ABSTRACT
Bruno produced seven books while in England. The first of these, a treatise on the Lullian art, Mnemonics and Metaphysics in Latin, 1 appeared in 1583. The second, entitled “The Ash-Wednesday Supper,” 2 the main object of which was to refute Aristotelian Physics and Astronomy and extend the Copernican conception; the third “On Cause, Principle and The One,” 3 a metaphysical work, and the fourth, “The Infinite Universe And Its Worlds” 4 were in Italian, dedicated to Castelnau, and appeared in 1584. The “Supper” professes to have been printed in Paris; the “Cause” and “Infinite Universe” at Venice; but experts declare that all were issued from some unidentified London press. 5 Bruno told the Inquisitors that all those which set forth on the title-page that they were printed at Venice were really printed in London. The printer wished it to appear that they were printed in Venice to secure a better sale and get them abroad better; for if it had been indicated that they were printed in England their sale would have been more difficult. They were all printed in England although they bear the mark of Paris and elsewhere.” 6 The “Expulsion of the Triumphant Beast,” 7 dedicated to Sidney, bears the press-mark “Paris, 1584”; but, since the work contains a reference to a riot at Naples which occurred in May 1585, it is obvious that it must have been printed after that date. 1 The next work, the “Cabala Of The Steed Like unto Pegasus, With the Addition of the Ass of Cyllene,” 2 bears the press-mark “Paris, 1585,” and is dedicated to an imaginary bishop of Casamarciano, a little place in Bruno’s native province. Following this, in the same year, came “The Transports Of Intrepid Souls,” 3 purporting, like the Cabala, to have been printed by a fictitious Antonio Baio at Paris. It was dedicated to Sidney.
