BLOUNT, Charles. The Two First Books, of Philostratus, Concerning the Life of Apollonius Tyaneus: Written Originally in Greek, and Now Published in English. (1680 - FIRST EDITION)

AUTHOR: BLOUNT, Charles. 

TITLE: The Two First Books, of Philostratus, Concerning the Life of Apollonius Tyaneus: Written Originally in Greek, and Now Published in English : Together with Philological Notes Upon Each Chapter.

PUBLISHER: London: Printed for Nathaniel Thompson, 1680.

DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION. 1 vol., 12-1/4" x 8", (iv)243p., title-page printed in red and black, engraved diagram on page 145, bound in full contemporary calf over cords.

CONDITION: Hinges fine, spine expertly relined, mild toning to text, still a GOOD+ copy.

REFERENCE: Wing P2132

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Blount (1653-1693) was one of the leading deists of his time. He published the first of his major works, Anima Mundi in 1678 or 1679. It is an essay on pagan doctrines about the nature of the human soul and its destiny in the afterlife, drawing heavily on Montaigne and similar authors. His Philostratus consists largely of his own notes to Philostratus, with roughly four pages of Blount to one of Philostratus. His commentary draws attention to analogies between Christ and Apollonius of Tyana, the miracle working mystic (or sham magician) Greek philosopher born just before Christ. John Leland in his View of the Principal Deistical Writers (1754) notes that Blount's work was "manifestly intended to strike at revealed religion." Justin A.I. Champion in The Dictionary of Seventeenth-Century British Philosophers notes: "The classical texts with, with its parallel between the life of the magus Apollonius and Christ, was problematic enough; the inclusion of a digest of skeptical materialist, and irreligious material unencumbered with warnings of heterodoxy was to provide a provocative and dangerous resource to the literature public. There were consequently moves to have the work suppressed and even burnt."