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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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Chronology

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Chronology

The Witnesses Used in This Edition

Date: 1623 Witness or editorial event: Paris, Nicolas Buon: the anonymous Latin Arcanum, with title, address to students, 138 canons and a printed errata sheet. This is the governing witness.

Date: 1650 Witness or editorial event: London, J.Flesher for Richard Mynne: Hasolle/Ashmole’s English collection, including the Arcanum and appended reception material.

Date: 1653 Witness or editorial event: Geneva, Jean-Antoine and Samuel de Tournes: the Latin Arcanum, consulted as a comparison witness.

Date: 1893 Witness or editorial event: London, Theosophical Publishing Society: Westcott’s revised English Arcanum, with prefaces, interpretation and 57 notes.

Date: 2026 Witness or editorial event: Diotimos Editions: fresh translation from the complete 1623 Latin witness, with distinct historical reception and modern study layers.

Dates and boundaries are checked against the actual title pages and endings of the witnesses listed in the bibliography. This is a transmission chronology, not a speculative biography.

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.