Giordano Bruno and the Hermetic Tradition [First American Edition]

Chicago 37, USA: The University of Chicago Press , 1964. First American edition. Stated at copyright: "Published 1964." Dark green buckram (cloth) boards, crisp bronzish metallic spine titles, light shelf, corner wear. Pages very good, clean; some with intelligent notation, bracketing, underscore. Illustrated with many pictorial plates throughout. Bind fine, square; hinges intact. Good reading example of first edition. Giordano Bruno was an advanced philosopher and magician burned at the stake for the helio-centered cosmology et al. In this acclaimed study of his impact, Yates offers an overview of Renaissance humanism and its interplay and conflict with magic and the occult. This examination of Bruno came to be seen as Yates most significant publication. In this book, she emphasised the role of Hermeticism in Bruno's works, and the role that magic and mysticism played in Renaissance thinking. This book was revolutionary in 1964 as Yates rejected the imposition of twentieth century mores on earlier periods. Those who studied Bruno's scientific and mathematical advances disregarded his interest in magic and mysticism, and vice versa. Yates surmounts this and shows how inseparable the two truly are. E.g., Bruno's involvement with Copernicus occurred because he needed more accurate astronomical calculations for his astrological work. Yates demonstrates the extensive overlap with the Renaissance and the continued use and belief in magic. Yates' groundbreaking work remains an important call for historians to treat the ideas and thinkers of the past in their own milieu, rather than modern evaluations of validity. Summary from Kegan and Paul, edited: "In this book, Frances Yates emphasizes the primary importance of Hermetism in Renaissance thought. The Hermetic treatises were believed to be by an ancient Egyptian, propet of Chritianity; these associations strengthened their enormaous impact on Ficino and the Neoplatonic movement. Pico della Mirandola yoked Hermetism with Cabalism and the Hermitic-Cabalist tradition continues as an 'occult philosophy' both magical and mystical. Giordano Bruno is here for the first time placed within the context of this tradition of which he represents an original variation. He emerges as a Hermetic philosopher and magician with an unorthodox religious message. Even his support of Copernican helio-centricity is associated with Ficino's solar magic. This revolutionary reinterpetation profoundly affects the understanding of Bruno and of his death at the stake. Yates follow this tradtion beyond the death of Bruno and into the seventeenth century, particularly in Campanella. The correct dating in 1614 of the Hermetic treatises marked the end of the dominance of Hermetism though it continued to exert a hidden influence. The controversies of Fludd with Mersenne and Kepler are seen as a conflict between a late revival of the Hermetic-Cabalist tradition and the scientific movement of this seventeenth century. Renaissance Hermetism stimulated new attitudes towards the cosmos, and, operating with cosmic forces. It affected the religious issues, leading to a tolerance. Bruno's message on its religious side was a variant of the religious Hermetism widespread in rhe sixteenth century. Finally, Bruno's use of magically-significant imagery and language raises the question of his influence on poets of the English Renaissance." Includes detailed ten-page index. 466 pages. Insured post. . First Edition. Hard Cover. Good. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.