Re: About Thaddeus Hajek

["Rafal T. Prinke" <rafalp@xxxxxxxxxx>]

Rene Zandbergen wrote:

> I do have copies of the Czech versions, but can read only
> every 20th word or so, which simply is not enough to make 
> any sense out of them. When Stolfi and I were in Prague,
> we were shown a Czech copy of the one about Dee. 

Which ones do you have? There were 4 books by him - written
in California between 1980 and 1989:

Kouzelník z Londýna : John Dee v Cechách, 1584-1589 
[The wizard from London : John Dee in Bohemia, 1584-1589]
   [Prague] : ISIS, 1994. 152 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. Translated 
   from English. Series: Rudolfinská trilogie ; díl 1
   [Rudolphine trilogy ; vol. 1]

Sir Edward Kelley : ceský rytír, 1555-1598 
[Sir Edward Kelley : the Bohemian knight, 1555-1598]
   [translated from English by Miroslav Subrt].
   [Prague] : Samisdat ISIS, 1994. 174 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.
   Series: Rudolfinská trilogie ; sv. 1 [i.e. 2] 
   [Rudolphine trilogy ; vol. 1 [should be 2]]

Malostranská Sapfo : opozdená recenze díla Elizabethy Johanny 
Westonové, 1582-1612 
[The Sappho of Mala Strana : belated review of the works
by Elizabetha Johanna Weston, 1582-1612]
    Praha : ISIS, 1994. 137 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

Hledání kamene mudrcu : rehabilitace pana Edvarda Kelleye,
neoplatonického hermetického filozofa a rytíre Ceského království, 
který zil v letech 1584-1598 v Praze 
[Searching for the philosopher's stone : rehabilitation of 
Sir Edward Kelley, neoplatonic hermetic philosopher and
knight of the Bohemian kingdom, who lived in Prague in the years
1584-1598]
    Praha : s.n., 1991. 222 p. : ill. ; 21 cm. Translated 
    from the English.

If you can scan a few critical pages and mail to me, I could
try to see what value those books have. Please make them
black-and-white GIF's to save bandwidth. I am quite sure,
however, that - while possibly quite sound - they are not
based on any primary research so all we can expect are
some new hypotheses. If they had anything not found in
earlier Czech/German/English publications, he would have
published them in a scholarly publishing house rather than
"Samizdat ISIS". Unorthodox marxists who had to emigrate
after 1968 were quite welcome back after 1989.

> This is precisely what I would like to know as well. For one
> thing, the Dee copy mentions (in 1994 if not earlier) that
> Georg Baresch was the owner of the VMs prior to Marci. This
> could mean one of two things:
> - he did have access to some sources we don't know about
> - he extrapolated this from the hints in Brumbaugh's book, to
>   which he would have had access
> I am strongly inclined to believe the latter, also because he
> states that Dee was the seller of hte VMs to Rudolf, for which
> again two similar options exist. Here we can be pretty sure that
> he did not have hard evidence.

Also, if he spelt the name "Georg Baresch" rather than "Jiri Bares",
it strongly suggests (at least to me) that he picked it from
some other publication. 

The "factoid" of Dee's ownership of VMs seems to be based on
the comparison of folio numbering with those in Dee's MSS.
While possible, this evidence is far from convincing.

> For Kelly's death year one can read 1595 and 1597. Svitak sticks
> to the latter but my understanding is that 1595 is the correct
> one. This is another awkward point.

The title of his book seems to say "1598" (unless the LOC entry
has a mistake). I tried to work it out some time ago and
concluded the later year (whatever it was) was correct.
The basis for the earlier year is the note in Dee's diary
which, I believe, may refer to Kelley's escape from the tower
and accident - which was serious but he survived.

> Finally, the cover of the book about Westonia has a portrait of
> her. But in a catalogue including some paintings from Rudolf's
> collections, the same portrait (a painting by Hans von Aachen)
> is described as "a portrait of a girl (daughter of the artist?)
> about 1612". Still, Westonia does seem to mention her step-father
> (Kelly) in a more positive light than what he is usually held in,
> and for her Svitak is the only source I know about. (In fact I had
> not heard about her before we went to Prague).

There are more sources - also in English (I would have to find my
e-notes on her) but mainly concerned with her poems. You may
like to compare the portrait you mention with her true effigy
on my Web page at:

   http://main.amu.edu.pl/~rafalp/HERM/SENDI/westonia.htm

> > As you met Lubos Antonin in Prague, you may also have
> > met Michal Pober - he is trying to trace the elusive
> > California editions of Svitak's books (but so far with
> > no success).
> 
> We did indeed! He showed us the place in Bethlehem square
> where Hajek's house used to be (and where Dee and Kelly did
> their skrying). When did you last communicate with him? I did
> ask him about the Svitak books in February, after we came back
> from Prague.

A few days ago - but on other matters. He certainly has not
located the English versions (if they exist at all) yet,
as I am sure he would have told me.

Finally, there is a Czech novel about Kelley:

     Václav Kaplický, Zivot alchymistuv 
     Praha : Ceskoslovenský spisovatel, 1980. 
     237 p. : ill. ; 21 cm.

which I have seen quoted as a reference in no less than three
otherwise very scholarly articles. The authors claimed that
even though it is a novel, it was "based on sound research".
I have located the book and read it - but found nothing that
would indicate original research. The known facts seem OK
but there are lots of "literary facts" and dialogs which
obviously represent "licentia poetica".

Best regards,

Rafal