Item #54741 The Fame and Confession of R: C: Commonly of the Rosie Cross with A Praeface Annexed Thereto and a short Declaration of their Physicall Work. Eugenius . translates Johann Valentin Andre PHILALETHES, Thomas Vaughan.
The Fame and Confession of R: C: Commonly of the Rosie Cross with A Praeface Annexed Thereto and a short Declaration of their Physicall Work.

The Fame and Confession of R: C: Commonly of the Rosie Cross with A Praeface Annexed Thereto and a short Declaration of their Physicall Work.

London: Printed by J. M. for Giles Calvert, at the black spread Eagle at the West end of Pauls. 1652. First Edition. Hardcover. Small octavo. Modern brown calf-leather binding, with blind-stamped rules and devices to margins of boards, and raised bands with gilt rules and titling to spine. (lxx) + 64p. (A8 a-c8 d4 B-E8). Ornamental head-pieces and initials. The extremely scarce First English publication of what are arguably the most significant works of Rosicrucian Hermetica, the first and second Rosicrucian manifestos, the "Fama fraternitatis" and the "Confessio Fraternitatis." This edition includes an original Preface by Eugenius Philalethes (pseudonym of Thomas Vaughan; 1621 - 1666), a Welsh clergyman, philosopher, alchemist and - by reputation - a brother of the Rosy Cross, who apparently also arranged its publication. Vaughan was long thought to have translated the work himself, but Adam McLean has argued cogently in "The Impact of the Rosicrucian Manifestos in Britain," (and essay in "Das Erbe des Christian Rosenkreuz"), that it was probably actually taken from an older manuscript translation in the Scots dialect. Genuinely rare: Duveen lists a facsimile copy only; Mellon II, 102; Hall, 20; Gardner, 675. Later binding and endpapers in Fine condition, lacking first blank (A1) as almost always, a few headlines shaved, otherwise a lovely copy, the pages are fresh, unmarked and supple, and overall as close to Fine as could ever be found in a book of this vintage. A major and extremely rare work. Item #54741

Price: $6,500.00