The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus by Thomas Taylor

Publishing: 1896 Bertram Dobell, Reeves and Truner

“The Mystical Hymns of Orpheus was originally published in 1824 and presents Taylor’s translations of the Hymns of Orpheus, with a lengthy Introduction in which he expounds his thesis that they were the original invocations used in the Eleusinian mystery plays. Thomas Taylor (1758 – 1835), was a one time bank-clerk who devoted himself to the classics with such passion that it was said that he and his wife only allowed themselves to converse with each other in in the language of ancient Greece. He became the leading modern exponent of Neo-Platonic thought, and it was largely as a result of his translations of Iamblichus, Proclus, Porphyry and other Neoplatonists and Pythagoreans that their work and thought became known within nineteenth century English-speaking mystical circles. Taylor’s translations also served to introduce the Romantic poets to Platonism, and in the US his work was enthusiastically embraced by Emerson and a number of his followers, and in the Britain was rediscovered by G. R. S. Mead, and others involved in other turn of the century occult and mystical movements including W. B. Yeats.”

Condition: Publishers blue cloth boards, paper label to spine, corners bumped, spine edges turned in,previous owner name to title page, other wise clean copy, binding tight, overall in Very Good condition