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Eleven books by a shoemaker of Görlitz who wrote, by his own account, because he could not help it. Ten of them stand here in the seventeenth-century English of John Sparrow, who translated Boehme within a generation of his death and whose prose is itself now four hundred years old; where that English has drifted out of reach, the facing pane carries a modern register — the same text with archaic inflection and spelling normalised by rule, never paraphrased. Nothing is reworded, and where no register appears beside a passage it is because the rules found nothing to change.
The eleventh book is not in English at all, and it is the reason this note exists.
Des trois principes de l'essence divine, printed at Paris in 1802, is the same work as Concerning the Three Principles of the Divine Essence, which stands here as the second book — the same twenty-seven chapters in the same order, opening `Du premier principe de l'essence divine` against Sparrow's `Of the first Principle of the Divine Essence`. Its translator was Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, who gave the last years of his life to putting Boehme into French, and who has a shelf of his own in this Lycaeum.
That makes a closed circuit inside this archive, and it is worth naming plainly. Saint-Martin translates Boehme. La Iniciación, printed in Montevideo a hundred and forty years later, traces its own descent through Saint-Martin. A reader can therefore follow one thread from a German mystic of 1619, through the French philosopher who carried him into another language, to a Spanish-language monthly of the 1940s that claimed them both — and read every step of it in the original.
The two are shelved as one work rather than two because that is what they are. They are not set as facing panes: an English translation of 1619 and a French translation of 1802 are two independent readings of a lost German original, and pairing them line by line would assert a correspondence neither translator ever claimed.
1i3. £t ainsi alors ce lieu fut double et même triple 5 en y comprenant l'éternelle origine ; savoir : le premier principe dans la grande angoisse j et ensuite le second principe dans la joie divine dans le paradis ; et en outre le troisième principe dans la lumière du soleil , dans les qualités des étoiles et des élémens. Ainsi l'homme devoit être créé de tous les trois; mais puisqu'il devoit être un ange en ce lieu , et recevoir toutes les connoissances et toutes les intelligences , afin qu'il pût aussi avoir Télernelle joie par les figures et les images qui ne restent pas en éternels esprits , mais dans l'éternelle figure , il résulte de là que toutes choses sont dans ce monde. c«. i5. ( 297 ) 14. Là Dieu se contemple, selon son éternelle Volonté, dans son éternelle sagesse de la noble vierge 80PHiE,dans l'élément qui, dans le paradis , est l'aigu de la puissance divine ; et le fiât créa l'homme , de l'élément , dans le paradis ; car il exprima la quintessence du soleil, des étoiles et des élémens , l'attira dans le paradis , dans l'élément de l'origine , d'où les quatre élémens procèdent, et il créa l'homme à l'image de Dieu , c'est-à-dire , en similitude de Dieu; et il lui insuffla dans l'élément du corps, qui étoit toutefois une vraie puissance paradisiaque, l'esprit de l'éternelle essence venant de l'éternelle origine ; alors l'homme devint une ame vivante et une image de Dieu dans le paradis.
2i5. Et la divine sagesse de la très gracieuse vierge sophte se contempla dans l'homme. Par ce coup d'œil , elle ouvrit le centre d'Adam en des nombres mille et mille fois répétés qui dévoient sortir de la source de cette image ; or, cette noble vierge de la sagesse et de la puissance de Dieu , se seroit mariée à lui avec le dessein qu'il fût pur et entièrement chaste auprès de sa vierge, et qu'il ne mît aucune volonté , ni dans le premier , ni dans le troisième principe , pour y inqualifier , ou y vivre J mais son inclination 'devoit être dans le cœur de Dieu , et il devoit manger du verbe de Dieu dans tous les fruits de ce monde. 1^. Car les fruits étoient bons aussi ; et leur attrayante qualité venoit de l'élément intérieur ou du paradis. Alors Adam pou voit bien manger de tous les fruits dans la bouche , mais non dans le corps , 'ii ( 298 J C». 1^, dans la corruplibilité ; cela ne pouvoil pas être : car son corps devoit subsister éternellement et rester , dans le paradis , et engendrer de soi une vierge de chasteté , semblable à ce qu'il étoit , et cela sans déchirure de son corps. Car cela pouvoit être puisque son corps étoit de l'élément céleste , oude la puissance divine. 17. Mais lorsque la chaste vierge sophie se présenta ainsi en Adam , avec tant de sagesse , de douceur et d'humilité , lesélémens extérieurs devin* rent ardens pour l'élément éternel, pour s'élever dans la chaste vierge, pour y inqualifier, Puisqu'Adam étoit extrait d'eux, de la quintessence , ils désiroient ce qui étoit à eux , et vouloient inqualifier dans ce qui étoit leur propriété. Toutefois c'est ce que Dieu défendit à Adam , en lui disant qu'il ne devoit pas manger de la connoissance du bien et du mal , mais^ se contenter d'un aliment paradisiaque.
