Selections from the Recently Published Correspondence between Louis Claude de Saint-Martin and Kirchberger, Baron de Liebistorf, during the Years 1792–97

Item Details

Exeter: William Roberts, 1863. First edition. 8vo, [3], xxxiv, [1], 392pp. Presentation copy inscribed by E[dward] B[urton] P[enny] to a C. Greaves on the front pastedown and dated in 1864, with an 8-line mystical verse regarding Adam, presumably in Penny's hand, at rear. Publisher's diaper patterned cloth, spine lettered in gilt. Expertly rebacked with original spine laid down. Corners frayed, endpapers a bit foxed but clean internally and very good.

First edition of this English translation by Edward Burton Penny of the correspondence between the French mystic, Louis-Claude de Saint-Martin, or the "Unknown Philosopher," and Swiss nobleman Baron de Liebistorf.  The letters discuss Jacob Böhme, mysticism, and the pursuit of divine knowledge.  

English mystic, James Pierrepont Greaves (1777-1842) was an early advocate of Christian theosophy and fostered a small group who studied the teachings of Böhme, William Law, Saint-Martin and others.  One of his pupils was a woman named Anne Judith Brown who married Penny in 1865, shortly after this book was published.  Another part of this small circle was a "Mr. and Mrs. Greaves," who may have been related to James Pierrepont, and who lent Penny books which contained the texts of Saint-Martin which he would translate.  Joscelyn Godwin in her study, "A Behemist Circle in Victorian England,” The Hermetic Journal, no. 46 (1992), pp. 48–71, describes this relationship:

"When Anne Judith Brown married the Rev. Edward Burton Penny, Rector of Topham, Devon, on 3 October 1865, her life must have become a lot less dull. They met because of a mutual interest in Saint-Martin, says her biographer Massey. Mr. Penny's correspondence suggests a three-cornered connection, for he speaks of two friends called Mr. and Mrs. Greaves who admired Walton, stayed with Penny for four days in the summer of 1863, and lent him the books of Saint-Martin. Mr. Greaves had been to Paris and made a pilgrimage to Saint-Martin's tomb, and also to the Unknown Philosopher's publisher, who disappointed him sorely with his ignorance of theosophy.  It would be a strange coincidence indeed if this Mr. Greaves were not related to James Pierrepont Greaves, possibly as his son. If so, it would be fitting for him to have introduced his friend Edward Burton Penny to his father's sometime pupil Anne Judith Brown."

The book itself is quite scarce in the first edition, and we have to imagine the Greaves to whom this book is inscribed is likely the Mr. or Mrs. Greaves described by Godwin, making this a very interesting association copy.