page_title: John Sparrow (translator)
section_title: Sparrow's Translations of the Works of Jakob Böhme
hierarchical_section_title: John Sparrow (translator) / Sparrow's Translations of the Works of Jakob Böhme
caption_attribution_description: Deutsch: Jakob Böhme: Darstellung seiner Kosmogonie in Form einer Zeichnung aus: Viertzig Fragen von der Seelen Urstand, Essentz... (verfasst 1620). Amsterdam 1682 [1].English: Jacob Boehme: Representation through a drawing of his Cosmogony in 'Vierzig Fragen von der Seele' or Forty Questions of the Soul (1620).Français&#160;: Jacob Boehme&#160;: représentation sous forme de dessin de sa cosmogonie dans 'Vierzig Fragen von der Seele' ou Quarante questions de l'âme (1620).
context_page_description: John Sparrow was an English translator, best known for his translations of the work of Jakob Böhme. Sparrow attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered the Inner Temple in 1633.
  There is an engraved portrait of John Sparrow in the British Museum and in the National Portrait Gallery, London, made in 1659 by David Loggan.
context_section_description: Between 1645 and 1662 John Sparrow and his cousin John Ellistone translated all the works of the German mystic Jakob Böhme (1575-1624) into English. They were printed by Humphrey Blunden, bookseller in London active between 1635 and 1652, and a few others. The bookseller Giles Calvert was also involved in the publication of Böhme's works. For the translation Sparrow used manuscripts from Abraham Willemszoon van Beyerland, sent from Holland. The image of Böhme’s cosmogony or the “Wonder-Eye of Eternity” of 1620 is found on the engraved portrait of John Sparrow, made by David Loggan in 1659. The concept of the “Wonder-Eye of Eternity” is explained in Sparrow’s translation of the XL Questions concerning the Soule (1647).
  The following text from 1716, a much later date, describes the first English translators of Böhme as learned and pious men who understood the "spirit of the author", (except perhaps for the more obscure passages):
  The person that translated these writings was John Sparrow, barrister of the Inner Temple; Mr. Ellistone and Mr. Hotham also have translated one or the other treatise into English, though Sparrow is generally considered the real translator and editor: he was a man of true piety and seems to have penetrated very deeply into the spirit of the author. His translation is considered faithful and correct in most points, except in some of the most obscure passages, which probably he did not apprehend. …. As regards the period, they were all translated towards the end of the reign of Charles I, and printed … during the Civil War except the last volume, which was not printed till the Restoration of Charles II in 1661 and 1662. Some have alleged that King Charles I read and highly esteemed the writings of Boehme (it had been said that he supplied the funds for their publication, and that therefore they are printed so royally).
caption: Böhme's cosmogony or the Philosophical Sphere or the Wonder Eye of Eternity (1620).
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