Drebbel in the USA
Being aware of several relevant Drebbel related books, papers and efforts in the USA, the Drebbel Foundation decided to dedicate them a separate topic. Please be so kind to drop us a mail if you notice an omission in this list.
Johan Winthrop Jr. , Esquyer, in New Englandt (1606-1676)
An interesting association book in the WINTHROP collection is a small duodecimo volume, bound in leather, containing two works by that mythical writer of alchemistic tradition, BASIL VALENTINE. One is entitled "Von den Naturlichen und obernaturlichen Dingen", published in1624; the other " De Occulta Philosophia, " published in 1603. The fly leaves of this old volume are much annotated. On the last blank page is a note by WINTHROP, in Latin, German and English, respecting other works by BASIL VALENTINE, but the most interesting annotation is the one penned by WINTHROP upon the first fly-leaf.
"This was once the booke of that famous philosopher and naturalist, CORNEL. DREBBEL, who usually carried it with him in his pockett and after his death was given me by his sonne-in-law, Mr. ABRAM KEFFLER
JOHN WINTHROP."
The associations of this old book not only with WINTHROP, but with CORNELIUS DREBBELL and ABRAHAM KEFFLER are most interesting. A letter from Abraham Kuffler's brother to John Winthrop can be found at Massachusetts Historical Society:
JOHN SIBERT KUFFLER to JOHN WINTHROP, jr
For my mouch respected frindt, Johan Winthrop, Esquyer, in New Englandt.
MR. WINTHROP, When I hearet of Coronel Midleton that you are yett in good healt, living in Niew Engclant, I was exceedingly overjoyet, and dit thinck to doe no lesse then to salute you wiht this my letter and offer my service, relating what haves happened since over departure. Why dit expect from you an answer according your promise, concerning the mineral, but wy never heart any thing of you. Augusting dyet in Germany 5 jaers agoe. My brother Abraham dyet hier in Engellant 2 jaers agoe, and his wife before him one jaer. I and my Love remaine hier in Strat- ...
Furthermore there is evidence that the seventeenth-century technologist and colonist William White (ca. 1600–73) has been a common acquaintance of Winthrop and Drebbel, particularly in the area of furnaces.
The Winthrop Society maintains an extensive documentation.
2. Amy Butler Greenfield, A Perfect Red
A Perfect Red recounts the colorful history of cochineal, a legendary red dye that was once one of the world's most precious commodities. Treasured by the ancient Mexicans, cochineal was sold in the great Aztec marketplaces, where it attracted the attention of the Spanish conquistadors in 1519. Shipped to Europe, the dye created a sensation, producing the brightest, strongest red the world had ever seen. Soon Spain's cochineal monopoly was worth a fortune.
Desperate to find their own sources of the elusive dye, the English, French, Dutch, and other Europeans tried to crack the enigma of cochineal. Did it come from a worm, a berry, a seed? Could it be stolen from Mexico and transplanted to their own colonies? Pirates, explorers, alchemists, scientists, and spies -- all joined the chase for cochineal, a chase that lasted more than three centuries. A Perfect Red tells their stories -- true-life tales of mystery, empire, and adventure, in pursuit of the most desirable color on earth.
In connection to "A Perfect Red" Amy also wrote this illustrated essay on re-creating a Drebbel scarlet.
3.Rich SantaColoma
SantaColoma's articles and websites contain a wealth of useful information on Drebbel, Francis Bacon and their contemporaries. Through his studies of the Voinich manuscript ( ORF interview ) and his article about "The Voynich Manuscript: Drebbel's Lost Notebook?" Rich also got interested in Cornelius Drebbel's Perpetual Motions. Watch this Youtube video to see a demonstration. Rich promised us there is more to come; on May 15th, 2010 he told us :
"I am working up to making a quality replica, and need to make test units to fully understand the operation... along with possible ways Drebbel might have achieved it's workings. I am also working on a paper, which will list, identify, and describe all the known perpetuums and illustrations of them."
Let me finally quote the following remark in a letter from Rich to Amy concerning Winthrop's book mentioned before: "I examined the book in person, to see if any of the margin notes might help me in my work. But I was very surprised to see that several of the pages are stained with splashes of a red dye. Now of course this could be just about anything, including cranberry juice or cherry soda. But considering the controversies and interest, and the historical significance of Drebbel's actual dye process, I thought I would bring this to your attention. I've attached a close up of the largest stain." (reprinted with permission)
Rich stylishly registered his observation in this article with parallels between Drebbel and Shakespeare.
is the author and voice of The Engines of Our Ingenuity, at the University of Houston, where they're interested in the way inventive minds work. His website contains several references to Cornelis Drebbel, e.g. this one.
5. Dr. Vera A. Keller,
McGill University promoted at Princeton, at present working on “Cornelis Drebbel (1572‐1633): Fame and the Making of Modernity” Advisor: Anthony T. Grafton, Postdoctoral Fellowship: McGill University (according to the www).
has been given a prominent place to Drebbel. The Galileo Project, maintained by Rice university, is a source of information on the life and work of Galileo Galilei and the science of his times. There are sections on Ptolemy, Copernicus, maps, instruments, and other materials.
7. Tom Shachtman, Absolute Zero and the Conquest of Cold
Shachtman, author of nonfiction books on a variety of subjects, holds the reader's attention with the skill of a novelist as he relates the 400-year effort to fill out what scientists have called "the map of Frigor," depicting the contours and characteristics of cold. In the early 17th century, when he begins his tale (with a demonstration by Cornelis Drebbel to King James I that a space in Westminster Abbey could be artificially cooled in the summer), no one "could conceive that there could ever be a connection between artificial cold and improving the effectiveness of medicine, transportation, or communications, or that the mastery of the cold might one day extend the range of humanity over the surface of the earth, the sky, and the sea and increase the comfort and efficiency of human lives." Shachtman describes the work of such luminaries of cold as Robert Boyle, Sadi Carnot, Carl Linde, James Dewar and Kamerlingh Onnes and ends with the achievement of a team at Harvard University that in February 1999, working with a Bose-Einstein condensate and laser-cooling techniques, produced "an environment only 50 billionths of a degree above absolute zero," wherein they slowed the speed of light to "a mere 38 miles per hour. (Read Chapter 1 here.)
8. Drebble folks and books
We have got information suggesting the presence of some Drebbel relatives in the US. Wouldn't it be nice to trace their genealogy? Many US libraries a.o. the Library of the Congress Washington and New York City Library hold copies of Drebbel's books (see also our bibliography). The Huntington Library published Rosalie Colies article on Drebbel in their magazine (Cornelis Drebbel and Salomon de Caus: two Jacobean models for Salomon's House', Huntington Library Quarterly, 18 (1954-55), 245-69)
9. Sealab 2021
Drebbel was honored in an episode of the cartoon Sealab 2021 during a submarine rescue of workers on a research station in the Arctic. A German U-boat captain, who mysteriously "came with the sub", fired a pistol in celebration at the mention of Drebbel, to shouts of, "SIEG HEIL! CORNELIUS DREBBEL!" Also, on the Sealab 2021 Season 3 DVD, Cornelius Drebbel has two DVD commentaries devoted to the story of his life.