'The Rosicrucians' first came to public prominence in the early 1600s, following the publication of several tracts publicising their secret existence. Proclaiming themselves a fraternal order devoted to occult studies - they offered a Christianised version of the Ancient Mysteries and Sacred Philosophy, open to all who were sincere and worthy of the honour.
Both a scholar and mystic (and co-creator of the Rider-Waite Tarot cards) A. E. Waite rejected the Victorian era's dismissal of the Rosicrucian world-view as, at best, 'proto-science". He saw, in Rosicrucian philosophy, the manifestation of a true spiritual tradition. Waite dived deep into his subject and became the first scholar to systematically study the history of western occultism.
The Brotherhood of the Rosy Cross is a fascinating and detailed work, cataloging Rosicrucian antecedents as far back as first-century Kabalists, and following the brotherhood from the early days of the Middle Ages through its myriad incarnations up to the beginning of the twentieth century. This is a complex, ground-breaking work that richly deserves the esteem in which it is has been held since its first publication in 1924. The Parchment Book edition includes A.E. Waite's detailed explanation of the plates contained in the work, information which is often omitted from modern reproductions of this book.