His dark materials.(The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee)(Book review)

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

The Arch-Conjuror of England: John Dee

by Glynn Parry

Yale, 25 [pounds sterling], pp. 336, ISBN 9781307117096

Like the dyslexic Faustus who sold his soul to Santa, the life of John Dee was a black comedy of errors. His vain and vulgar efforts to harness the occult for material ends often rendered him ridiculous. But there is a darker tale in Dee's work for the Tudor state: a story of dodgy dossiers, fear-mongering and greed.

During the Tudor period no clear distinction was made between science and magic. John Dee's study at Cambridge of arithmetic, geometry and astronomy enabled him to become a navigational consultant, who worked …