Memoirs of Swedenborg and Other Documents

Written in 1782, Memoirs of Swedenborg by Carl Robsahm is without doubt the most compelling eyewitness account of Emanuel Swedenborg (16881772) to be published in any language. Drawing on reminiscences from his own long-standing friendship with and years as a neighbor to Swedenborg, Robsahm offers a fascinating picture of the Swedish philosopher and mystic as a man of gentleness and integrity.

Rich in detail and generosity, this memoir is a classic in its own right and a primary resource for all subsequent biographies. This edition has been selected and edited by Stephen McNeilly featuring revised translations, an introduction, and annotations by the renowned Swedish scholar Anders Hallengren. It also contains eight other historical documents concerning Swedenborg’s day-to-day life, three of which are from the hand of Swedenborg himself.

The volume includes:

Memoirs of Swedenborg” by Carl Robsahm
Reply to a Letter from a Friend” by Emanuel Swedenborg
A Truthful Account of the Late Queen Dowager at Haga in 1774” by Anders von Hopken
Extract from the Proceedings of the Exegetic and Philanthropic Society in Stockholm
Memoranda in the Notebook of 174748” by Emanuel Swedenborg
Description of the Late Assessor, Mr. Emanuel Swedenborg’s Estate at Sodermalm”
A List of Valuables of 1770” by Emanuel Swedenborg
A Visit to Swedenborg’s Home” by Carl Christoffer Gjorwell
Testimony by Christian de Tuxen

Each document is accompanied by its own individual contextual introduction and annotations by Anders Hallengren. Also included in the volume are a general foreword and introduction by Anders Hallengren, a chronology of Swedenborg’s life and works, and an index.

Carl Robsahm (173594) was a close friend and neighbor of Emanuel Swedenborg who worked as a well-respected official in Sweden’s central bank, rising to Commissioner Plenipotentiary in 1786. Robsahm was a founder of the Exegetic and Philanthropic Society created in Sweden in 1786 to translate and distribute Swedenborg’s works.

Anders Hallengren is a Swedish author, scholar, foreign affairs journalist, translator and composer. He has held distinguished positions at Stockholm University and Harvard University, lecturing all around the world on diverse aspects of literature, music, and history. Hallengren has published many books in English, including his study on Emerson,The Code of Concord and a collection of essays, Gallery of Mirrors. He is internationally renowned for his Nobel essay, Nelson Mandela and the Rainbow of Culture.” In collaboration with the artist Madlen Herrstrom a volume of Anders’ poems was recently published as Pentagram and, as part of Ophir, Hallengren received a nomination for the Manifest Music award in 2012 for the albumOpus Operatum.

Stephen McNeilly is the director of the Swedenborg Society and series editor of theJournal of the Swedenborg Society and the Swedenborg Archive imprint. For the Society he has published numerous volumes, includingAn Angel Speaks with Homero Aridjis and J. M. G. Le Clezio; Philosophy, Literature, Mysticism: An Anthology of Essayswith Czeslaw Milosz et al.; Swimming to Heaven: the Lost Rivers of London with Iain Sinclair; Blake’s London: The Topographic Sublime with Iain Sinclair; andSeveral Clouds Colliding with Brian Catling and Iain Sinclair. He is also a visiting lecturer in art, philosophy and critical theory at several universities in the United Kingdom.