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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.
1cela esl inventé ou vrai. Les oreilles le donnent 3p. a*j nez , à J'udorat qui doiï sentir ce qui est introduit Qt est devant le roi, ei juger si cela vient de» essences bonnes ou mauvaises. Le nez le donne 40.au goul qui doit réprouver pour savoir si cela est pufoulalsifié. C'est pourquoi le goût tient la languô aiin qu'il puis^^e craci^er cela si cela est impur. Maia «'il s'agit d'une pensée ^i«Mf//r# en parole , alors les livres sont les gardiens de la porte, qui doivent la tenic fermée , et empêcher la lai»gue de sortir ; elle» doivent conduire la chose ou la pensée dans la région de l'air ou dans les narines et non dans le cœur , et l'étoufîer ; alors c'est une. cbo^e morte. 19. Quand le goût a fait son épreuve, et que la chose est bienfei-ante pour les easenoes de l'ame , alors il la donne5o.au tact qui doit éprouve^ de quelle qualité cela est, si. cela est chaud ou froid^ dur ou mol , épais ou miuce ; efcquand cela est admissible , le tact le met dans le cœur devant le coup d'œil de la vie, devant le roi de la lumière de la vie; et la volonté de Tameiie c^jntemple plus avant dans la chose en une grande profondeur , et voit ce qu'il y a dedans, rorabien elle veut prendre de cette chose , et en adopter. Qu'iud il y en a assez ,.alo rs la volonté le donne a l'esprit de Tame , c'est-à-dire à i'éternel gouverneur, qui par sa forte et sévère puissance dans le êon , conduit l.i chose hors du cœur , sur la Iangue,au-desaou5du palais. Là l'esprit divise cela d'aprts \qs sens , et d'après la manière dont la volonté s'esî coniempk^,et la langue. le divise en wn.
220. Car la région de l'air doit faire passer Pceuvre par la gorge, ou /« co/, attendu que c'est là où les veines de tout le corps tendent, et concourent ensemble. Elles apportent vers cette région la vertu de la noble teinture et se mêlent avec la parole. En outre les trois régions de l'ame viennent là, et se mêlent avec les diversités de la parole , et là il y a une scène vraiment étonnante 5 car chaque région veut partager la parole selon ses propres essences j parce que le son sort du cœur , et de tous les trois principes. 2f. Le premier principe la veut orner selon sa forte puissance et sa pompe; il y mêle soi; âpre té aiguë , sa colère et sa méchanceté. Le second principe reste avec la vierge Sophie au milieu ; il répand là ses rayons d'aimable douceur , et résiste au premier principe. Quand l'esprit est allumé dans ce second principe, alors la parole est très douce joyeuse, et humble, et l'esprit s'incline vers l'amour du prochain: il ne désire d'atteindre personne avec l'aiguillon orgueilleux du premier principe ; mais il couvre l'aiguillon de la colère , et figure la parole avec netteté ; il arme la langue avec la justice et la vérité 'y il étend ses rayons dans la volonté du cœur et quand la volonté reçoit les rayons aimables et gracieux de l'amour , alors il enflamme l'ame toute entière avec l'amour, la justice, la chasteté de la vierge ou de Sophie, et avec \ai perfection et vérité des choses qui sont approuvées sur la langue par toute» les régions. Ainsi la langue , et les cinq sens , rendent cela clair, et la noble image de Dieu brille' 1. 2a '( 338 ) Ctt. ïê. au-dcdans et au-dehors , de façon qu*on peut en* tendre et voir dans tout l'abîme , quelle en est I« forme ou la manière d'être. Q ! homme , vois ce que te montre la lumière de la nature,
322. En troisième , vient le troisième régime ott l'esprit des étoiles et des élémens, pour la formation de la parole ; il se mêle dans la maison et dan» les pensées de là base affective j il veut former la parole de sa propre puissance : car il a la plus grande puissance, attendu qu^il tient prisonnier l'homme tout entier , MEnSCHEn ; qu'il l'a revêtu de chair et de sang , et qu'il a infecté la volonté de l'ame , ce qui fait que la volonté s'aperçoit dan» le roj^aume de ce monde dans l'atlract , la beauté , la force et la puissance , la richesse et la domination , le plaisir et la joie ; d'un autre côté , dans le» tristesses et les souffrances , les soins , les nrtsères , les maladies et les afflictions ; en outre,dans les arts et la sagesse , et au contraire dans les folies et les démences. a3. Le coup d'œil des sens ou des pensées , conduit tout cela dans la volonté de l'ame , devant le roi , devant la lumière de la vie , oh cela est éprouva Le roi le donne d'abord aux yeux qui doivent Voir ce qu'il y a de bon parmi toutes ces choses , et ce qui leur convient. Ici commence la forme merVeilleuse de l'homme,d'après les complexions dan» lew^uelles la constellation a ainsi, dans ses régions^> tii. i6. ( ^9 )
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.
