Thrice Greatest Hermes by G. R. S. Mead
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Thrice Greatest Hermes: Studies In Hellenistic Theosophy And Gnosis. Being a Translation of the Extant Sermons and Fragments of the Trismegistsic Literature, with Prolegomena, Commentaries, and Notes by G. R. S. Mead. Volume 1: Prolegomena. Volume 2: Sermons. Volume 3. Excerpts and Fragments.
'This work exemplifies all that is best in Mead's dedicated, scholarly, but eminently readable studies of the spiritual roots of Christian Gnosticism and, more generally, of personal religion in the Greco-Roman world. His work encompassed much more than this; Mead was equally at home with Sanskrit texts, Patristic literature, Buddhist thought, and the problems of contemporary philosophy and psychical research. He devoted his intellectual energy to the complex interplay of Gnosticism, Hellenism, Judaism, and Christianity. This three volume set presents his insights into the formation of the Gnostic world-view and establishes him as an outstanding translator of these Hermetic books, and as the first modern scholar of Gnostic tradition.'
'Was he one, or many, merging
Name and fame in one,
Like a stream, to which, converging
Many streamlets run?
Till, with gathered power proceeding,
Ampler sweep it takes,
Downward the sweet waters leading
From unnumbered lakes.
*
Who shall call his dreams fallacious?
Who has searched or sought
All the unexplored and spacious
Universe of thought?
Who, in his own skill confiding,
Shall with rule and line
Mark the border-land dividing
Human and divine?
Trismegistus! three times greatest!
How thy name sublime
Has descended to this latest
Progeny of time!'
- Longfellow, 1882,
London and Benares: The Theosophical Publishing Society, 1906. First edition. Three Volumes. Hardcovers. 481 + 402 + 371pp. Original olive-green cloth with spines lettered in black. Light wear to boards, a couple of small scuffs and marks present, titles faded on spines, endpapers darkened with minor internal foxing whilst the text remains clean throughout. An excellent, complete set of Mead's important work. Scarce.
'This work exemplifies all that is best in Mead's dedicated, scholarly, but eminently readable studies of the spiritual roots of Christian Gnosticism and, more generally, of personal religion in the Greco-Roman world. His work encompassed much more than this; Mead was equally at home with Sanskrit texts, Patristic literature, Buddhist thought, and the problems of contemporary philosophy and psychical research. He devoted his intellectual energy to the complex interplay of Gnosticism, Hellenism, Judaism, and Christianity. This three volume set presents his insights into the formation of the Gnostic world-view and establishes him as an outstanding translator of these Hermetic books, and as the first modern scholar of Gnostic tradition.'
'Was he one, or many, merging
Name and fame in one,
Like a stream, to which, converging
Many streamlets run?
Till, with gathered power proceeding,
Ampler sweep it takes,
Downward the sweet waters leading
From unnumbered lakes.
*
Who shall call his dreams fallacious?
Who has searched or sought
All the unexplored and spacious
Universe of thought?
Who, in his own skill confiding,
Shall with rule and line
Mark the border-land dividing
Human and divine?
Trismegistus! three times greatest!
How thy name sublime
Has descended to this latest
Progeny of time!'
- Longfellow, 1882,
London and Benares: The Theosophical Publishing Society, 1906. First edition. Three Volumes. Hardcovers. 481 + 402 + 371pp. Original olive-green cloth with spines lettered in black. Light wear to boards, a couple of small scuffs and marks present, titles faded on spines, endpapers darkened with minor internal foxing whilst the text remains clean throughout. An excellent, complete set of Mead's important work. Scarce.
Category Occult, Magic & Esotericism