True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits [Paperback]

Dr. John Dee (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 31, 1942

A fascinating account of Dr. Dee's experience of speaking with spirits to unearth the laws of nature and creation. Scarce!

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Product Details

• Paperback: 478 pages
• Publisher: Kessinger Publishing, LLC (May 31, 1942)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0766108120
• ISBN-13: 978-0766108127
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.3 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.4 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,505,821 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars It's a REPRINT!, October 31, 2003

By 

Francois (Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada) - See all my reviews

This review is from: True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits (Paperback)

Sure, it would be preferable and imminently more practical for the sake of modern day readership for the book to have been transcribed, sans those 'f' standing for 's,' and other such obsolete and often-confusing conventions.

Nonetheless, what Kessinger is offering here is not any different from many of its other publications: viz, the bloody thing is a reprint. In what regards scholarship (particularly Tudor-Stuart intellectual history), this is of great value as it allows for a reading of a un-modified document that might otherwise be unavailable to the researcher.

For what interests students of 'Enochian' magic, they should stay clear from Casaubon anyhow. He thought Dee little better than a 'Conjuror,'was being played for a fool, and that his angels were in truth demons. Also, if I am not mistaken, it was his father who disproved that the Corpus Hermeticum was not as old as once thought by its supporters, such as Ficino or Agrippa--which is to say that the Casaubons, though appreciated in their scepticism, might be severely biased and apt to dismiss the entire system of occult philosophy as a farce, and a demonic one at that. Joseph Peterson's "John Dee's Five Books of Mystery: Original Sourcebook of Enochian Magic" is a much better documente, and is presented with better examination.

In short, the only readers Casaubon's edition should attract are scholars interested in historiographical percpectives on Dee, views on Renaissance occultism, or of Stuart mentalities in regards magic. The book therefore is of great value but in regards Casaubon Preface and his modifications throughout the work.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating but flawed, August 29, 2005

By 

J. H. Peterson (Kasson, MN USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits (Paperback)

John Dee, one of the leading scientists of Elizabethan Europe, kept meticulous records of his efforts to communicate with angels. This book includes a large number of these records starting in 1583. For prior records, see Joseph Peterson's book John Dee's Five Books of Mystery.

These records are filled with fascinating and often entertaining details of 16th century life, science, politics, and occultism. Most of the material was recorded by Dee from the dictation of Edward Kelley, who saw visions in Dee's various crystal balls. Some of the evidence for the veracity of these visions is compelling, such as when the angels switch to Greek to communicate with Dee directly, so Kelley could not eavesdrop. He also dictated long passages in the "Enochian" language, which is otherwise unknown and has a consistent grammar and vocabulary. This might be the most compelling evidence, although noted linguist Donald Laycock had mixed feelings at best in his excellent book The Complete Enochian Dictionary.

Regarding Casaubon's edition, on the plus side, it is the only one available (although in various reprints). I love the archaic language and typography. The most confusing element is usually the "long s" which looks similar to an "f", but it isn't that hard to get used to. Casaubon also includes a very detailed table of contents.

On the downside, Casaubon's edition is notoriously bad for the sheer number of errors. Individual pages almost always have several mistakes, and frequently have dozens. Most of the mistakes are minor. To make things worse, he also omitted almost all of the frequent drawings, and altered the text to disguise the fact that they are missing.

I also am disappointed that Casaubon did not maintain Dee's language, punctuation, or capitalization accurately, but "modernized" them to suit his 1650's audience. This is only slightly more readable than Dee's original. There are also frequent Latin passages, which are usually untranslated. All footnotes are Dee's, and Casaubon did not bother to add an index.
His massive introduction is filled with invective, and does little to explain the rest of the book, such as the holy table or the sample page from Liber Loagaeth.

This book was the chief basis for the popular "Enochian magic" system developed by the Golden Dawn.

Unfortunately an accurate edition of these records is not yet available. Serious scholars will probably want to obtain microfilm copies of the original manuscripts from the British Library, but they are in very poor shape, being damaged and faded in many places, making it extremely hard or impossible to read.

I heartily recommend this book to a wide audience, but be advised to take it with a grain of salt.

1 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting!, August 29, 2005

By 

Anonymous - See all my reviews

This review is from: True and Faithful Relation of What Passed for Many Years Between Dr. John Dee and Some Spirits (Paperback)

A rare find. This is a great work dealing with Enochian magic and written by an eminent Elizabethan Magus.