BAUMAN RARE BOOKS 44 54CASAUBON, Meric. A True and Faithful Relation of What passed for many Yeers Between Dr. John Dee... and Some Spirits… London, 1659. Folio, contemporary full dark brown calf rebacked to style in calf-gilt. $18,500 First edition of this notorious record of mathematician— and tutor and astronomer to Elizabeth I—John Dee’s conversations with angels. A 1545 graduate of Cambridge, Dee studied on the continent with some of the best scientists of his day. He edited the first edition in English of Euclid (1570), providing most of the annotations and footnotes; additionally, “for more than 25 years Dee acted as adviser to various English voyages of discovery” (DSB). What Dee is most remembered for today, however, are his occult interests, which, combined with his undoubted scientific ability, gave him access to the highest levels of European royalty. Elizabeth I consulted him; much of his time in Europe was spent in consultation with kings and emperors, and he declined numerous lucrative appointments. Conjurer Edward Kelley would act as a “scryer” with Dee’s crystal balls, communicating messages from angelic beings to Dee; to this day, it is unclear to what extent either of them were consciously deceptive, although it now seems evident that the pious Dee was, if anything, being duped by Kelley. The source for the material in A True and Faithful Relation comes from manuscripts unearthed from the ground around Dee’s house by antiquarian Robert Cotton that purport to give transcriptions of Dee and Kelley’s angelic communications. Paper repair to lower margin of frontispiece, just touching border only; occasional light foxing and soiling to text. Expert restoration to corners and edges of contemporary calf covers. An extremely good copy in contemporary calf covers, handsomely and expertly restored and rebacked. “Light Agreeth Not With Darknesse, Nor Vertue With Vice”
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