PREFACE OF THE SCHO-

LIAST

TO THE KIND READER.

ATHANASIUS KIRCHER, a man long since known throughout the entire world for his written books, has produced the Ecstatic Celestial Journey. I present to you, KIND READER, in this second edition—and with the Author’s own consent—this work, now illustrated with Introductions and Scholarly Comments The "Scholiast" is the editor or commentator providing these explanations, adorned with the necessary diagrams that were previously lacking, and purged of all the errors that had crept into the Roman edition. I speak of a "Journey" so filled with rare, exotic, and previously unheard-of opinions that as soon as its reputation spread through Italy, even before it had escaped the Roman printing press, almost all copies were sold out. Indeed, when it was brought into France and Germany and read by the learned and those knowledgeable in these matters, it so seized everyone with admiration that they judged me most worthy—