This volume makes two essays by Henry Corbin, the eminent French scholar of Islam, available in English for the first time. Although his primary interest was the esoteric tradition of Islam, Corbin was also a lifelong student of the theological works of Emanuel Swedenborg. The first essay, "Mundus Imaginalis, or The Imaginary and the Imaginal," clarifies Corbin's use of the term he coined, mundus imaginalis, or "the imaginal world." This important concept appears in both Swedenborgian and esoteric Islamic spirituality. The second piece, "Comparative Spiritual Hermeneutics," compares the revelation of the internal sense of the sacred boks of two distinct religions, Christianity and Islam.

Henry Corbin (1903-1978) held the chair in Islam at the Sorbonne from 1954 to 1974. He also organized and was director of the department of Iranic studies at the Institut franco-iranien in Teheran. Corbin wrote many books and articles, and edited numerous works in Persian of important Sufi and Isma'ili authors

Translator Leonard Fox has published books on Albanian grammar and customary law and Malagasy poetry. For many years he edited the journal Arcana: Inner Dimensions of Spirituality.