1that be invented or true. The ears give it 3p. to the nose, to the smell which must smell what is introduced and is before the king, and judge whether that comes from good or evil essences. The nose gives it 40.to the taste which must prove it to know whether that be pure or falsified. That is why the taste holds the tongue so that it may spit that out if it be impure. But if it be a question of a thought to be put in word, then the lips are the guardians of the gate, who must hold it shut, and hinder the tongue from going forth; they must conduct the thing or the thought into the region of the air or into the nostrils and not into the heart, and stifle it; then it is a dead thing. 19. When the taste has made its proof, and that the thing is beneficent for the essences of the soul, then it gives it 5o.to the touch which must prove of what quality that is, whether it be hot or cold, hard or soft, thick or thin; and when that is admissible, the touch puts it into the heart before the glance of the life, before the king of the light of the life; and the will of the soul contemplates itself further into the thing in a great profundity, and sees what there is therein, how much it will take of this thing, and adopt of it. When there is enough of it, then the will gives it to the spirit of the soul, that is to say to the eternal governor, who by his strong and severe power in the sound, conducts the thing out of the heart, upon the tongue, beneat5h the palate. There the spirit divides that according to the senses, and according to the manner in which the will has contemplated itself, and the tongue divides it into sound.
220. For the region of the air must make the work pass by the throat, or the neck, seeing that it is there that the veins of all the body tend, and concur together. They bring toward this region the virtue of the noble tincture and mingle themselves with the word. Besides the three regions of the soul come there, and mingle themselves with the diversities of the word, and there there is a scene truly astonishing 5 for each region will divide the word according to its own essences; because the sound goes forth from the heart, and from all the three principles. 2f. The first principle will adorn it according to its strong power and its pomp; it mingles therein its sharp harshness, its anger and its wickedness. The second principle remains with the virgin Sophia in the midst; it spreads there its rays of amiable sweetness, and resists the first principle. When the spirit is kindled in this second principle, then the word is very sweet, joyous, and humble, and the spirit inclines itself toward the love of the neighbour: it desires to reach no one with the proud sting of the first principle; but it covers the sting of the anger, and figures the word with clearness; it arms the tongue with justice and truth; it stretches its rays into the will of the heart and when the will receives the amiable and gracious rays of the love, then it kindles the whole soul with the love, the justice, the chastity of the virgin or of Sophia, and with the perfection and truth of the things which are approved upon the tongue by all the regions. Thus the tongue, and the five senses, render that clear, and the noble image of God shines 1. 2a '( 338 ) Ctt. ïê. within and without, so that one can hear and see in all the abyss, what its form or its manner of being is. O! man, see what the light of nature shows thee.
322. In the third place, comes the third régime or the spirit of the stars and of the elements, for the formation of the word; it mingles itself in the house and in the thoughts of the affective base; it will form the word of its own power: for it has the greatest power, seeing that it holds prisoner the whole man, MEnSCHEn; that it has clothed him with flesh and blood, and that it has infected the will of the soul, which makes that the will perceives itself in the kingdom of this world in the attract, the beauty, the force and the power, the riches and the domination, the pleasure and the joy; on another side, in the sadnesses and the sufferings, the cares, the miseries, the maladies and the afflictions; besides, in the arts and the wisdom, and on the contrary in the follies and the madnesses. a3. The glance of the senses or of the thoughts, conducts all that into the will of the soul, before the king, before the light of the life, where that is proved. The king gives it firstly to the eyes which must see what there is of good among all these things, and what suits them. Here begins the marvellous form of man, according to the complexions in which the constellation has thus, in its regions, tii. i6. ( ^9 )
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.