CONTACT:

EMAIL:

• GENERAL: info[at]ramsdigital.com
• ORDERING: order[at]ramsdigital.com
• PODCAST: podcast[at]ramsdigital.com

About RAMS Digital Library

On 17th January, 2006 http://www.ramsdigital.com website sucessfully evolved from http://go.to/ramsdigital webpage. The initial project was created as a pilot on 05 May, 2005 to design and construct an online presence for the Restorers of Alchemical Manuscripts Society (R.A.M.S.). RAMSdigital is slowly establishing itself as the online doorway to the R.A.M.S. material with an RSS feed for news, quarterly newsletter and development projects.

In 2004, Philip Wheeler uncovered an early archive of R.A.M.S. library in his basement. Philip was associated with Hans Nintzel in the early to mid-1980's, and collected everything offered at that time. The Glauber Index was the most notable of his contributions to the library.
Knowing that Hans had passed away in 2000, Philip decided to make digital copies of his library available for a limited time on Ebay. Following the advice that he gave to Hans nearly two decades earlier he started digitizing the collection. Hans had argued that it wasn't economically feasible to do this in mid-80's, and he was probably right. Presently with the use of a multi-sheet-feeder scanner real progress has be made. Nevertheless, it took many months.

In digital format, one may easily search for keywords and phrases -- difficult with the printed versions. In addition, the original high-resolution scans are included, page-by-page, in optimized JPEG format. This allows the serious student or researcher to compare the original materials with the OCR text version. While OCR software is good, it is not perfect, and spot corrections almost certainly did not mitigate all errors; with the original scans, readers are able to compare these as needed. Some of the documents are text-only where original scans were not available. These titles which were a part of the R.A.M.S. material, are included in the Collection in an effort to present as complete a set of R.A.M.S. material as possible.
To date, 115 of the 128 planned volumes have been scanned.

About The Original R.A.M.S.

R.A.M.S., the Restoration of Alchemical Manuscripts Society, was based in Richardson Texas, U.S.A. R.A.M.S. was loosely knit group composed of private citizens around the world, directed by Hans Nintzel.
The goal of the society was to seek out and obtain copies of very limited editions of ancient Alchemical manuscripts, tracts, printed works and other such materials and literature. From these, certain items are selected for ‘restoration’ . This consisted in translating, indexing and re-typing the material to render it readable, therefore useable. The reading Is made more enjoyable by the use of charts, symbols, dictionaries, diagrams, insertion of printed illustrations and other annotations to abed additional light on the text.
R. A. M. S. was a non-profit organization with members from all walks of life. There was no ‘organization’ per se, just individuals desirous of performing a labor of love. It was their hope that these efforts will perhaps result in renewed interest in the science of Alchemy or even contribute to new discoveries or fields of experimentation. While this material is for all on the path of Alchemy, it is particularly for the sincere practicing Alchemist.
The transcription of this material was as verbatim as human skills permited. The only exceptions was to make the matter more readable, or understandable, with some ‘modernization’. This is done ONLY where it is judged that no ambiguity will arise from a slight departure from the original and there is no danger of deleting key words or phrases where a possible use of Gematria, Temura, Notariqon or other form of written code exists. Thus, misspelled or grammatically Incorrect material is to be found as well as archaic or strange words. This is in an effort to maintain the original text as far as possible. The completed material is then reproduced, sometimes bound, and offered to interested parties. The costs for these copies are used to defray reproduction costs and to obtain additional material for restoration.
The work of R.A.M. S. included such material as “Last Will and Testament” of Basil Valentine, Important selections from the invaluable Bacstrom Manuscripts such as “Golden Chain of Homer”. “Lamspring’ a Process for the Lapis Sophorum”, “The Chemist’s Key”. “The Mineral Gluten of Nitre and Sulfur”, “Coelum Philosophorum” and others.

It is highly appropriate to acknowledge the many people who had either materially or philosophically contributed to the effort. This might well be the first Indication that such a group even exists! For their labors and contributions, grateful thanks are given. Let their unselfish efforts inspire others to light the fires of Alchemy.
While the list is long, it Includes:
Carr P. ColIins Jnr. [Distinguished Professor of Management Sciences, author of 'Royal Ancestors of Magna Charta Baron' (1959), One hall at SMU's Dedman School of Law is named after him]?,
Rick Stern,
Doris Edlein,
Arpad Joo [(born 1948 in Budapest, Hungary) a Hungarian conductor],
D. and J. Nintzel,
N. Ogle,
G. Price,
Francis Isreal Regardie,
William (Bill). van Doren,
K. von Koenigseck
and especially David Ham.

NON-PROFIT & DONATIONS.

As a not-for-profit organisation, money raised will be donated to:

• the Hans Nintzel estate.
• active alchemical non-profit organisations teaching alchemy.
  Presently awarding donations to The Paracelsus College, Australia.
  (For more details view the Buy page).

AIMS

The RAMS Digital Library aims to:

• spread the awareness and literature of the Restoration of Alchemical Manuscripts Society.
• digitalize the complete Restoration of Alchemical Manuscripts Society library.

PRESENT PROJECT

1) Alchemy Podcast, book readings from the Alchemy library.
Recording text for future audio editing.
Season 1,2006 - concluded.
Season 2,2007 - about to be recorded.

PAST PROJECT

Completed September, 2006.
Stage 1: Proof-Reading the Works of Glauber. Now compiled on one CDrom.
Commenced January, 2006.

Completed February, 2006.
A collection of all R.A.M.S. publication dates to construct a timeline of titles.

Completed January, 2006.
Site map on search page.

Completed December, 2005.
The creation of 'Table of contents' information of each title in the library arranged into CDrom groups.

FUTURE PROJECTS

1 ) Continued project: Proof-reading text.