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One moment.
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.
1mîTircrs de diffërens anges , et de se réjouir dan» leur société ? Qu'est-ce qu'il y auroit donc que Toa pût trouver plusaiinable ? Là il n'y a aucooe crainte^ aucune colère , aucune jnort , aucune «riatcsse^ La voix et le cri de tous esjt ; SialiU , veriu , force et puissance appartiennent à noire Vieu; et ce chant iTélève en élerniié. C'est ainsi qu'il en est de la puissance divine du paradis ; c'est une pure croissance dans Je centre divin de la végétation idans h paradis , et c'est là le lieu où Saint-Paul a entendu des paroles ineffables , que personae ne peul proférer. Tel est l'homnoe qu'étoit Adam avani sa chute ; et , pour que tu ne doutes pas que cela ai-e véritablement et certainement été ainsi, regardeseulement aux circonstances» 17. Quand Dieu eut ainsi créé Adam y il fut dès lors dans le paradis , dans la ijoie , et il étoit un homme très beau , très éclairé , plein de conoois* •ances ; alors Dieu amena tous les animaux devant lui, comme étant le grand maître en ce mondes il les considéra , et leur donna è chacun «n Jiom •elon leur essence et venu, tel que leurte^prit étoil iiguré en eux. Adam connut tout oe qu'il y Avoit dans chaque créature, et donna à chacune un nom selon Vinqualificaùion de son esprit. De «nême que Dieu peut voirxdans le cieur de chaque chose; de même aussi Adam pouvoit le faire ; ce -en quoi sfr montre bien quelle étoit sa perfection. 18. Désormais Adam et tous les hommes seroieot venus sur la terre tout nuds, comme il y vint»; son vêtement étoit la splendeur dans la puissanœ
2de Dieu ;. aucun chabd, mica'à ftniid rilé ?éût foli'- ché. î il pouvoit voir la nuil et ïè jbth' , lés yéus? ouverts , sans trébucher 5 il n'y âvoit en lui âu'éiia sommeîi , et dans son esprit auctrne nuit ; éàr d'ans; ses jeux étoit la puissance divine , et il étoit Complet et' parfait : il avôil en lui le liihhusaiûil que la matrice ; il n'étoit ni homme ni femme , tel que nous serons à k résurrécitioii , quoiqu'en effet Xi. connoissance des marques doive rester en £gure, nais non pas avec séparation du limhùs et de la matrice > comme cela est ici bas* 19. Or y l'homme devoit deraéurci: sûr la terré" tant qu^elle auroit subsisté, gouverner Ibs animaux, et prendre sa joie et soo^^ délice en toutiés choses ;,' mais il ne devoit manger d*aucun fruit terrésttë, daas lecfuel se trouve la cotruption. A la vérité , il devoit manger du> fruit , mais ce fruit eut entr^ dans sa bouche , et non point dans son cdr{53 -, caïf il n'auroit point eu de boyaux , ni aucutie chair grossière et ténébreuse ; tout étoit parfait en lui. fin effet, il lui crbissoil des fruits paradisiatjtles, qui ensuite ont disparu lorsqu'il fut chassé du paradis; alors Dieu maudit la terre ;• et on retira' de lui le Umbu» céleste , ainsi que le fVuit , et il petdit le paradis , Dieu-,. et le royaume céleste : car la terre n'étoit pas ainsi corrompue avant le péché ^ lorsque le paraidis étoit sur la terre. 20. Si Adam étoit resté dans l'innocence, il auroit mangé du fruit du paradis dans tous les fruits. Son manger étoit céleste ; sa boisson étoit de lai oxèreeau céleste, de la sotirce de l'éternelle vie. ! 'ii ( i56 y CH» lot
3îi'extra-gënératîon ne le toUchoit point ; il n*avoit pas besoin de Pair élémentaire , comme à présent : à la vérité il tiroit le souffle de Tair , mais il prenoit son souffle de l'esprit de l'incorruptibilité , car il ne frayoit ou n^inqualifioit point avec l'esprit de ce monde ; mais son esprit dominoit puissamment sur l'esprit de ce monde , sur les étoiles , aussi bien que sur le soleil et la lune , et sur les^ élémens. 21. Voilà ce que pouvûit être Adam : et ainsi il étoit une juste et véritable similitude et image de Dieu. Il n'avoit point dans sa chair des os durs tels que sont nos os , quoiqu'ils en eussent la força et une semblable vertu ; de même aussi son sang n'étoit point de la reinlure de la matrice aquastrique , mais de la céleste : en somme , il étoit tout céleste comme nous paroîtrons au Jour de la résurrection. Car , le plan de Dieu subsiste ; la première image doit revenir , et demeurer dans le paradis : et , comme elle ne pouvoit pas revenir et être ramenée d'une autre manière, alors Dieu le père aima' mieux livrer son cœur et son fils. Son éternelle volonté est inchangeable 5 elle doit subsister. 22. Et lorsque Dieu eut créé l'homme, il planta un jardin dans Eden , vers l'orient , et le plaça dedans ; il fit croître plusieurs fruits agréables à la vue , toutes sortes d'arbres bons à manger, et l'arbre de vie au milieu du jardin , et l'arbre de la connoissance du bien et du mal. Or , lorsque Dieu eut placé l'homme dans le jardin , il lui donna ses ordres^ et dit : Tu mangeras de tous le» arbres qui <.n. 10. < ^^7 )
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.
