THRICE GREATEST HERMES BY G.R.S. MEAD 1964 IN THREE VOLUMES

[MEAD, G. R. S.]. 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: John M. Watkins, 1964.

Third Impression. In three volumes [vol. 1. Prolegomena; vol. 2. Sermons; vol. 3. Excerpts and Fragments]. Cloth-bound. Hardcover. Octavo (230 x 150 mm). Pp. xv, 336; viii, 252; xi, 231. English text. Bound in publisher's original red cloth with gilt spine titles. Supplied in the original dust jackets. Initial and terminal blanks plus half titles present. Printed footnotes. Indexes. Printed in Great Britain by W. & J. Mackay. Condition: VERY GOOD. A wonderful clean and tight set. Very light spotting to fore edges. Without previous ownership markings. Scarce.

Notes: This work exemplifies all that is best in Mead's dedicated, scholarly, but eminently readable studies of the spiritual roots of Christian Gnosticism and, more generally, of personal religion in the Greco-Roman world. His work encompassed much more than this; Mead was equally at home with Sanskrit texts, Patristic literature, Buddhist thought, and the problems of contemporary philosophy and psychical research. He devoted his intellectual energy to the complex interplay of Gnosticism, Hellenism, Judaism, and Christianity. This rare three volume set presents his insights into the formation of the Gnostic world-view and establishes him as an outstanding translator of these Hermetic books, and as the first modern scholar of Gnostic tradition.