TWO CHOICE AND USEFUL TREATISES; The One LUX ORIENTALIS; or An Enquiry into the Opinion of the Eastern Sages Concerning the Praeexistence of Souls. Being a Key to Unlock the Grand Mysteries of Providence. In Relation to Mans Sin and Misery. The Other, A DISCOURSE OF TRUTH, By the Late Reverend Dr. Rust Lord Bishop of Dromore in Ireland. With Annotations on them Both.

London: James Collins and Sam. Lowndes 1st first edition, 1682, 1683. Hardcover. Good. Lacks frontispiece (supplied in facsimile). 5 complete titlepages for the. TWO WORKS in One Volume. Octavo newer calf spined marbled boards (tips rubbed/sl.marked) lacks engraved frontis leaf as does the British Library copy but here supplied in facsimile mounted onto old fly leaf. Collation: [46]pp (inc. Titlepage in red & black, titlepage to Lux Orentalis dated 1682 & prelims) +151pp +[13]pp (inc. titlepage to Discourse of Truth dated 1682) +165-195 +[7]pp (inc. titlepage to Annotations upon the Two foregoing Treatises "by one not unexercized in these kinds of Speculation" dated 1682) +171pp +[7]pp (inc. titlepage to Annotations upon the Discourse of Truth .. Dr.Henry More dated 1683) +173-276 +[4]pp catalogue of books printed for Lowndes. Lacks pp131-2 (leaf supplied in facsimile). Titlepage browned/dusty with old name Joh: Wetherby to margin, corners rounded, margins bit chipped, 2nd title with another name blank verso of previous page, marginal paper repair to dedication page not touching print, other signs of use and a few pages at the beginning and end have marginal damp marks. Several inscriptions on blanks facing later titlepages inc. ownership poem dated Dublin 1795 "Bernard Macklin is my name, Ireland is my Nation, Dublin is my dwelling place and heaven is my salvation" . *Glanvill wrote several books on occult matters the most famous being "Saducismus Triumphatus .. Evidence concerning Witches and Apparitions". Here he defends belief in the prior existence of souls and thus reincarnation, also tied in with belief in ghosts, but as a sceptic he seeks empirical proof. His views and Dr. Rust's are then defended in Henry More's Annotations, all 3 thus virtually forming an early society of psychical research.