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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.
1In the Clavis the numbering of the paragraphs in the Dutch and in the English editions is identical. In the German editions of 1662, 1675, and 1698 (the last, apparently, printed from the same type as 1675) the paragraphs are not numbered, and are of considerably greater length. The other German editions are numbered uniformly, but disagree in this respect with the Dutch and with the English. In the German editions, too, there is nothing corresponding with the way in which the letters of the name "Jehova" (pars. 33-38) are arranged on the printed page; nor do the astronomical signs set to the headings of pars. 70, 72, 77, 87, 99, 118, and 122 appear. In both these cases Sparrow has manifestly adopted Beyerland's plan. The Table of "The Seven Forms of Spirits," after par. 132, is the same in all editions, with the exception of the composite astronomical symbol at the top. This is found in Dutch and in English copies only. As the result of Mrs Hehner's careful comparison of the English editions with the
2much later, and most approved, German editions — for which service I owe Mrs Hehner a deep debt of gratitude — the high quality of Sparrow's work becomes apparent. Especially so, when it is remembered that these standard editions were the outcome of the most exacting and uncompromising scrutiny of every available source of information by men whose qualifications for the task were of the highest order. The enthusiasm manifested over the publication of the 1682 edition was so great, that no labour, no expense, was considered too great to be lavished upon the work. To the student of these writings who is denied the advantage of reading Bohme in the original, it will, I feel sure, be a comfort to know that John Sparrow has given us a version so reliable. C. J. B. Purley, February 5th, 1911. THE EMENDATIONS
3THE Emendations are the outcome of a very close comparison of Sparrow's translations of the Forty Questions and of the Clavis with the original German. For this purpose the editions of 1682 and 1730 have been used. The former was the first complete edition issued of the whole of Bohme's works, and was produced under the able editorship of John George Gichtel, assisted by several earnest and competent Bbhme students of the time. Such of the books as had been separately published were closely compared with the MSS., which were acquired for the purpose; and the whole work was carried out with scrupulous care and exactitude. As the result of these labours a number of errors were discovered in the earlier editions, and duly corrected. After the appearance of the 1682 edition, Gichtel continued his studies; and on his death in 1710 his private copy was found to contain, in MS., many further corrections that he considered desirable. A not very successful attempt was made to use these in publishing the edition of 1715; but they were finally incorporated, in correct form, in the enlarged and improved edition of 1730.
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.
1In the Clavis the numbering of the paragraphs in the Dutch and in the English editions is identical. In the German editions of 1662, 1675, and 1698 (the last, apparently, printed from the same type as 1675) the paragraphs are not numbered, and are of considerably greater length. The other German editions are numbered uniformly, but disagree in this respect with the Dutch and with the English. In the German editions, too, there is nothing corresponding with the way in which the letters of the name "Jehova" (pars. 33-38) are arranged on the printed page; nor do the astronomical signs set to the headings of pars. 70, 72, 77, 87, 99, 118, and 122 appear. In both these cases Sparrow has manifestly adopted Beyerland's plan. The Table of "The Seven Forms of Spirits," after par. 132, is the same in all editions, with the exception of the composite astronomical symbol at the top. This is found in Dutch and in English copies only. As the result of Mrs Hehner's careful comparison of the English editions with the
2much later, and most approved, German editions — for which service I owe Mrs Hehner a deep debt of gratitude — the high quality of Sparrow's work becomes apparent. Especially so, when it is remembered that these standard editions were the outcome of the most exacting and uncompromising scrutiny of every available source of information by men whose qualifications for the task were of the highest order. The enthusiasm manifested over the publication of the 1682 edition was so great, that no labour, no expense, was considered too great to be lavished upon the work. To the student of these writings who is denied the advantage of reading Bohme in the original, it will, I feel sure, be a comfort to know that John Sparrow has given us a version so reliable. C. J. B. Purley, February 5th, 1911. THE EMENDATIONS
3THE Emendations are the outcome of a very close comparison of Sparrow's translations of the Forty Questions and of the Clavis with the original German. For this purpose the editions of 1682 and 1730 have been used. The former was the first complete edition issued of the whole of Bohme's works, and was produced under the able editorship of John George Gichtel, assisted by several earnest and competent Bbhme students of the time. Such of the books as had been separately published were closely compared with the MSS., which were acquired for the purpose; and the whole work was carried out with scrupulous care and exactitude. As the result of these labours a number of errors were discovered in the earlier editions, and duly corrected. After the appearance of the 1682 edition, Gichtel continued his studies; and on his death in 1710 his private copy was found to contain, in MS., many further corrections that he considered desirable. A not very successful attempt was made to use these in publishing the edition of 1715; but they were finally incorporated, in correct form, in the enlarged and improved edition of 1730.
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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