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Earth with its mountains, rivers and seas, Sky
with its sun, moon and stars: in the beginning all these were
one, and the one was Chaos. Nothing had taken shape, all was a
dark swirling confusion, over and under, round and round. For
countless ages this was the way of the universe, unformed and
illumined, until from the midst of Chaos came P'an Ku....[H]e
raised his great arm and struck out blindly in the face of the
murk, and with one great crashing blow he scattered the elements
of Chaos.
"Heaven and Earth and Man"
Chinese Myths and Fantasies, 1996
Creation Accounts and Depictions
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Hamishah Humshei Torah
(The Five Books of the Torah).
Berlin: Soncino Gesellschaft, 1933.
Hebraic Section,
African and Middle Eastern
Division (4)
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The Opening Word of the Bible
The Hebrew word Beresheet,
which means "in the beginning," opens the Book of Genesis.
This decorated initial word is from the first volume of a
planned multi-volume edition of the Hebrew Bible. The volume
was published by the Society of Jewish Bibliophiles, the Soncino
Gesellschaft, in Germany in 1933. Hitler's rise to power prevented
the Society from completing what would have been the first
bibliophilic edition of the Hebrew Scriptures.
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Celebrating First Moon Orbit
This book is one of 100 copies printed
at a New Jersey monastery to commemorate Apollo 8, the first
manned mission to the Moon. The spacecraft entered lunar orbit
on Christmas Eve,1968. That evening, the astronauts did a
live television broadcast, in which they showed pictures of
the earth and moon as seen from Apollo 8. They ended the broadcast
by reading from the first chapter of Genesis and with a prayer
by mission commander Frank Borman. The verses from Genesis
and the prayer are the text of this book. The illustrations
are watercolors hand-painted over photographs taken on the
expedition.
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In the Beginning God. . . .
Flemington, New Jersey: St. Teresa's Press,
Carmelite Monastery, 1969.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (7)
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James Weldon Johnson.
"The Creation," from
God's Trombones: Seven Negro Sermons in Verse.
New York: Viking Press, 1927.
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (11)
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A Poet's Version of Creation
"The Creation" is one of seven poems
in God's Trombones through which African American
poet James Weldon Johnson (1871-1938) paid tribute to the
black preachers he remembered from childhood. Each free-verse
poem presents in lyrical but colloquial language a version
of a classic sermon, such as "The Creation" or "Noah Built
an Ark." Johnson rejected the use of broad Negro dialect as
comic and derogatory and revealed the old-time black preacher
as a folk hero of dignity and eloquence.
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Creation
Out of Chaos |
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Ovid.
Les Metamorphoses (The
Metamorphoses).
Paris: Panckoucke, 1767-1771.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (12)
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Publius Ovidius Naso.
Les metamorphose d'ovide figure.
Lyon: I. De Tovrnes, 1557.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (12.1)
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Publius Ovidius Naso.
Le metamorphosi, cioe, tramutationi,
di Ovidio.
Venicei Bidi Bindoni, 1538.
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (12.2)
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| The
Roman poet Ovid (43 B.C.-17 A.D.), in his Metamorphoses,
elaborated an account of cosmic beginnings--the creation of
the world out of chaos--that had obvious affinities with both
Hebrew and Greek explanatory traditions. Questions of origins
were especially topical during Ovid's time when Rome was transforming
itself from a republic into an empire. The edition of the
Metamorphoses on the left, accompanied by engravings
and translated into French, was published in Paris in 1661.
The edition of the Metamorphoses on the right was published
in Lyon in 1557. The edition (centered, below) was accompanied
by engravings by Niccolo Agostini. It was translated into
Italian and published in Venice in 1538.
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In the beginning (if there was such a thing), God
created Newton's laws of motion together with the necessary masses
and forces. This is all; everything beyond this follows from the
development of appropriate mathematical methods by means of deduction.
Albert Einstein, 1949
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Atha Naradiyamahapuranam.
(Narada's Great Ancient Tale).
Mumbayyam: Sri Venkatesvara Stim-Yantragare, 1923.
