(Occultism, Rosicrucians, Medicine, Magic), John Heydon (162...

Hammer

£1,800

(Occultism, Rosicrucians, Medicine, Magic), John Heydon (1629-c.1667): 'Theomagia, or, The temple of Wisdome : in Three Parts, Spiritual, Celestial, and Elemental : Containing the Occult Powers of the Angels of Astromancy in the Telesmatical Sculpture of the Persians and AEgyptians : the Mysterious Vertues of the Characters of the Stars with the Genii, Idea's and Figures of Geomancy ... : the Knowledge of the Rosie Crucian Physick, and the Miraculous Secrets in Nature ...', London, Printed by T.M. for Henry Brome at the Gun in Ivy-lane, 1663, 1st edition, engraved portrait frontispiece of the author, 3 volumes in 1, [110],1-272,[12],1-228,[229,230],231-316,[8],1-249,[7]pp, woodcut illustrations in text throughout of Geomantic symbols, telesmatic figures, divination/fortune telling illustrations etc, general printed title imprint T.M. for Henry Brome, 1663, separate printed title page for volume 2/book 2 with imprint "for Henry Brome, 1662", separate printed title page for 'Ocia imperialia: being select exercises of philosophy, policy, war, government, etc. The Idea of the Law Charactered from Moses to King Charles. Whereunto is Added, the Cruel Tyranny of Cromwel...', with imprint "for H. Brome at the Gun in Ivie-Lane, and T. Rooks at the Lamb in S.Pauls Church-yard, 1663", separate printed title page for volume 3/book 3 "Printed by J.C. for R. Broom, at the signe of the Gun in Ivy-Lane, 1663", contemporary calf (worn), backstrip detached, with the remaining majority loosely inserted. John Heydon (10 September 1629 – c. 1667) was an English Neoplatonist occult philosopher, Rosicrucian, astrologer and attorney. He was born in "Green Arbour" (near the Old Bailey), London, and educated at Tardebigge, Worcestershire, among his mother's friends, where he studied Latin and Greek with a tutor and was apprenticed to the study of law. His studies were interrupted by the outbreak of the English Civil War, and as a young man, he was said to have served in the royalist army. In 1651 he went abroad, travelling to Italy, Spain, Egypt, Arabia, and Persia. On returning to England he trained in law, in 1655 he was practising as an attorney and also casting horoscopes at Clifford's Inn, he married the widow of Nicholas Culpeper in 1656, and is thought to have fathered a daughter. He attracted attention in royalist and occultist circles for predicting the future, including the death of Oliver Cromwell, then Protector. Their royalist connections caused both Francis and John Heydon to be imprisoned in the final years of the Commonwealth era. The Restoration of 1660 resolved Heydon's incarceration – though he was imprisoned briefly later in 1663 for dealing in suspect (treasonous) literature, and in 1664 for debt. In 1667, Heydon was imprisoned, again, in the Tower of London for his part in the treasonous plots of his patron, the Duke of Buckingham, though that he was innocent and was the victim of someone paid to inform against him. Heydon published a remarkable volume of work in the last twelve years of his life, though was accused of plagiarising Sir Thomas Browne, Thomas Vaughan, and other writers. He was referred to as "an ignoramus and a cheate" by Elias Ashmole; Frances Yates termed him a "strange character...an astrologer, geomancer, alchemist, of a most extreme type. The precise date of Heydon's death is unknown. A rare book, with 'Rare Book Hub' showing only 3 copies sold in the last century, at Sothebys in 1985, Henkels in 1920, and Maggs in 1919.