Sacred

[Prince Matila Ghyka, Romanian mathematician.] Correspondence to him in French from Karl Häuptli, Swiss architect (TLS and three Autograph Studies, with diagrams, on ‘le nombre d’or’) and A. Andre of Marseilles (TLS and enclosures on the I Ching).

Author: 
Prince Matila Ghyka [Matila Costiescu Ghyka] (1881-1965), Romanian aristocrat, mathematician and polymath; Karl Häuptli (b.1894), Swiss architect associated with Theodor Fischer; A. Andre]
Publication details: 
ONE (Häuptli): 11 April 1953; on his letterhead as ‘Diplomierter Architekt / Fachlehrer am Kantonalen / Technikum in Biel [Switzerland].’ TWO (Andre): 17 March 1965; ‘17 av. des Coccinelles / Les Caillols / Marseille (XIIe) [France]’.
£850.00

Ghyka, who was grew up and was educated in France, settled in London after the Second World War, and is considered one of the most significant members of the Romanian diaspora. His main preoccupation was with geometry and mathematical aesthetics, and his publications on the subject were influential: the ‘first epiphany’ of theatre director Peter Brook ‘came while reading a book by the Romanian prince Matila Ghika while staying with Salvador Dalí in Spain’ (Guardian, 17 January 2010).

Autograph Signature of the Irish politician and traveller, John Talbot Dillon, Baron Dillon.

Author: 
Sir John Talbot Dillon (1739-1805), 1st Baronet, Baron Dillon, Irish politician, traveller and author
Publication details: 
Madrid. 1 July 1777.
£120.00

1p., 12mo. An autograph note, apparently written at the head of the detached fly-leaf of a book. Fair, on aged paper, laid down on a torn page from an autograph album. Reads: 'This is a Curious & very Scarce Book. - | Madrid 1st. July 1777. | [signed] John Talbot Dillon | Knt. & Baron of the S. R. Empire.' The abbreviation stands for 'Sacred Roman Empire'.

Corrected Typescript of 'Der Pyramidenbauer'; Corrected Typescript of German lecture; photocopy of Manuscript article 'Der Kanon des Kosmos', with English translation; two pages of German manuscript notes; 56 printed cosmological diagrams.

Author: 
Eberhard Wortmann [Hermann Hesse; Sacred Geometry; Neoplatonism]
Publication details: 
Der Kanon des Kosmos' dated '24. II. 71, Berkeley, California'; the whole in envelope postmarked 1975.
£450.00

Wortmann - whose 'Das Gesetz Des Kosmos' (1965) is considered a cosmological masterpiece - corresponded with Hermann Hesse, and was the only modern author to be described by him as a master of the Glass Bead Game. The Sacred Science Institute in America is presently working with Wortmann's family to bring out an edition of his work. The collection is discoloured with age and some leaves are slightly dog-eared, but the whole is in good condition.

Autograph letter signed to Julian Marshall, art collector, author, musical amateur (see DNB)

Author: 
William Henry Husk
Publication details: 
Exeter Hall, 12 July 1878
£85.00

Historian of music and critic (1814-1887). Three pages, 8vo. He is finding prior engagements preventing his viisiting. He then discusses his researches into the life of Incledon (vocalist) including early memories (in discussion of first names), tombstone information, and the inaccuracy of a predecessor. The letter has been annotated by a few words (perhaps Marshall), in the most significant entry, giving Grove references.

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