Southern Asian Section,
Asian Division (17)
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Vishnu Resting
In Hinduism, Vishnu is the deity responsible
for maintaining the universe once created. The entire universe
is periodically destroyed by fire and dissolved for a time
into an infinite ocean. Vishnu rests upon this ocean until
it is time for the universe to be re-emanated. In this illustration
the god rests on the serpent Shesha, whose other function
is to hold up the world. Vishnu is attended by his wife, Lakshmi,
and the monkey-faced sage Narada. Brahma, the deity responsible
for beginning the world in each cycle, rests on a lotus coming
out of Vishnu's navel.
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Dialogues of Creation
This woodcut illustrates the first edition
of Dialogus Creaturarum (Dialogues of Creation),
a popular fifteenth-century collection of creation stories.
Composed as fables using the sun, moon, stars, fish, birds
and animals as characters, the moral tales are presented in
123 dialogues. The book was noteworthy for the imaginative
way in which the fables were told and for the accompanying
woodcuts characterized by clever depictions, natural flowing
lines, and a sense of humor. Throughout the work the anonymous
woodcut artist combined elements of the fables into his design
so the stories could be understood even by those who were
unable to read the text.
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Dialogus Creaturarum.
(Dialogues of Creation).
Gouda: Gerard Leeu, 1480.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (17.1)
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Ida Bagoes Madé Togog of Batoean.
"Pall design: traditional for
Brahman or Satrya body."
Ink on paper.
Margaret Mead Papers and
South Pacific Ethnographic Archives,
Manuscript Division
(15)
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The Balinese Cosmos
This work by the important Balinese
painter Togog (ca. 1915-1989) depicts the Balinese conception
of the cosmos while reflecting the emphasis on balance in
that culture. In Balinese cosmology, the World Serpent (Antaboga)
created the World Turtle (Bedawang) through meditation. On
the turtle are coiled two snakes; this is the foundation of
the world. This painting, also a design for a funeral pall,
depicts the turtle and snakes, with the Supreme Being above.
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Yoruba Creation Legend
At one time, professional storytellers
in Africa collected and told the stories of their day and
of past times. This oral tradition has preserved the story
of the Yoruba people of West Africa who regard the city of
Ife as their place of origin and, according to Yoruba mythology,
as the site of earth's creation. This poem retells the ancient
story of the creation of Yoruba and features Olodumare, the
Lord of Heaven and the Creator, and Orisanla, deities in the
Yoruba pantheon of gods.
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Molefi Kete Asante and Abu S. Abarry, eds.
African Intellectual Heritage.
Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1996.
African and Middle Eastern
Division (16.1)
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Hartmann Schedel.
Liber Chronicarum
(Book of Chronicles).
Nuremberg: Anton Koberger, 1493.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (18)
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God's Hand in the Creation
Called the Nuremberg Chronicle
by modern day historians, this book is considered one
of the most important histories published in the fifteenth
century. Illustrated with more than 1800 woodcuts, Schedel's
work tells the story of mankind from the creation of the world
to the end of the Middle Ages. The woodcut displayed here
illustrates the fourth day when God created light--the greater
light to rule the day, the lesser light to rule the night,
and the stars to divide the light from darkness.
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Haydn's The Creation
In 1796 Franz Josef Haydn (1732-1809),
by then the most famous composer in Europe, began work on
what he would regard as his masterpiece--The Creation,
with a libretto based on the biblical account of creation
as well as passages from John Milton's Paradise Lost.
First performed in 1798, it was an immediate and unprecedented
success. This first edition orchestral score was privately
published, sponsored by friends and admirers of the composer.
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Franz Josef Haydn.
Die Schoepfung
(The Creation).
Vienna, 1800.
Music Division
(20.1)
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William Blake.
"Urizen as the Creator of the Material
World"
from Europe, A Prophecy.
Title Page
Lambeth: Printed by W. Blake, 1794.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special Collections Division (21)
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William Blake's (1757-1827) image of
the creation is one of the most enduring ever conceived. In
it he depicts the monumental figure of the creator set within
the framework of the blazing sun and by the use of the set
of huge calipers (a measuring instrument) incorporates the
concept of rationality in what was about to be wrought. This
relief etching is further enhanced by Blake's brilliant application
of color, which heightens the drama of the story of the beginning
of the world.
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Image from The Song of Los
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William Blake.
The Song of Los.
Lambeth: Printed by W. Blake, 1794.
