The Rosicrucian Manuscripts [Paperback]

Benedict J. Williamson (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 1, 2002

The Rosicrucian Fraternity announced their existence some four centuries ago. Since then there has been much speculation about the brotherhood regarding their secrets, their history, and their existence. Time has spawned numerous imitators, voluble detractors, and earnest defenders of the Fraternity. The only certainty lies in the early manuscripts and publications; these works are presented together in this volume.

Herein are all of the crucial Rosicrucian documents. The Fama Fraternitatis proclaims the existence of the brotherhood to the world and calls for sincere Christian reformation. The Confessio Fraternitatis gives more details on their history and teachings. The Chemical Wedding is considered by some to be a key alchemical work by the brotherhood. When the Fama was first printed, it was accompanied by the by Trajano Bocalini. Each of these works is presented in an early English translation, along with the original prefaces. Also included is Thomas Vaughn's lenghty preface to the first English publication of Fama and Confession

This edition includes introductions to every Rosiucrucian work, useful footnotes, historical information, and latin, german and greek translations from noted Rosicrucian scholar Benedict J. Williamson. Williamson has compared numerous translations of the various works to produce the most authoritative and accurate version to date of these forgotten historical treasures.

Editorial Reviews

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.

From the Introduction by Benedict J. Williamson.

It is useful to recount the manner and order in which the Fama Fraternitatis and Confessio Fraternitatis were printed. The Fama was in circulation in manuscript form starting around 1610. The first known printing of the Fama occurred in or around August of 1614, and was printed in Cassel in Hesse by Wilhelm Wessel. The volume contained a preface (the First Preface), followed immediately by a satire on the General Reformation, then the Fama, and ending with a letter by Adam Haselmeyer. Although the letter was included in the book to give credence to the Fama and the fraternity, it would have been possible to dismiss the publication without much effort.

A second printing that was almost identical with this first one occurred later in 1614. It was also printed in Cassel. The only change between this and the first edition was the addition of another reply to the fraternity. This reply was signed by M. H. and I. I., which both beg to be accepted into the brotherhood.

In the beginning of 1615, two new volumes were published at Cassel. The chronological order of these volumes is not certain. One of them was a volume containing a Brief Consideration of Secret Philosophy by Philip à Gabella followed by a Latin version of the Confessio Fraternitatis. This edition is similar to those of 1614 in that the Rosicrucian work takes second place in importance. The other volume in early 1615 contained the Fama and the Confessio, with the Confessio both in Latin and in a German translation. This is the first time the two appear together. A reprint of the combined Fama and Confessio was then printed in Marburg in Hesse.

The next edition was printed in May or June of 1615 at Frankfurt-on-the-Main by Johann Bringer, under commission for Johann Berner. This volume included a new preface (the Second Preface), the Fama, a second German translation of the Confessio, a total of four letters to lend credibility to the Fraternity, including Haselmeyer's Reply and three new letters, and, at the very end, the General Reformation.

Sometime in mid 1615, an edition was printed by Andreas Hünefeldt in Danzig. It was similar to the Frankfurt edition, save that the General Reformation was not included, and a fifth letter was added. It should be noted that with the exception of Haselmeyer, all of the correspondents have only given their initials rather than their names.

Product Details

• Paperback: 248 pages
• Publisher: Invisible College Press, LLC (December 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1931468125
• ISBN-13: 978-1931468121
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.5 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 11.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,754 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

23 of 24 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Almost complete, April 26, 2003

By 

Joe Penn (Halle/Saale, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosicrucian Manuscripts (Paperback)

This is an excellent, essential and almost complete introduction to the basic Rosicrucian literature of the Seventeenth century. Its merit lies in the selection of tracts included, however, and not on the critical apparatus contained therein.

Editor Williamson's introduction is simplistic and unhelpful, apart from giving the reader a basic chronology of the publication history of the manifestos. Williamson appears unaware of the recent research by Carlos Gilly, et al. that illuminates the status of some of these reprints as pirated editions, etc.

The book then goes on to include: The entirety of Thomas Vaughan's 17th century marginalia to the English 1652 edition of the manifestos, followed by; the first & second prefaces to the Fama Fraternitatis from the Kassel 1614 & 1615 editions; Traiano Boccalini's brilliant satire 'The General Reformation' which was published in the editio princeps of the Fama; the Fama itself; The Confessio and its preface; and lastly, the Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz, anno 1459 (Foxcroft's 1690 translation, with the marginalia deleted). An extensive selection: the only major missing texts are Phillipo a Gabella's 'Brief Consideration' and Haslmayr's 'Antwort'; both of which are important peripheral pieces.

This particular edition is of usefulness because of the inclusion of some helpful annotations (although these are largely copied from F.N. Pryce's edition of the _Fame & Confession_), and the inclusion of the entire Boccalini extract (previously only available in a truncated form in Waite's _Real History of the Rosicrucians_).

My recommendation, however, is that this text is read in conjunction with F.N. Pryce's earlier work. Pryce's extensive critical introduction and annotations are far more useful than Williamson's clipped commentary, and each volume contains source materials not found in the other. As always, both books should be consulted in conjunction with more modern, and careful, scholarship: particularly of that of German scholar Carlos Gilly.

19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The only book a real Rosicrucian needs to read!, December 31, 2002

By 

Chris - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosicrucian Manuscripts (Paperback)

This book contains the three major original Rosicrucian works, Fama Fraternitias, Confessio Fraternitias, and The Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosencreutz, along with a few other short historical pieces. I knew that these were available in places on the internet, but this book was really worth the price because of Williamson's amazing editing job. He went back to the original texts and compiled the most authoritative edition in years. He added historical footnotes, references, and even translated the greek and latin parts of the text. He also placed the works into their historical context by adding easy-to-read introductions. All of the original graphics from the Chymical Weddiing are included, so you get a bit of the RCs symbology. These stories are much clearer, cleaner, and more complete than any version I've seen anywhere.

If you are interested in Rosicrucianism, put down all those modern New Age books written by people who don't know what they are talking about, and read these stories, which are the only ones known to have been written by the original Rosicrucians themselves.

11 of 18 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An excellent version of the Roscrucian literature., January 21, 2003

By 

Harry Jones (Gainesville, Florida) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Rosicrucian Manuscripts (Paperback)

I've given this book a five star rating because it is very well produced. I
can't say I really liked the contents, though. It has the original
Rosicrucian tracts, which seem to basically say that they think people
aught to follow the teachings of Jesus (a fine idea). The first publication
was accompanied by a spoof called "The General Reformation" translated from
some Italian work, which implies that the whole suggestion of a brotherhood
is a farce. To make matters more absurd, the first English publication was
accompanied by a alchemical work (which is absolutely dreadful) -- this has
an amazing amount of obsfucation just to hide the fact the author (Thomas
Vaughn) didn't know anything. Likewise, at the end of the volume is
another alchemical 'allegory' which is utter dreck, but is assigned to the
Rosicrucians. According to the editor of this book, Williamson, this last
work was even admitted by the author as being something to see how
gullible people were (very, based on a brief search on the internet). Again,
the book is very well done, and the editor has a nice introduction and some
good footnotes (I wonder what his opinions on the Rosicrucians are -- he
remains carefully neutral).