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I am new here so am following the recommendations and dropping in here to say 'Hi'
Been a keen student of these matters since the mid 1970's now, and still not only learning but also still expanding my library - with physical copies of actual books where possible. I can particularly recommend the new edition of Agrippa's 'Occult Philosophy' in it's new translation (thankfully corrected from the 17th Century RF translation) by Eric Purdue - it is a beautiful edition too and I commend it to the members
I am new here so am following the recommendations and dropping in here to say 'Hi'
Been a keen student of these matters since the mid 1970's now, and still not only learning but also still expanding my library - with physical copies of actual books where possible. I can particularly recommend the new edition of Agrippa's 'Occult Philosophy' in it's new translation (thankfully corrected from the 17th Century RF translation) by Eric Purdue - it is a beautiful edition too and I commend it to the members
It's the translation errors that really matter in oh, so many places - the JF (sorry, I wrote 'RF' above in error) translation not only got things wrong but it also changed the sense & even the meaning in places too. So far, I have only read volumes 1 & 2, still on volume 3 as I write this.
Other issues with the 'JF' edition include errors in copying of the diagrams & tables - which brings me neatly to what I would like to talk about next.
How is it that a lot of these MSS were so badly copied?
It must be down to one of 2 possible reasons that I can think of and I would be really interested to know what other members here think.
1. Copying error doe to carelessness or incompetence (as in my writing RF for JF above), or
2. A deliberate attempt to hide information.
Nothing else makes any sense to me, and I believe I can rule out option 1, as scribes have been making copies of documents by hand for centuries, if not millennia - and these are almost always true copies as you do not need to understand something in order to copy it - yet we see so many 'errors' in magical MSS it makes me think that either someone is trying to hide things by bad copies or else they are trying to deliberately alter the copy from the original. Another good example of bad copying from Agrippa has to be Francis Barrett's 'The Magus' which is riddled with errors.
We can see a similar thing with the Solomonic MSS - even Mathers points this out in his late 19th century edition of the Clavicle & the Goetia, and it has also been pointed out by many others too, including Ioannis Marathakis' 'The Magical Treatise of Solomon or Hygromanteia' where he has printed the variations for all to see.
What does everyone else think?
It may also be interesting to try & compile a list of known 'bad' copies, so these can be avoided as useless?
Finally the obvious closing question has to be this:
Is there a true, original copy that is still extant?
Can you please post a link to that? I would love to see it.
I'd share the PDF if I had them, but I bought the hardcover set in it's slipcase as we will not have electricity for much longer (15-20 years at best), and actual books will be worth their weight!
It's the translation errors that really matter in oh, so many places - the JF (sorry, I wrote 'RF' above in error) translation not only got things wrong but it also changed the sense & even the meaning in places too. So far, I have only read volumes 1 & 2, still on volume 3 as I write this.
Other issues with the 'JF' edition include errors in copying of the diagrams & tables - which brings me neatly to what I would like to talk about next.
How is it that a lot of these MSS were so badly copied?
It must be down to one of 2 possible reasons that I can think of and I would be really interested to know what other members here think.
1. Copying error doe to carelessness or incompetence (as in my writing RF for JF above), or
2. A deliberate attempt to hide information.
Nothing else makes any sense to me, and I believe I can rule out option 1, as scribes have been making copies of documents by hand for centuries, if not millennia - and these are almost always true copies as you do not need to understand something in order to copy it - yet we see so many 'errors' in magical MSS it makes me think that either someone is trying to hide things by bad copies or else they are trying to deliberately alter the copy from the original. Another good example of bad copying from Agrippa has to be Francis Barrett's 'The Magus' which is riddled with errors.
We can see a similar thing with the Solomonic MSS - even Mathers points this out in his late 19th century edition of the Clavicle & the Goetia, and it has also been pointed out by many others too, including Ioannis Marathakis' 'The Magical Treatise of Solomon or Hygromanteia' where he has printed the variations for all to see.
What does everyone else think?
It may also be interesting to try & compile a list of known 'bad' copies, so these can be avoided as useless?
Finally the obvious closing question has to be this:
Is there a true, original copy that is still extant?
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Can you please post a link to that? I would love to see it.
I'd share the PDF if I had them, but I bought the hardcover set in it's slipcase as we will not have electricity for much longer (15-20 years at best), and actual books will be worth their weight!
I am new here so am following the recommendations and dropping in here to say 'Hi'
Been a keen student of these matters since the mid 1970's now, and still not only learning but also still expanding my library - with physical copies of actual books where possible. I can particularly recommend the new edition of Agrippa's 'Occult Philosophy' in it's new translation (thankfully corrected from the 17th Century RF translation) by Eric Purdue - it is a beautiful edition too and I commend it to the members
