Jeremias Drexel's 'christian Zodiac': Seventeenth-century Publishing Sensation. A Critical Edition, Translated And With An Introduction & Notes
by Crowe Nicholas J. /
2013 / English / PDF
2.4 MB Download
First published in 1622, Jeremias Drexel's 'Zodiacus christianus'
(or 'Christian Zodiac') was a remarkable work of religious
iconography and spiritual self-help. Raised a Lutheran but
converting to Catholicism in his youth, Drexel (1581-1638) was well
placed to publish a book that appealed to Protestants as well as
Catholics, his 'Zodiac' appearing in multiple reprints, re-editions
and translations across Europe during his lifetime and posthumously
across the rest of the seventeenth century in an astonishing arc of
popularity. The orbit of his readers' catchment was geographically
- and denominationally - wide to a conspicuous degree. Drexel was
among the most-read authors of that century, a genuine luminary in
the culture of the German Baroque, and arguably the most published
writer of the period. Offering the first modern translation into
English since the early seventeenth century, this critical edition
re-acquaints Anglophone audiences with a sample of the spiritual
and philosophical writings of a figure whose significant
publication record made him a bestseller during his lifetime and
for many decades afterwards. As well as addressing issues of
spiritual iconography with relation to 'signs of predestination',
the book also has much to say about authorship, publishing and the
dissemination of ideas. Including a scholarly introduction, full
footnotes and an up-to-date bibliography, this new edition does
much to help reveal these themes within the complex
interconnections between religion, mysticism, iconography and
scholarship in early modern Europe.
First published in 1622, Jeremias Drexel's 'Zodiacus christianus'
(or 'Christian Zodiac') was a remarkable work of religious
iconography and spiritual self-help. Raised a Lutheran but
converting to Catholicism in his youth, Drexel (1581-1638) was well
placed to publish a book that appealed to Protestants as well as
Catholics, his 'Zodiac' appearing in multiple reprints, re-editions
and translations across Europe during his lifetime and posthumously
across the rest of the seventeenth century in an astonishing arc of
popularity. The orbit of his readers' catchment was geographically
- and denominationally - wide to a conspicuous degree. Drexel was
among the most-read authors of that century, a genuine luminary in
the culture of the German Baroque, and arguably the most published
writer of the period. Offering the first modern translation into
English since the early seventeenth century, this critical edition
re-acquaints Anglophone audiences with a sample of the spiritual
and philosophical writings of a figure whose significant
publication record made him a bestseller during his lifetime and
for many decades afterwards. As well as addressing issues of
spiritual iconography with relation to 'signs of predestination',
the book also has much to say about authorship, publishing and the
dissemination of ideas. Including a scholarly introduction, full
footnotes and an up-to-date bibliography, this new edition does
much to help reveal these themes within the complex
interconnections between religion, mysticism, iconography and
scholarship in early modern Europe.