Thrice-Greatest Hermes. Studies in Hellenistic Theosophy and Gnosis

Being a translation of the Extant Sermons and Fragments of the Trismegistic Literature, with Prolegomena, Commentaries, and Notes.
London and Benares: The Theosophical Publishing Society.. 1906.

"I found greater pleasure in the spiritual considerations which insistently imposed themselves upon my mind".

First edition. Three volumes. 8vo. 230x140mm. pp. xvi, 481 [1]; xi, [i], 403 [1]; xii, 371 [1bl], [7, 1bl, adverts]. Loosely inserted leaf of handwritten notes. Beige cloth, upper cover and spine lettered in gilt. Some soiling and rubbing and the head and foot of spines are bumped and rubbed. Spines darkened and that of volume III is soiled. Internally, there is some foxing and the blank front free endpaper of volume one is loose. Overall a very good set of this comprehensive survey of the Hermetic literature attributed to the Egyptian sage Hermes Trismegistus. Mead states in his introduction that his "sole object was to render the more important of these beautiful theosophic treatises into an English that might, perhaps be thought in some small way worthy of the Greek originals". The work then expanded to include a wider range of texts, particularly the Trismegistic Sermons, and scholarly commentary. As Mead says, "I found greater pleasure in the spiritual considerations which insistently imposed themselves upon my mind". All of this makes Mead's study perhaps the most complete, and certainly the most erudite, introduction to the Hermetic tradition.
George Mead (1863-1933) was one of the most influential members of the Theosophical Society. His interest in the esoteric was sparked when, as a classics undergraduate at Cambridge, he read Alfred Sinnett's Esoteric Buddhism. Mead became Helena Blavatsky's secretary in 1889 and then the General Secretary of the Esoteric Section of the Theosophical Society. Mead took a much more intellectual and objective approach to Theosophy and esotericism and his growing frustration with Blavatsky's dogmatism led to a split in 1909 when Mead founded the Quest Society. This was much more in the way of a learned society devoted to the study of comparative religion, philosophy and science. Through its programme of lectures and its in-house quarterly review, the Quest Society had a wide influence on figures such as Jung, Hess, Yeats and Pound.

ref. 5329