In this section we will provide full descriptions and transcriptions of Kircher's published works and of his manuscripts preserved by the Historical Archives of the Pontifical Gregorian University. Furthermore, several works about Kircher and by his closer collaborators will be made available too.
If you want to contribute to the transcription, please refer to the Athanasius Kircher Works Transcription Guidelines (only Italian) for edited books; for manuscript transcription see instead the AKC Transcription guidelines (English and Italian).
List of transcribed works
Fill the 'Search' box with few letters in order to filter the results. You can also sort the results according to your preference by clicking on the label of each column. To read more about an entry, click on the corresponding entry ID on the first column.
List of all the works by Kircher and other authors
Fill the 'Search' box with few letters in order to filter the results. You can also sort the results according to your preference by clicking on the label of each column. To read more about an entry, click on the corresponding entry ID on the first column.
Discursive forms
The heuristic category of “discursive form” offers a methodological research strategy. In order to observe its utility and viability, as well as its limits and problems, this approach will have to be further put into practice. This category refers to an artifact in which semantics materialize in a specific way, and whose regularity allows an identity recognition throughout multiple cultural settings. In other words, every form must fulfill a “selective” function of contents that allow it to guide the reader’s expectations. Nevertheless, this function is fulfilled in relation to other simultaneous forms from which it will distinguish itself – a network of forms-, that may survive through time adapting to historical transformations, or disappear. It is important to mention that a discursive form must not necessarily be printed; however, in this work we exclusively refer to “printed texts” as the stabilization of discursive forms is achieved to a great extent due to the printing press.
In Monumenta Kircheri we decided to adopt this new approach to try to better understand the social context in which the Kircher's works were born and spread. Following, there is a list of the works studied according to this approach (work in progress):
