A lovely and scarce English 18th century collection of grimoires including (pseudo)-Agrippa’s Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, his work on Geomancy, The Heptameron of Abano and The Arbatel, translated by Robert Turner. Indeed, it would be the publication of volumes like this one that would inspire the 19th century occult revival. Replete with magical signs, sigils and incantations this is a lovely collection of magical text for the invocation of spirits.
The collection stands as one of the principal conduits through which Renaissance occult philosophy was transmitted into the English-speaking world. Turner's translations, first issued in the mid-17th century and here reprinted in the 18th, were instrumental in shaping the magical imagination of later centuries, from the Rosicrucians and Freemasons to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The volume’s blend of practical ritual instruction and lofty spiritual cosmology reveals the deep interweaving of Christian, Hermetic, and Cabalistic traditions that characterized Western magic at its most ambitious and syncretic. A key witness to the continuity of esoteric learning between the early modern and modern ages.
C. 1780, one of several late 18th century printing, all rare. 319pgs + index. Early brown ink ownership inscription 'B. Hooper' to head of title, foot of title trimmed with loss of imprint, occasional spotting and browning, endpapers renewed, 19th-century red half morocco gilt, joints worn, some marks, 12mo.
A lovely and scarce English 18th century collection of grimoires including (pseudo)-Agrippa’s Fourth Book of Occult Philosophy, his work on Geomancy, The Heptameron of Abano and The Arbatel, translated by Robert Turner. Indeed, it would be the publication of volumes like this one that would inspire the 19th century occult revival. Replete with magical signs, sigils and incantations this is a lovely collection of magical text for the invocation of spirits.
The collection stands as one of the principal conduits through which Renaissance occult philosophy was transmitted into the English-speaking world. Turner's translations, first issued in the mid-17th century and here reprinted in the 18th, were instrumental in shaping the magical imagination of later centuries, from the Rosicrucians and Freemasons to the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. The volume’s blend of practical ritual instruction and lofty spiritual cosmology reveals the deep interweaving of Christian, Hermetic, and Cabalistic traditions that characterized Western magic at its most ambitious and syncretic. A key witness to the continuity of esoteric learning between the early modern and modern ages.
C. 1780, one of several late 18th century printing, all rare. 319pgs + index. Early brown ink ownership inscription 'B. Hooper' to head of title, foot of title trimmed with loss of imprint, occasional spotting and browning, endpapers renewed, 19th-century red half morocco gilt, joints worn, some marks, 12mo.
