A TREASURY OF HEROES AND HEROINES- A RECORD OF HIGH ENDEAVOUR AND STRANGE ADVENTURE FROM 500 B.C. to 1920 A.D. ILLUSTRATED BYFLORENCE CHOATE AND ELIZABETH CURTIS

"The stories that the fairies toldI learnt in English lanes of old,Where honeysuckle, wreathing high,Twined with the wild rose towards the sky,Or where pink-tinged anemonesGrew thousand starred beneath the trees.I saw them, too, in London town,But sly and cautious, glancing down,Where in the grass the crocus growAnd ladies ride in Rotten Row,St James's Park's a garden meetFor tiny babes and fairy feet.But since I came to Germany,The good folk oftener talk to me;I find them in their native homeWhen through the forest depths I roam,When through the trees blue mountains shine,The heart of fairyland is mine."

Rosicrucianism is a spiritual and cultural movement which arose in Europe in the early 17th century after the publication of several texts which purported to announce the existence of a hitherto unknown esoteric order to the world and made seeking its knowledge attractive to many. The mysterious doctrine of the order is "built on esoteric truths of the ancient past", which "concealed from the average man, provide insight into nature, the physical universe, and the spiritual realm." The manifestos do not elaborate extensively on the matter, but clearly combine references to Kabbalah, Hermeticism, alchemy, and mystical Christianity.