318. Mais l'esprit du grand monde subjugua Adam, et s'établit avec puissance dans la quintessence qui est la cinquième forme ou l'extrait de ce qui est dans les quatre élémens et dans les étoiles. Alors Dieu devoit créer à Adam une femme de ses essences, puisqu'il devoit remplir et bâtir le royaume selon ce que la noble vierge avoit aperçu \ et l'homme devint terrestre , et la noble vierge sophie , s'éloignant de lui, se retira dans le paradis : là elle attend ce qui est à elle , il faut qu'il dépose le terrestre ; alors elle sera son épouse et sa tendre amante. Or, maintenant , la loi est de rigueur pour l'homme de ce inonde y il faut qu'il soit engendré dans la puissance cH. i5. ( a99 ) des étoiles et des élémens externes , et qu'il y vive jusqu'à ce que le terrestre tombe. 19. Enfin il est triple dans cette vie , et le triple esprit est suspendu sur lui ; c'est dans ces liens qu'il est engendré , et il ne peut en être délivré qu'en se dissolvant. Bien plus , il peut être privé du paradis , si son esprit imagine dans le colérique et dans l'âpreté.Et s'il s'y abandonne, pour vivre ainsi en soimêmedans l'orgueil au-dessus de la douceur et de la justice , et avec empire comme Lucifer ; alors il manque le paradis qui se trouve fermé pour lui , et il perd la première image , qui est dans l'éléçpent caché dans le paradis. 20. Car l'homme adamiquepeut néanmoins vivre dans le paradis selon l'élément intérieur qui resie ouvert dans la base affective- S'il combat l'iniquité , et s'il se donne entièrement et de toute sa force au cœur de Dieu , alors la vierge ou sophie demeure auprès de lui dans l'élément intérieur , dans le paradis; elle éclaire son espritpour qu'il puisse réprimer le corps adamique.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
1i3. And thus then this place was double and even triple 5 in comprehending therein the eternal origin; to wit: the first principle in the great anguish; and then the second principle in the divine joy in paradise; and besides the third principle in the light of the sun, in the qualities of the stars and of the elements. Thus man was to be created of all the three; but since he was to be an angel in this place, and to receive all the knowledges and all the intelligences, so that he might also have the eternal joy by the figures and the images which remain not in eternal spirits, but in the eternal figure, it results thence that all things are in this world. c«. i5. ( 297 ) 14. There God contemplates himself, according to his eternal Will, in his eternal wisdom of the noble virgin 80PHIA, in the element which, in paradise, is the sharp of the divine power; and the fiat created man, of the element, in paradise; for he expressed the quintessence of the sun, of the stars and of the elements, drew it into paradise, into the element of the origin, whence the four elements proceed, and he created man in the image of God, that is to say, in similitude of God; and he insufflated into him in the element of the body, which was nevertheless a true paradisiacal power, the spirit of the eternal essence coming from the eternal origin; then man became a living soul and an image of God in paradise.
