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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.
1Chapitre 18. De la promesse de la semence de la femme , et du briseur de serpent '^ de la sortie d'Adam et d'Eve du paradis ; de plus : de la malédiction de Dieu ; comment il maudit la terre à cause des péchés de Vhom.me 53 Chapitre 19. De Ventrée dé's saintes âmes en Dieu , et de l'entrée des âmes impies dans la perdition. La porte de la brisure du corps au départ de Pâme 99 Chapitre 20. l®. De la sortie d*Adam et d'Eve du paradis , et de leur entrée dans ce monde, 2o. De la vraie église chrétienne d'Abel sur la terre, 3**. De l'église anti-chrétienne caïnique. 129 Chapitre 21. Du règne caïnique et du règne abélique j etc. De V église caïnique anti-chrét., et aussi de la vraie église chrétienne abélique ; comment ces deux sont Vune dans Vautre , etc. Des arts humains , des états et ordonnances de ce monde ; des charges administratives , de leur origine j comment elles sont u,ne divine et bonne ordonnance ^ aussi bien qu'une ordonnance fausse ^ mauvaise et diabolique , etc 181 l^émt ^(402) - ^' j . \ ■ ■■ <. ■ ■' Chapitre 22. JRe la nouvelle naissance de Vanclen homme ad^miqûe en Christ / la fleur de la sainte végétation 5 la noble porte du vrai christ ianisme, 209 ChapitbE 2.3 .Des très précieux testamens du Christ , savoir. :. du baptême et de sa dernière cène qu'il a faite avec ses disciples^ le jeudi au soir. Ce qu^il nous a laissé comme sa dernière volonté : la plus noble de toutes les portes du christianisme , ,.,•.,, 255 Chapitre 24. De la juste et vraie pénitence ; comment le pauvre pécheur peut retourner à Dieu dans son alliance , et comtnent il peut être relevé de ses péchés. Importe de la justification du pauvre pécheur devant Dieu, Un beau miroir pour toutes les âmes affamées et pénitentes, . . 281
2Chapitre 25. Des souffrances^ du supplice , de la mort et de la résurrection de Jésus-Christ y fils de !Pieu , ainsi que de son ascension et de son siège ^à la droite de Dieu son père, La porte de notre misère et aussi la forte porte de la puissance divine dons son amour So'iChapitre 26. De la pentecôte ; de l^envoi de l'esprit saint ^ des apôtres- ^t des crojans, La sainte porte de la puissance divine, . • • . . 353 Chapitre 27. Du dernier jugement ; ëie la résur^ rection des morts , et de la vie étemelle. La ^ très effroyable porte des impies'^ et ausû la joyeuse porte des saints, 3/0 Appendix , c'est-à-dire . fondamentale et vraie description de la triple rie dans t homme, .« • 305 \^ COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY iinitiitl 0032142200 /* »■*'. i
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.
1Chapter 18. Of the promise of the seed of the woman, and of the bruiser of serpent; of the going out of Adam and of Eve from the paradise; moreover: of the malediction of God; how he cursed the earth because of the sins of man 53 Chapter 19. Of the entry of the holy souls into God, and of the entry of the impious souls into the perdition. The gate of the breaking of the body at the departure of the soul 99 Chapter 20. l®. Of the going out of Adam and of Eve from the paradise, and of their entry into this world, 2o. Of the true christian church of Abel upon the earth, 3**. Of the anti-christian cainic church. 129 Chapter 21. Of the cainic reign and of the abelic reign; etc. Of the cainic anti-christ. church, and also of the true abelic christian church; how these two are the one in the other, etc. Of the human arts, of the states and ordinances of this world; of the administrative charges, of their origin; how they are a divine and good ordinance as well as a false, bad and diabolical ordinance, etc 181 l^émt ^(402) - ^' j . \ ■ ■■ <. ■ ■' Chapter 22. Of the new birth of the ancient adamic man in Christ / the flower of the holy vegetation 5 the noble gate of the true christ ianism, 209 ChaptEr 2.3 .Of the very precious testaments of the Christ, to wit: of the baptism and of his last supper which he made with his disciples, the thursday at evening. What he has left us as his last will: the noblest of all the gates of the christianism, ,.,•.,, 255 Chapter 24. Of the just and true penitence; how the poor sinner may return to God in his alliance, and how he may be relieved of his sins. Import of the justification of the poor sinner before God. A beautiful mirror for all the famished and penitent souls, . . 281
2Chapter 25. Of the sufferings, of the torture, of the death and of the resurrection of Jesus-Christ, son of God, as well as of his ascension and of his seat at the right of God his father. The gate of our misery and also the strong gate of the divine power in his love So'iChapter 26. Of the pentecost; of the sending of the holy spirit, of the apostles and of the believers. The holy gate of the divine power, . • • . . 353 Chapter 27. Of the last judgment; of the resurrection of the dead, and of the eternal life. The very frightful gate of the impious and also the joyous gate of the saints, 3/0 Appendix, that is to say. fundamental and true description of the triple life in man, .« • 305 \^ COLUMBIA UNIVERSITY iinitiitl 0032142200 /* »■*'. i
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.