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Diotimos Library · Esotericism & Spirituality Collection · Bilingual Edition

Attributed to Jean d’Espagnet

The Secret Work of the Hermetic Philosophy

A Fresh English Translation from the Complete 1623 Latin Arcanum

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The Governing Latin Printing, 1623

Arcanum hermeticæ philosophiæ opus. Paris: Nicolas Buon, 1623. Published anonymously under Penes nos unda Tagi; conventionally attributed to Jean d’Espagnet. Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon copy, Google Books volume uJNr_M9LDGgC. The actual Arcanum title, preface, all 138 canons and correction leaf govern the new translation.

https://books.google.com/books?id=uJNr_M9LDGgC&pg=RA1-PA1

The Bibliothèque nationale de France catalogue supplies an independent bibliographical record for the 1623 volume and its conventional attribution.

https://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb333658913

The Historical English Collection, 1650

Fasciculus chemicus: or Chymical collections, with Arcanum: or The grand secret of hermetick philosophy. Translated under the name James Hasolle, the pseudonym of Elias Ashmole. London: J.Flesher for Richard Mynne, 1650. Getty Research Institute copy, Internet Archive fasciculuschemic00deea. Used to check the English transmission and the distinct appended Signifer/Interpretation. The figure’s sequential page 266 is misprinted 252 in this copy. The additional address of I.C.Chymierastes is separate from the 138 canons.

https://archive.org/details/fasciculuschemic00deea

https://catalog.folger.edu/record/142292?ln=en

The Latin Comparison Witness, 1653

Arcanum hermeticæ philosophiæ opus. Geneva: Jean-Antoine and Samuel de Tournes, 1653. ETH-Bibliothek Zürich, Rar 4790, e-rara, DOI 10.3931/e-rara-21432. Consulted as an early Latin comparison witness. Its Arcanum is digitised in a separate record from the companion Enchiridion. It does not silently replace the 1623 wording in this edition.

https://doi.org/10.3931/e-rara-21432

Westcott and Sapere Aude, 1893

An English translation of the Hermetic Arcanum of Penes Nos Unda Tagi, 1623. Collectanea Hermetica, volume I. Edited by W.Wynn Westcott, with preface and notes by Sapere Aude. London: Theosophical Publishing Society, 1893. Wellcome Library copy, Internet Archive b29005863, marked Public Domain. Source of the complete historical reception material reproduced here. The new English reading text is translated from Latin and does not claim to be Westcott’s translation.

https://archive.org/details/b29005863

https://archive.org/download/b29005863/b29005863.pdf

About This Reading Edition

The complete anonymous 1623 Arcanum, conventionally attributed to Jean d’Espagnet, with Latin and a fresh English translation, 138 canons, original marginalia and errata, 88 modern annotations, separately identified historical reception documents, and the complete supplied Diotimos study apparatus.

Historical Text and Translation

Anonymous, Arcanum hermeticæ philosophiæ opus. Paris: Nicolas Buon, 1623. Bibliothèque municipale de Lyon copy, digitised by Google Books, uJNr_M9LDGgC. Conventionally attributed to Jean d’Espagnet; the original title page is anonymous.

About Diotimos Editions

This historical edition credits Diotimos Editions as its English translator.

Rights

Historical texts are public-domain works. The supplied 2026 fresh English translation, Latin reading transcription and Diotimos editorial material are published with the site owner’s authorization. The historical Signifer is credited to the Getty Research Institute copy and Internet Archive.