This classic biography of Emanuel Swedenborg (1688–1772), first published in 1948, gives us a sharp, witty, personal insight into the life of the Swedish scientist and theologian.

Though not a Swedenborgian herself, and somewhat skeptical of Swedenborg’s claims to divine revelation, Toksvig praises Swedenborg’s genius as both a thinker and a man of faith: “Swedenborg in his later phase has as great treasure to bestow as many of those millionaires of the spirit we call mystics, even if one reads him strictly from an ethical point of view. And, apart from an interest in distinctions between good and evil—not an unnecessary interest at the present time, one would think—Swedenborg in his life and works can, if one takes a little trouble to understand him, open travel horizons for us far exceeding all others for beauty and strangeness.”

An introduction by the Reverend Brian Kingslake, added to a 1983 edition, provides a Swedenborgian perspective and retrospective on a work that remains a fascinating, informative look at Swedenborg’s world.

Signe Toksvig (1892–1983) was a Danish-born writer who wrote exclusively in English. Her family emigrated to the United States when she was fifteen, and she graduated from Cornell University in 1916. She married writer Francis Hackett in 1918, and the two moved to Ireland, later returning to the United States and then relocating to Denmark, where they spent the remainder of their lives. Toksvig was perhaps best known for The Last Devil; the biographical Life of Hans Christian Andersen; and her novel Eve's Doctor.