Catching up on the actual writings of 19th century esotericists, I took a stab at Stanislas de Guaita (1861-1897). De Guaita is mostly known as a poet, but he was involved in neo-Rosicrucian and Martinist organisations such as that of Joséphin Péladan (1858-1918), he was a familiar of Papus (Gérard Encausse (1865-1916), etc.
Au seuil du Mystère (1886) proves to be a highly interesting collection of essays. The book itself it not too long, but the publisher (Alex Bushman) added some extra material which is even more interesting.
The main book is a bit of a history of Western esotericism. There are more such books, but now at least I know that De Guaita was very well read. He works towards the time and traditions in which he himself was involved and other systems such as Theosophy, Mesmerism and the like.
In the appendices there are two detailed decriptions of two emblems from Khunrat’s Amphitheatrium and texts about Martinism.
2018, isbn 1796449385
