Occult, Astrology, Illustrated, 1698 | Theologia mystica (...) 1698

Theologia mystica oder geheime und verborgne gottliche lehre von den ewigen unsichtbarlichkeiten als vom mundo & globo archetypo. Amsterdam, H. Wettstein, 1698.

Pordage, J.

Occult, Astrology, Illustrated, 1698 | Theologia mystica oder geheime und verborgne gottliche lehre von den ewigen unsichtbarlichkeiten als vom mundo + globo archetypo. Amsterdam, H. Wettstein, 1698.

Name: Occult, Astrology, Illustrated, 1698 | Theologia mystica oder geheime und verborgne gottliche lehre von den ewigen unsichtbarlichkeiten als vom mundo + globo archetypo. Amsterdam, H. Wettstein, 1698.
SKU: BB110140
Price: 3200.00 EUR
Availability: InStock

16 352 pp. Full contemporary vellum. [Bound with:] J. Pordage, Vier tractatlein des seeligen J. Pordadschens M. D. in manuscriptis hinterlassen. Amsterdam, R. en G. Wettstein, 1704. (4) 284 pp. [And with:] J. Pordage, Sophia, das ist die holdseelige ewige jungfrau der Gottlichen weisheit. Amsterdam, 1699. 4 230 (57) pp. With an engraved, fold-out frontispiece portrait of Pordage (slightly torn) and additional illustrations. Light foxing on some pages that does not affect the text. Sporadic contemporary(?) manuscript notes in red and black ink in the margins; unclear whether all by the same hand. Light pencil underlining on a few pages. Ink stamps on one flyleaf show former ownership by the Dutch National Maritime Museum and the Fries Scheepvaart Museum. A good copy.

This volume compiles three rare, first-edition, German-language printings of works by the English priest, mystic, astrologer, and alchemist John Pordage (1607-1681). A follower of the German mystic and theosopher Jakob Boehme (1575-1642), Pordage promoted Boehme’s ideals in England. In so doing, he achieved infamy for his religious heterodoxy. Behmenism, as this movement came to be known, had a broad influence in 17th-, 18th-, and 19th-century Europe: Protestant intellectuals, for instance, embraced his writings; Hegel referred to him as “the first German philosopher”; and poets like John Milton and William Blake engaged with his legacy.

Few of Pordage’s writings were published during his lifetime, but several, including the three works bound here, were printed posthumously. Interestingly, these editions mark not only the first known versions in German, but also, in the case of both the Vier tractatlein and the Sophia, the first known printing of these works in any language. The illustrated Theologia mystica contains a fold-out engraving of Pordage’s interpretation of Boehmean cosmology (a “Mundus Archetypus” comprised of eight worlds, e.g. the “Dark-Fire” world, “Light-Fire” world, “Angelical” world, and “Eternal Nature”), while several in-text woodcuts appear in the remainder of the text.

BB110140

SKU: BB110140

€ 3.488,00 (€ 3.200,00 ex. btw)

In stock