1thousands of different angels, and to rejoice in their society? What could there be then that one could find more amiable? There there is no fear, no anger, no death, no sadness. The voice and the cry of all is: Salvation, virtue, force and power belong to our God; and this chant rises in eternity. Thus it is with the divine power of paradise; it is a pure growth in the divine centre of the vegetation in paradise, and that is the place where Saint Paul heard ineffable words, that no one can utter. Such is the man that Adam was before his fall; and, that thou mayest not doubt that this has truly and certainly been so, look only to the circumstances. 17. When God had thus created Adam, he was thenceforth in paradise, in joy, and he was a man very fair, very enlightened, full of knowledge; then God brought all the animals before him, as being the great master in this world; he considered them, and gave to each a name according to their essence and virtue, such as their spirit was figured in them. Adam knew all that was in each creature, and gave to each a name according to the inqualification of its spirit. In like manner as God can see into the heart of each thing; so also could Adam do it; wherein is well shown what his perfection was. 18. Henceforth Adam and all men would have come upon the earth all naked, as he came thither; his garment was the splendour in the power
2of God; no heat, nor any cold would have touched him. He could see the night and the day, his eyes open, without stumbling 5 there was in him no sleep, and in his spirit no night; for in his eyes was the divine power, and he was complete and perfect: he had in him the limbus as well as the matrix; he was neither man nor woman, such as we shall be at the resurrection, although in effect the knowledge of the marks must remain in figure, but not with separation of the limbus and of the matrix, as it is here below. 19. Now man was to remain upon the earth so long as it should have subsisted, to govern the animals, and to take his joy and his delight in all things; but he was not to eat of any terrestrial fruit, in which corruption is found. In truth, he was to eat of fruit, but this fruit entered into his mouth, and not into his bo53dy; for he would have had no bowels, nor any flesh gross and tenebrous; all was perfect in him. In effect, there grew for him paradisiacal fruits, which afterwards disappeared when he was driven from paradise; then God cursed the earth; and there was withdrawn from him the celestial limbus, as well as the fruit, and he lost paradise, God, and the celestial kingdom: for the earth was not thus corrupted before the sin, when paradise was upon the earth. 20. If Adam had remained in innocence, he would have eaten of the fruit of paradise in all the fruits. His eating was celestial; his drink was of the celestial water, of the source of the eternal life. ! 'ii ( i56 y CH» lot
3the extra-generation touched him not; he had no need of the elementary air, as at present: in truth he drew breath from the air, but he took his breath from the spirit of incorruptibility, for he consorted not, nor inqualified with the spirit of this world; but his spirit ruled powerfully over the spirit of this world, over the stars, as well as over the sun and the moon, and over the elements. 21. Behold what Adam could be: and thus he was a just and veritable similitude and image of God. He had not in his flesh hard bones such as our bones are, although they had the force thereof and a like virtue; in like manner also his blood was not of the tincture of the aquastric matrix, but of the celestial: in sum, he was all celestial as we shall appear at the Day of the resurrection. For, the plan of God subsists; the first image must return, and dwell in paradise: and, as it could not return and be brought back in any other manner, then God the father chose rather to deliver up his heart and his son. His eternal will is unchangeable 5 it must subsist. 22. And when God had created man, he planted a garden in Eden, toward the orient, and placed him therein; he made to grow several fruits agreeable to the sight, all sorts of trees good to eat, and the tree of life in the midst of the garden, and the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. Now, when God had placed man in the garden, he gave him his orders, and said: Thou shalt eat of all the trees that <.n. 10. < ^^7 )
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.