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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.
1The Keys to the Cover Illustration Rev. i . 4 . 4. John to the Seven Churches in Asia, Grace be unto you, and Peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come,and from the seven Spirits which are before his Throne. Rev. 4. part of the 3. verse. & 5, to the 11. 3. And there was a Rainbow, round about the Throne, in sight like unto an Emerald. 5. And out of the Throne proceeded Lightenings and Thundrings,and Voyces: and there were seven Lamps of FireBurning before the Throne, which are the Seven Spirits of God. 6. And before the Throne there was a Sea of Glass like unto Crystal: and in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne, were four Beasts full of Eyes before and behind. 7. And theFirst Beast was like a Lyon, and the Second Beast like a Calf, and the Third Beast had a Face as a Man,and the Fourth Beast was like a flying Eagle. 8. And the Four Beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of Eyes within, and they rest not Day and Night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
29. And when those Beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sate on the Throne, who liveth for Ever and Ever, 10. The Four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sate on the Throne, and worship him that liveth for Ever and Ever, and cast their Crowns before the Throne, saying, 11. Thou art worthy,O Lord ,to receive Glory and Honour and Power; for thou hast Created all things, and for thy Pleasure they are and were Created. Rev. 5. 6, 8, to the 10. 6. And I beheld, and Lo, in the Midst of the Throne and of the Four Beasts, and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven Horns, and seven Eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the Earth. 8. And when he had taken the Book,the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb, having Every one of them Harps and Golden Vialls full of Odours, which are the Prayers of Saints. 9. And they sung a New Song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to Open the Seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood,out of Every Kindred,and Tongue, and People, and Nation. 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the Earth. Isaiah 9. 2.
32. The People that walked in Darkness, have seen a great Light: they that dwell in the Land of the shadow of Death, upon them hath the Light shined. Matth. 4. 16. 16. The People which sate in Darkness saw great Light: and to them which sate in the Region and shadow of Death, Light is sprung up. Revelatio Omnium Revelationum. This A U R O R A, or Redness of the Morning Is the W O N D E R of the World. J. B. PREFACE FOR THE AURORA To the Courteous Reader 1. COURTEOUS Reader, I compare the whole Philosophy, Astrology, and Theology, together with their mother, to a goodly tree which groweth in a fair garden of pleasure. 2. Now the earth in which the tree standeth affords sap continually to the tree, whereby the tree hath its living quality: But the tree in itself groweth from the sap of the earth, becomes large, and spreadeth itself abroad with its branches: And then, as the earth worketh with its power * upon the tree, to make it grow and increase, so the tree also worketh continually with its branches, with all its strength, that it might still bear good fruit abundantly. * "power" (Kraft), "virtue." In the great majority of
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.
1The Keys to the Cover Illustration Rev. i . 4 . 4. John to the Seven Churches in Asia, Grace be unto you, and Peace from him which is, and which was, and which is to come,and from the seven Spirits which are before his Throne. Rev. 4. part of the 3. verse. & 5, to the 11. 3. And there was a Rainbow, round about the Throne, in sight like unto an Emerald. 5. And out of the Throne proceeded Lightenings and Thundrings,and Voyces: and there were seven Lamps of FireBurning before the Throne, which are the Seven Spirits of God. 6. And before the Throne there was a Sea of Glass like unto Crystal: and in the midst of the Throne and round about the Throne, were four Beasts full of Eyes before and behind. 7. And theFirst Beast was like a Lyon, and the Second Beast like a Calf, and the Third Beast had a Face as a Man,and the Fourth Beast was like a flying Eagle. 8. And the Four Beasts had each of them six wings about him, and they were full of Eyes within, and they rest not Day and Night, saying, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come.
29. And when those Beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sate on the Throne, who liveth for Ever and Ever, 10. The Four and twenty Elders fall down before him that sate on the Throne, and worship him that liveth for Ever and Ever, and cast their Crowns before the Throne, saying, 11. Thou art worthy,O Lord ,to receive Glory and Honour and Power; for thou hast Created all things, and for thy Pleasure they are and were Created. Rev. 5. 6, 8, to the 10. 6. And I beheld, and Lo, in the Midst of the Throne and of the Four Beasts, and in the midst of the Elders stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven Horns, and seven Eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the Earth. 8. And when he had taken the Book,the four Beasts and four and twenty Elders fell down before the Lamb, having Every one of them Harps and Golden Vialls full of Odours, which are the Prayers of Saints. 9. And they sung a New Song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the Book, and to Open the Seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy Blood,out of Every Kindred,and Tongue, and People, and Nation. 10. And hast made us unto our God Kings and Priests, and we shall reign on the Earth. Isaiah 9. 2.
32. The People that walked in Darkness, have seen a great Light: they that dwell in the Land of the shadow of Death, upon them hath the Light shined. Matth. 4. 16. 16. The People which sate in Darkness saw great Light: and to them which sate in the Region and shadow of Death, Light is sprung up. Revelatio Omnium Revelationum. This A U R O R A, or Redness of the Morning Is the W O N D E R of the World. J. B. PREFACE FOR THE AURORA To the Courteous Reader 1. COURTEOUS Reader, I compare the whole Philosophy, Astrology, and Theology, together with their mother, to a goodly tree which groweth in a fair garden of pleasure. 2. Now the earth in which the tree standeth affords sap continually to the tree, whereby the tree hath its living quality: But the tree in itself groweth from the sap of the earth, becomes large, and spreadeth itself abroad with its branches: And then, as the earth worketh with its power * upon the tree, to make it grow and increase, so the tree also worketh continually with its branches, with all its strength, that it might still bear good fruit abundantly. * "power" (Kraft), "virtue." In the great majority of
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.
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