Three Books of Occult Philosophy

5300 €

The Three Books of Occult Philosophy is the most complete repository of pagan and Neoplatonic magic ever compiled. It was written by the german Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa von Nettesheim.

First edition in English of Agrippa’s occult masterpiece, De occulta philosophia libri tres, written prior to 1510, but not published until 1533, two years before Aggripa’s death. This copy complete with the engraved frontispiece portrait and folding table, both of which are commonly lacking. Among the features of note are the numerous woodcuts of occult figures and symbols, including a series on the “Harmony of man’s body”.

This book is packed with material you will not find elsewhere, including copious extracts on magic from obscure or lost works by Pythagoras, Ptolemy, Plato, Aristotle, and many others. Tyson’s detailed annotations clarify difficult references and provide origins of quotations, even expanding upon them in many cases, in order to make Agrippa’s work more accessible to the modern reader.