John Sparrow

John Sparrow (1615 – December 1670) was an English translator, best known for his translations of the work of Jakob Böhme. Sparrow attended Trinity College, Cambridge, and entered the Inner Temple in 1633. There is an engraved portrait of John Sparrow in the British Museum and in the National Portrait Gallery, London, made in 1659 by David Loggan (1634-1692). Sparrow's Translations of the Works of Jakob Böhme Between 1645 and 1662 John Sparrow and his cousin John Ellistone translated all the works of the German mystic Jakob Böhme (1575-1624) into English. They were printed by Humphrey Blunden, bookseller in London active between 1635 and 1652, and a few others. The bookseller Giles Calvert was also involved in the publication of Böhme's works. For the translation Sparrow used manuscripts from Abraham Willemszoon van Beyerland, sent from Holland. The image of Böhme’s cosmogony or the “Wonder-Eye of Eternity” of 1620 is found on the engraved portrait of John Sparrow, made by David Loggan in 1659. The concept of the “Wonder-Eye of Eternity” is explained in Sparrow’s translation of the XL Questions concerning the Soule (1647). The following text from 1716, a much later date, describes the first English translators of Böhme as learned and pious men who understood the "spirit of the author", (except perhaps for the more obscure passages):