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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.
13o. Et lo". de même que l'ame d'Adam planoil entre deuxrègnes mauvais, savoir: entre le royauni» de ce iiltnde , et le rojraume de l'enfer 5 de mêra» aussi leSÇhrist fut suspendu planant entre deux meurtriers , sur la croix : ainsi le Christ devoil rétablir tout ce qu'Adam «voit perdu. Et de même qu'un des malfaiteurs se convertit , et «lésira d'être avec le Christ dans son royaume ; de même anssi il y a un royaume , savoir : l'homme terrestre qui doit se convertir, et la pauvre ame doit entrer de nouveau en Christ par la mort terrestre , et fleurir sur la croix comme ce meurtrier et ce malfaiteur qui désira le royaume du Christ. 40. Et tu peux bien nous croire quand nous disons que tout ce qui s'est passé dons la chute d'Adam, par laquelle il a été dégradé , le second Adam Christ a dû le porter sur sa personne : car le prepiier Adam était tombé dan» la colère de Dieu. Or pour qu'il fût secouru et réconcilié , il falloit qne I« second Adam s'élabUt dans celle colère et lui abandonnai son corps extérieur avec toutes ses essences ; Il falloit qu'il allât par la mort dans l'enfer, dans la co èredu père , et la réconciliât avec son amour: et qu a>„s. .1 subît l«i-même celte dure condition que nous aurions du supporter dans toute l'éierniié 4i- Or, lorsqu'on en fut à celle œuvre importante par laquelle le sauveur du monde étoit suspendu h la croix comme un maudit, et qu'il combattit avec 1 en er et la terre , il dit ( Jean ,9 : 20 ) : J'ai soiK Ah! quelle grande soif! le royaume colérique éioil affoibl,, auss. bien que le royaume de ce monde; •U desiroieni la puissance ; et le royaume du ciel avoitso.fde nos âmes, et e'étoitunesoifde tous les trou principes.
24». Lorsqu'il vit Jean au-dessou, de la croix avec »mère,il dit : roU, ^oilà ta mire ; et à eih : rd,, ^UaionfiU ; et aussitôt le disciple la prit che^ soi. «a luère signifie son éternelle nouvelle humanité , q« .1 avoi. prise à soi dans sa mère , ou dans le ternaire saint , laquelle nous devons prendre en nous • et «DUS réjouir <lans ce**m<,:„ ,aint. C'est pourquoi Jl montra sa mère à Jean : c'est ce dont ily auroit beaucoup à écrire; mais cela aura lieu dans un autre •ndro.l,etseracommeiel'espôregrandemeuléclaiici. 43. Il est évidemment clair, que de même que \a fauvre ame merche en nous entre deux règnes , qui »o«s deux la tiennent prisonnière ; de même le Chnst devoit être placé enlre deux malfaiteurs. 1 rends caci en grande considéra lion , et pens«sy r î ( 320 ) CH. 25. ce n'est par une chose indifFérente. Et nous voyons combien ce fui une effroyable âprelé , lorsque l'am© du Christ se sépara de sou corps terrestre, et qu'elle entra dans la colère du père , ou dans Tenfer ; comment la terre trembla , les rochers se fendirent , et le soleil perdit son éclat j nous voyons , dis-je , ceci clairement , et nous l'entendons de la bouche du Christ.
344. Lors donc qu'il eut subi toutes les railleries et reçu toutes les plaies , il dit sur la croix : Tout est consommé. Lorsqu'il vivoit encore dans le corps terteslre , il disoit que tout étoit consommé. Entendez tout ce qui auroit dû rester sur nous éternellement, et bouillonner eu nous avec toutes les humiliations dans lesquelles .nous sommes , en face de l'enfer et du royaume du ciel. Il avoit chargé tout cela sur lui. Ce dont Isaiedit ; En i^érité, il a porté noa infir^ mités , et a pris sur lui nos trangressions. Nous Va» tx>ns regardé comme étant ainsi tourmenté ^ frappé^ et martyrisé par Dieu : mais il a pris sur lui nos infir» mités; il a chargé sur soi nos douleurs , et nous ayons été guéris par ses meurtrissures. Nous avons tous erré comme le troupeau ; chacun a regardé sa voie. J^insi nous ne pouvions pas nous aider ; mais nous allions comme des brebis souffrantes , a moitié égorgées, et nous devions voir le démon faire de nous dans la colère de Dieu , tout ce qu'il auroit voulu.- Car nous portons sur nous un habit de monstre , e\ nous sommes en grande dérision aux yeux du ciel et de l'enfer. 45. C'est donc pour cela que Dieu railla Adam •II. 2S. ( 3^1 )
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.
