrinium esse possit. Authore R. P. F. Cosma Rossellio, Florentino, Sacri Ord. Prædic. minimo Professore. Venetiis, Apud Antonium Paduanum, Bibliopolam Florentinum, 1579.
F.
Hieronymi Marafioti Polistinensis, Calabri Theologi
Ord. Minorum observantiae. De arte
reminiscentiae per loca, & imagines, ac
per notas, & figuras in manibus positas.
Opus delectabile, omnibusque literarum studiosis &
praecipuè oratoribus, concionatoribus &
scolaribus, qui ad doctoratus apicem ascendere
satagunt apprime vtile. Venetiis, Apud Io. Baptistam
Bertonum. 1602.
Another
copy.
Ars memoriae, seu potiùs reminiscentiae: Nova eaque maxime perspicua methodo, per loca et imagines, ac per notas et figuras, in manibus positas, tradita et explicata: Authore Hieronymo Marafioto Polistinensi Calabro, Theologo. Francofurti, Ex Officina Typographica Matthiæ Breckeri. 1603.
Lambertus Schenckelius, or Lambert or Lamprecht Schenckel.
We have an article about Schenckel in our Literary Discoveries. Be warned: “The student, destitute of oral instruction, cannot expect to reap much benefit from a perusal of Schenckel’s system in the Gazophylacium, or in Schenckelius detectus: he might as well seek for a knowledge of Mnemonics, by gazing at the hieroglyphics of an Egyptian obelisk.”
Gazophylacium artis memoriae, in quo duobus libris, omnia et singula ea quae ab absolutam hujus cognitionem inserviunt, recondita habentur. I. De admirabili utilitate & stupendis Memoriae artificio adjutae effectibus, in quibusdam viris praestantiss. ex autoribus fide dignissimis. II. De ipsa memoriae arte acquirenda, fundamentis, Methodo & Praxi ejusdem, ex Philosopharum & Oratorum Principibus & alius autoribus. Compendiosè absoluteque & collectum & illustratum, per Lambertum Schenckelium Dusilvium. Hic accesserunt de eadem Arte Amemoriae adhuc 3. Opuscula: quorum 1. Ioannis Austriaci, 2. Hieronymi Marafioti, 3. Ioh. Sp. Herd. Omnia lectu & cognitu dignissima. Argentorati, Excudebat Antonius Bertramus, Academia Typographus. 1610. —This book is badly damaged, but most pages are legible. According to The New Art of Memory (see below), this book “contains Schenckel’s Art of Memory, and very considerable prolegomena which are not inserted in any subsequent reprint.… The Gazophylacium, however, is valuable on account of the prefatory matter, and the three tracts which it contains; more particularly, as the original editions of the tracts are extremely rare.”
Schenckelius detectus: seu, Memoria artifiialis hactenus occultata, ac a multis quam diu desederata: Nunc primum in gratiam optimarum artium, ac sapientiæ studiosorum luce donata. A` I. A. P. G. S. P. D. Lugduni, Apud Bartholomæum Vincentium. 1617. —According to The New Art of Memory (see below), this book “is Schenckel’s system only, without any introduction.”
The Art of Memory. A Treatise useful for such as are to speak in Publick. By Marius D’Assigny, B. D. London, Printed by J. D. for Andr. Bell, 1697.
The Art of Memory. A Treatise useful for all, especially such as are to speak in Public. The Second Edition corrected and inlarged. By Marius D’Assigny, B. D. London, Printed for Andr. Bell, 1699. —With a splendidly busy allegorical frontispiece.
Ars memoriae, sive, Clara & perspicua methodus excerpendi nucleum rerum ex omnium scientiarum monumentis. Expedita quoque ratio per apertas rhetorices vias excerptis utendi. Opus in tres partes divisum, litterarum sedulis cultoribus, novellis præcipuè Verbi Divini Præconibus, ac vitæ religiosæ tyronibus utile, editum à R. P. Thoma Erhardt. Augusta Vindelicorum, Sumptibus Joannis Strötter, Bibliop. Anno 1715.
Pars I. & II. (With splendid engraved frontispiece.)
Libellus secundus Partis tertia. (Perhaps our author forgot what he was going to say in the first half of Part III and had to issue a second volume.)
The New Art of Memory, founded upon the principles taught by M. Gregor von Feinaigle: and applied to chronology, history, geography, languages, systematic tables, poetry, prose, and arithmetic. To which is added, some account of the principal systems of artificial memory, from the earliest period to the present time; with instances of the extraordinary powers of natural memory. Illustrated by engravings. Third edition, corrected and enlarged. London: Printed by R. Edwards and sold by Sherwood, Neely, and Jones. 1813.
An Improved System of Mnemonics; or, Art of assisting the memory, simplified, and adapted to the general branches of literature, with a dictionary of words, used as signs of the arithmetical figures. By Thomas Coglan. London: C. Cradock and W. Joy; John Hatchard, 1813. —The title page identifies this as “Mnemonics, Vol. I,” but we have not found any other volumes.
A New and Improved System of Mnemonics, Two hours’ study in the art of memory. Applied to figures, chronology, geography, statistics, history, systematic tables, poetry, prose, and to the common transactions of life. Rendered familiar to every capacity, and calculated for the use of schools, as well as those who have attended lectures on the subject. Illustrated with many plates. By G. Jackson. London: Printed for the Author, 1817.
American Mnemotechny, or art of memory, theoretical and practical; on the basis of the most recent discoveries and improvements in Europe and America. With a mnemotechnic dictionary. By Pliny Miles. Fifth edition. New York: Mark H. Newman & Co., 1848. —Because the system uses proper names, and because many of the proper names are hard to pronounce, the author has helpfully invented a perfect alphabet for the English language. You need only memorize 44 letters, and then you will easily be able to pronounce the proper names you use to aid your memory.