Part III

Engraved title-page to Francis Bacon’s Sylva Sylvarum or A Natural History, published in 1626/7, printed in London by J. Haviland for William Lee. The engraving was made by Thomas Cecill. (The same plate was used in subsequent editions, with just the date altered as appropriate.)

The globe is inscribed as the ‘Mundus Intellectualis’ (transl: ‘World of the Mind’ or ‘Intellectual World’). The Latin motto above the globe reads ‘Et videt Deus lucem quod esset bona’ (transl: ‘And God said Let there be Light and there was light’ – Genesis 1, 3). The Hebrew letters at the top centre of the picture are ‘JHVH’, signifying ‘Jehovah’ (transl: ‘I am that I am’), the Hebraic ‘personal’ name of God.

Information concerning the Great Instauration, plus facsimiles of the Baconian/Rosicrucian pictures, can be found in the books published by the FBRT (see Publications).

FBRT members receive regular essays and discussion papers on these and other subjects.