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Source Library
An initiative of the Embassy of the Free Mind, Amsterdam. AI-powered translations of 5,000+ rare historical texts, freely available online.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE — February 22, 2026
Source Library Launches Open Beta: 5,000 Rare Books Translated by AI
Amsterdam, February 22, 2026 — Source Library, an initiative of the Embassy of the Free Mind in Amsterdam, today launches its open beta: a digital library of over 5,000 rare historical texts from the 15th through 19th centuries, translated into modern English using artificial intelligence.
Most books written before 1800 have never been translated into any modern language. Source Library uses Gemini AI to produce first-ever English translations of works on early science, philosophy, medicine, alchemy, theology, Hermeticism, and the Kabbalah — making texts previously accessible only to specialists available to anyone with an internet connection.
The collection draws from 13 major digital libraries worldwide, including the Internet Archive, the Bibliothèque nationale de France, the Bodleian Library at Oxford, the Vatican Library, and the Bavarian State Library. Every page preserves the original manuscript alongside its AI translation, allowing readers to verify and improve the text.
Source Library is free to read and cite. It is based at the Embassy of the Free Mind in Amsterdam, home to the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica — one of the world's most important collections of Hermetic philosophy, recognized by UNESCO's Memory of the World Register.
Press Releases
The Hermetic Tradition
The Lost Teachings of Hermes: AI Unlocks the Texts That Sparked the Renaissance
A 15th-century manuscript attributed to the father of Western mysticism is readable in English for the first time through Source Library's AI translation system.
Alchemy & Chemistry
Before Chemistry Had a Name: AI Reveals the Alchemical Roots of Modern Science
Newly translated texts from Paracelsus, Sendivogius, and their contemporaries show how the quest to transmute matter became the science of understanding it.
Kabbalah & Mysticism
The Language That Created the World: AI Translates the Kabbalistic Texts That Shaped Renaissance Philosophy
The foundational texts of Jewish and Christian Kabbalah — including the Sefer Yetzirah and Kircher's Oedipus Aegyptiacus — are now freely readable in English.
Origins of Science
The Mystic Who Discovered Planetary Motion: How Kepler's Occult Beliefs Led to Modern Astronomy
Source Library's AI translation of Kepler's Astronomia Nova reveals how mystical convictions about cosmic harmony produced the laws of planetary motion.
World Sacred Texts
30 Traditions, One Library: Source Library Expands Beyond Europe with the World's Sacred and Esoteric Texts
A major acquisition brings 193 books from Buddhist, Hindu, Sufi, Daoist, Indigenous, and other wisdom traditions into the open-access digital library.
Key Facts
5,000+
Rare books digitised
1.6M
Pages scanned
80K+
Pages translated to English
71
Source languages
29K+
Illustrations extracted
13
Source libraries worldwide
Source Libraries
Source Library aggregates and translates digitised rare books from these institutions:
- •Internet Archive
- •Bibliothèque nationale de France (Gallica)
- •Bodleian Library, University of Oxford
- •Vatican Library (DigiVatLib)
- •Bavarian State Library (MDZ)
- •Cambridge Digital Library
- •Wellcome Collection
- •Herzog August Bibliothek Wolfenbüttel
- •e-rara (Swiss National Library)
- •Library of Congress
- •Europeana
- •Google Books (via IA mirror)
- •Biblissima IIIF Aggregator
About the Embassy of the Free Mind
The Embassy of the Free Mind is an international centre for free thought and the history of ideas, located on the Keizersgracht in Amsterdam. It houses the Bibliotheca Philosophica Hermetica (BPH), founded by Joost R. Ritman in 1984 — one of the world's preeminent collections of Hermetic philosophy, mysticism, alchemy, and related traditions.
In 2019, the core of the BPH was inscribed in UNESCO's Memory of the World Register, recognizing its outstanding universal significance for the intellectual heritage of humanity. The collection spans manuscripts and printed works from the 1st to the 20th century.
Source Library extends the mission of the Embassy by making these and related texts freely accessible in digital form, with AI-generated English translations to reach a global audience.
Press Contact
For press enquiries, interviews, and high-resolution images:
Email: press@sourcelibrary.org
Website: sourcelibrary.org