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A brief natural history intermixed with variety of philosophical discourses; and refutations of such vulgar errours as our modern authors have hitherto omitted.

Vaughan, Thomas (Eugenius Philalethes pseud.)
London: Printed for Matthew Smelt, 1669

Rare Books & Special Collections
Strong Room Collection 1P V369

We thank our donor...

A brief natural history intermixed with variety of philosophical discourses... was generously funded by Adopt-a-book donor, Bryce Saint. His valued contribution has ensured this important 17th century text will be available for future generations of researchers for many years to come.

Synopsis

Writing under the pseudonym Eugenius Philalethes, Welsh alchemist Thomas Vaughan was born at Newton in c1621.  His twin brother was the acclaimed author, Henry Vaughan, renowned for his religious poetry.  The pair studied under Matthew Herbert, rector of Llangattock, with Thomas later entering Jesus College, Oxford, and graduating B.A. in 1642.  He became rector of Llansantffraed but was soon evicted from the parish due to his Royalist sympathies. Turning his attention instead to medical studies, Vaughan began to apply his chemical skills to the preparation of medicines in the manner recommended by pioneering alchemist, Paracelsus.

In 1652 Vaughan translated into English the Fama Fraternitatis Rosae Crucis, an anonymous Rosicrucian manifesto originally published in 1614.  He also published several of his own works under his pseudonym, most notably Anima magica abscondita, or, A discourse of the universall spirit of nature, with his strange, abstruse, miraculous ascent and descent (1650); Lumen de lumine, or, A new magicall light discovered and communicated to the world (1651), and Anthroposophia theomagica, or, A discourse of the nature of man and his state after death (1656).

The 1669 publication, A brief natural history intermixed with variety of philosophical discourses; and refutations of such vulgar errours…, has also been attributed to him and it certainly reflects his religious training.  Opening with a statement about God, he writes “by his presential Essence [God] gives unto all things an Essence; so that if he should withdraw himself from them, as out of Nothing they were first made, so into Nothing they would be again resolved.  In the preservation then of the Creature, we are not to consider so much the impotency and weakness thereof, as the goodness, wisdom, and power of the Creator, in whom and by whom, and for whom, they live, move, and have their being.  The spirit of the Lord filleth the world…”.  It’s a conviction repeated throughout the book.  Vaughan discusses everything from the sun, which he believes keeps its “courses and measures exactly according to God’s prescription” to the planets and the stars, the latter of which he contends “were made for Men, and not Men for the stars; and if God be on our side, and we on his, Jupiter, and Saturn shall never hurt us.”

It's a little book, barely larger than a miniature, but one packed to the brim with Vaughan’s fascinating thoughts on the discourses of the great philosophers who have gone before him.  Those with an interest in natural history, philosophy or religion will find much of interest within.

Original Condition

Calf binding. Front board detached and rear board starting. Front endpaper also detached.  Loss of leather to head and tail of spine and minor bumping to board corners.  Some open tears throughout the textblock, particularly to the title page.

Restoration by Anthony Zammit

Spine and board leather gently lifted and new brown leather inserted underneath. Original spine leather, including spine label, reapplied to the new leather.  Front endpaper tipped back in and front and rear boards strengthened with Japanese repair paper.  Open tears throughout the textblock, particularly the title page, also repaired with Japanese paper.

Lee Hayes
November 2019