2i5. And the divine wisdom of the most gracious virgin Sophia contemplated herself in man. By this glance, she opened the centre of Adam into numbers a thousand and a thousand times repeated which were to go forth from the source of this image; now, this noble virgin of the wisdom and of the power of God, would have married herself to him with the design that he should be pure and entirely chaste beside his virgin, and that he should put no will, neither in the first, nor in the third principle, to inqualify there, or to live there; but his inclination was to be in the heart of God, and he was to eat of the word of God in all the fruits of this world. 1^. For the fruits were good also; and their attractive quality came from the interior element or from paradise. Then Adam could well eat of all the fruits in the mouth, but not in the body, 'ii ( 298 J C». 1^, in the corruptibility; that could not be: for his body was to subsist eternally and remain, in paradise, and beget of itself a virgin of chastity, like to what he was, and that without rending of his body. For that could be since his body was of the celestial element, or of the divine power. 17. But when the chaste virgin Sophia presented herself thus in Adam, with so much wisdom, sweetness and humility, the exterior elements became ardent for the eternal element, to rise into the chaste virgin, to inqualify there. Since Adam was extracted from them, from the quintessence, they desired what was theirs, and would inqualify in what was their property. Nevertheless it is what God forbade Adam, in telling him that he must not eat of the knowledge of good and evil, but content himself with a paradisiacal aliment.
318. But the spirit of the great world subjugated Adam, and established itself with power in the quintessence which is the fifth form or the extract of what is in the four elements and in the stars. Then God was to create for Adam a woman of his essences, since he was to fill and build the kingdom according to what the noble virgin had perceived; and man became terrestrial, and the noble virgin Sophia, withdrawing from him, retired into paradise: there she awaits what is hers, he must lay down the terrestrial; then she will be his spouse and his tender lover. Now, at present, the law is of rigour for the man of this world; he must be begotten in the power cH. i5. ( a99 ) of the stars and of the external elements, and must live therein until the terrestrial fall. 19. Finally he is triple in this life, and the triple spirit is suspended upon him; it is in these bonds that he is begotten, and he can be delivered from them only by dissolving himself. Nay more, he may be deprived of paradise, if his spirit imagine in the choleric and in the harshness. And if he abandon himself thereto, to live thus in himself in pride above the sweetness and the justice, and with empire like Lucifer; then he misses paradise which is found shut for him, and he loses the first image, which is in the element hidden in paradise. 20. For the adamic man can nevertheless live in paradise according to the interior element which remains open in the affective base. If he combat iniquity, and if he give himself entirely and with all his force to the heart of God, then the virgin or Sophia dwells beside him in the interior element, in paradise; she enlightens his spirit so that he may repress the adamic body.
Our translation, period-faithful. Citable as our translation, never as the source.
Saint-Martin's French rendering of Boehme's 'Von den drei Principien göttlichen Wesens'. The same work stands in this estate in English as boehme:2. The title page also advertises 'L'Aurore naissante, du même Auteur' from the same booksellers — Saint-Martin's translation of the Aurora, whose English counterpart the estate holds as boehme:1. Reading the two versions against each other shows what a Martinist made of a German shoemaker's theosophy.
→ boehme:2
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.
This work carries, in the author's own voice, both a set of hostile comparisons drawn against named peoples and an explicit refusal of any such boundary, and the Press publishes both rather than either alone. At Ch.25 §85 he calls the Jews blind; at Ch.17 §106 he warns of a coming visitation of the Jews and the Turks; and at Ch.26 §32-33, asked whence the Turks are grown, he answers "From thy perverted sense" — laying the rise of Mahomet at the door of christian pride and disputation. Against these stands Ch.25 §72, which opens the grace with no boundary at all: all men are invited to it, of whatever race, "whether Turks, Jews, Pagans, Christians", and no one is excluded. The same chapter that indicts turns the indictment inward at §105-106 — each believes not to dwell in Babel, and the author includes himself — and §33 concludes that God should be as near the one as the other. The contradiction is the author's, it is not resolved by him, and removing either half would misrepresent the work. Operator ruling, 2026-08-29.