13o. And lo". even as the soul of Adam hovered between two evil reigns, to wit: between the kingdom of this world, and the kingdom of hell 5 even so also the Christ was suspended hovering between two murderers, upon the cross: thus the Christ was to re-establish all that Adam had lost. And even as one of the malefactors converted himself, and desired to be with the Christ in his kingdom; even so also there is a kingdom, to wit: the terrestrial man who must convert himself, and the poor soul must enter anew into Christ by the terrestrial death, and flower upon the cross as this murderer and this malefactor who desired the kingdom of the Christ. 40. And thou mayest well believe us when we say that all that came to pass in the fall of Adam, by which he has been degraded, the second Adam Christ has had to bear upon his person: for the first Adam was fallen into the anger of God. Now that he might be succoured and reconciled, it was needful that the second Adam should establish himself in this anger and abandon to it his exterior body with all its essences; it was needful that he should go by the death into hell, into the anger of the father, and reconcile her with his love: and that thus .1 he underwent himself this hard condition that we should have had to bear in all eternity 4i- Now, when they were come to this important work by which the saviour of the world was suspended upon the cross as one accursed, and when he combated with 1 hell and the earth, he said ( Jean ,9 : 20 ): I thirst. Ah! what a great thirst! the choleric kingdom was weakened, as well as the kingdom of this world; they desired the power; and the kingdom of heaven had thirst of our souls, and it was a thirst of all the three principles.
24». When he saw John below the cross with his mother, he said: See, behold thy mother; and to her: See, behold thy son; and at once the disciple took her to his own home. His mother signifies his eternal new humanity, which .1 he had taken to himself in his mother, or in the holy ternary, which we must take in us, and rejoice in this ce**m<,:„ ,holy. It is why he showed his mother to John: it is what there would be much to write of; but that shall have place in another place, and shall be as I hope greatly cleared up. 43. It is evidently clear, that even as the poor soul walks in us between two reigns, which both hold her prisoner; even so the Christ was to be placed between two malefactors. 1 Take this into great consideration, and think upon it r î ( 320 ) CH. 25. it is not an indifferent thing. And we see how frightful an harshness it was, when the soul of the Christ separated herself from his terrestrial body, and when she entered into the anger of the father, or into hell; how the earth trembled, the rocks were rent, and the sun lost its splendour; we see, say I, this clearly, and we hear it from the mouth of the Christ.
344. When then he had undergone all the railleries and received all the wounds, he said upon the cross: All is consummated. When he lived still in the terrestrial body, he said that all was consummated. Understand all that would have had to remain upon us eternally, and to boil in us with all the humiliations in which we are, in face of hell and of the kingdom of heaven. He had charged all that upon him. Whereof Isaiah says: In truth, he has borne our infirmities, and has taken upon him our transgressions. We have regarded him as being thus tormented, struck, and martyrised by God: but he has taken upon him our infirmities; he has charged upon himself our sorrows, and we have been healed by his bruises. We have all erred as the flock; each has looked to his own way. Thus we could not aid ourselves; but we went as suffering sheep, half slaughtered, and we had to see the demon do of us in the anger of God, all that he would have willed. For we bear upon us a habit of monster, and we are in great derision in the eyes of heaven and of hell. 45. It is then for that that God mocked at Adam •II. 2S. ( 3^1 )
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.