Rosenwald Collection,
Rare Book and Special
Collections Division (21.2)
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The archetype of the "creator" is a
familiar image in the illuminated books of William Blake.
At left, Blake depicts an almighty creator stooped in prayer
contemplating the world he has forged. The Song of Los
is the third in a series of illuminated books, hand-painted
by Blake and his wife, known as the "Continental Prophecies,"
considered by most critics to contain some of Blake's most
powerful imagery. Only six copies of The Song of Los
are known to exist. This copy is the most brilliantly colored
version and is continually consulted by scholars studying
Blake's work.
In the right-hand image, Los resting
on a cloud, leans on his hammer, the symbol of his creative
energy. He stares down at the bright red sun that he has fashioned
out of components of his own soul. The sun represents the
giver of life, that most fundamental of elements which keeps
the world in balance and nurtures the development of all physical
matter.
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Kalevala Cosmology
The Finnish epic, the Kalevala,
tells the story of the creation. This opening shows Ilmatar,
maiden daughter of Air, lying lonely in the sea. A golden-eyed
duck builds a nest on her knee and lays eggs, which fall and
break to pieces, forming the earth, the heavens, the sun,
the moon, stars, and the clouds. Compiled from Finnish folk
poems in the mid-nineteenth century, this epic was important
for fostering Finnish nationalism under Russian rule. This
copy is an Italian edition in the Library's Russian Imperial
Collection. |
Elias Lönnrot.
Kalevala;
Kàlevala: poema finnico.
Igino Cocchi, translator.
Page 2
Città di Castello: Società tipografica
editrice cooperativa, 1909.
Russian Imperial Collection,
Rare Books and Special
Collections Division (21.1)
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Santal creation account.
Scroll, ink, and watercolors on paper.
Bengal, India: mid-twentieth century.
Southern Asia Section,
Asian Division
(21.4)
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Santal Creation Account
The Santals are a numerous tribal people
living in several states in eastern India. Among them live
itinerant Hindu professional storytellers and painters (jadupatuas),
who recount Santal stories, religious beliefs, and festivals
using narrative scrolls that they paint. This recently acquired
scroll shows the Santal creation story. In the top panel are
the three principal Santal deities, Maran Buru, Jaher Era,
and Sin Cando. In the next are the water and water creatures
made by the creator, Thakur ("the Lord"). From the mating
of two geese come the first human couple and from them their
seven sons and daughters, who marry each other and then divide
into clans so that siblings may no longer marry each other. |
Finnish National Epic
This opening depicts the creation goddess
as a young girl celebrating her attributes of air and light.
The best-loved illustrations of the epic are by Akseli Gallen-Kallela
(1865-1931), and this special edition includes twenty-four
illustrations of his paintings. Compiled by Elias Lonnrot
(1802-1884) from Finnish folk poems, the Kalevala
advanced the cause of Finnish nationalism.
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Kalevala, liitteenä kaksikymmentäneliä
kuuva Akseli Gallen-Kallelan maalauksista.
Helsinki: Otava, 1965.
General Collections
(22)
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Rig-Veda-sanhita, the Sacred
Hymns of the Brahmans.
Friedrich Max Müller, ed.
Page 2
London: 1874.
Southern Asian Section,
Asian Division
(24)
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A Cosmogonic Hymn
The earliest and most basic of the Hindu
scriptures is the Rgveda, usually dated to about
1500 B.C. This hymn tells of an original male (purusa) of
a thousand heads, eyes, and feet, which the gods cut up to
produce the world. This volume is the first complete printed
version and the first complete critical edition of the Rgveda,
by the German-English scholar Friedrich Max Müller (1823-1900).
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Stories of the
Creation of Japan
This book is one of a three-volume set
of Japanese mythology containing stories of the creation of
Japan. This volume tells the story of the two deities--the
male Izanagi and the female Izanami--who descend from heaven
and create the islands of Japan through their marital union.
Eventually Izanagi produces the Sun Goddess (Amaterasu Omikami),
whose descendants are said to rule Japan.
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Tominobu Hosoda.
Kamiyo no masagoto tokiwagusa
(Mythological Story of the Creation of Japan).
Page 1 - Page
2 - Page 3
Kyoto: 1827.
Japanese Section,
Asian Division
(13)
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