Athanasius Kircher's Theatre of the World - Hardcover

Joscelyn Godwin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0500258600 ISBN 13: 9780500258606

Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd, 2009

Synopsis

Athanasius Kircher (1602–80) was acknowledged to be the most learned man of his age. By profession a Jesuit priest, he made himself an authority on every subject under (and above) the sun and published the results of his researches in over thirty lavishly illustrated volumes in Latin. His museum in Rome was famous and visited by everybody in the world of learning. Inevitably, his work has been superseded in most areas of study, but he remains a key figure in the history of ideas and in recent years there has been a revival of interest, in which Joscelyn Godwin has played a leading role. But while every other aspect of his thought has been studied, the fascinating engravings with which he illustrated his ideas have been largely ignored. This book fills that gap. It is divided into 15 chapters grouped by the engravings’ subject; these illustrations reveal his singular mind and the way he was drawn to mysticism and magic.

Table of Contents

Classical Antiquity · Biblical Archaeology · Natural Phenomena Religion · Astronomy · Topography · Animals and Plants · The Surface and Interior of the Earth · Magnetism · Machines and Music

About this title

Review:

'A masterly study ... a superbly handsome volume with more than 400 illustrations, many of the most extraordinary kind ... [an] absorbing and utterly wonderful book' --The Times Higher Education Supplement

'The best general introduction to the man available' --The Art Newspaper

'A vast treasure trove of work ... Godwin deserves considerable praise for his close observation and background research' --Building Design

'Beautiful' --The Financial Times

'[A] vast and beautiful book'
--Spectator

'The author and the publisher have taken real, prolonged and exhaustive pains to make a beautiful book, and succeeded'
--Philip Pullman, The Guardian

'A fascinating history of the last great Renaissance polymath'
--The Birmingham Post

'An encyclopaedic feast of extraordinary images, all fascinating, and many exotic or bizarre'
--Temenos Academy Review

About the Author:

Joscelyn Godwin is Professor of Music at Colgate University, New York state. He is the author of many books, including A Renaissance Man and the Quest for Lost Knowledge and The Pagan Dream of the Renaissance, both published by Thames & Hudson. He has also edited or translated nineteen other books, including the first complete English translation of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili, published by Thames & Hudson in 1999.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thames and Hudson Ltd
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 0500258600
• ISBN 13: 9780500258606
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 304