- Joined
- Mar 4, 2023
- Messages
- 220
- Reaction score
- 908
- Awards
- 4
“John Dee (1527 to 1608 or 1609) has been the subject of much interest in several fields. A number of good book-length studies of him have appeared,1 as well as numerous articles,2 and popular media. My intent in presenting this text is not to recap Dee's life or present a new perspective but to fill in an important gap that has been generally neglected. The primary manuscript presented here adds considerable detail for the years 1581–1583, by most accounts the climax of his career. It sheds light on Dee's politics, science, and occultism.
For the first edition of this text, I had the simple goal of eliminating two major barriers to the study of John Dee and Edward Kelley: availability and legibility of the material. For the second edition, I tried to make it more accessible by adding translations of the many Latin passages, and adding many footnotes to explain the frequent obscure references and obsolete English terms of Dee's day. I also added supplementary material from Dee's diary and other manuscripts, restoring damaged portions using Dee and Ashmole's other transcriptions of the originals taken before the damage occurred. I also expanded the introduction and index.
Interest in Dee has not faded in the twenty years since the second edition. This third edition gives me a welcome opportunity to take advantage of two more decades of scholarly studies of Dee and related topics, as well as incorporate findings based on newly identified relevant manuscripts.”
J. Peterson, 2023
*I haven’t even really looked at it yet but I didn’t notice any missing pages.
-Eld
