Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks Series 12

Magnum Opus Hermetic Sourceworks Series
This series of limited edition hand-bound books by Adam McLean were initially produced between 1979 and 1986. They were never sold through book dealers, but only by direct mail order. Consequently, these books became collectors items, often fetching high prices on the second-hand market. Only a few copies remain of some of the older titles in this series and a number are now entirely sold out. Since 1997 thirty new titles have been issued with more in preparation.

No. 12. The Steganographia of Trithemius

Translated by Fiona Tait and Christopher Upton. Edited with an Introduction by Adam McLean

Sorry, the edition is now sold out. Some copies may be available from Adam McLean's personal collection. Email adam@alchemywebsite.com for information on availability and price.

The Steganographia of Trithemius (the great occult teacher of both Agrippa and Paracelsus) was written at the end of the fifteenth century, and became one of the most influential and notorious of occult texts throughout the sixteenth and seventeen th centuries. It works on two levels - as a grimoire or book of conjuration of spirits, and simultaneously as a code book - and contains lists of spiritual messengers associated with the divisions of space and time, a Cabalistic Angel magic. The Steganographia which circulated secretly in manuscript during the 16th century was highly valued. John Dee, whose Enochian system of angelic magic was influenced by the Steganographia, noted that 'One Thousand Crowns' had been offered for a copy of this work. On one level it reveals ways of encoding secret information in outwardly innocent texts, and thus the publication of this item will have a considerable impact upon our view of the ways in which the esoteric orders of the 16th and 17th centuries may have conveyed information and preserved their secrets.
This volume includes Books I and III of the Steganographia, together with an extract from Gustavus Selenus' Cryptomenytices et Cryptographiae, providing an analysis of the method of encoding in the Steganographia.
Limited edition of 500 copies. 141pages. A5 hardbound.

The edition is now fully sold out.