DOCSLIB.ORG

The Life of William Lilly, Student in Astrology

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
The Life of William Lilly, Student in Astrology THE TRADITION ibrar y The Life of William Lilly student in Astrology By William Lilly ~ transcribed and annotated by Sue Ward ~ ibrary © Copyright 2010 Sue Ward and The Tradition Library. All rights reserved. Any unauthorised copying, distribution, or publication will constitute an infringement of copyright. This copy is for personal study only, it may be printed once and may not be distributed in any way or for any reason, or published in any form without the permission of The Tradition Library. For permission for any of the above or further information please contact The Tradition Library at [email protected] www.traditionlibrary.com The Life of William Lilly student in Astrology, wrote by himselfe in the 66th year of his age, at Hersham in the parish of Walton uppon Thames in the county of Surrey : propria manu. Transcribed from the autograph by Sue Ward with annotations, commentaries and biographical notes, including Elias Ashmole’s addenda. Nativities of some notable persons appended. (c) Copyright Sue Ward 1998 & 2009. All rights reserved. 1 © Copyright 2009 Sue Ward and The Tradition Library www.traditionlibrary.com Contents Preface ......................................................................... 1 Acknowledgements .............................................................. 5 Bibliography .................................................................... 6 The Autobiography .............................................................. 7 Dedication ...................................................................... 8 I was born in the County of Lecester ................................................ 9 Of my infancy I can speak little ................................................... 11 I was during my minority putt to learn ............................................. 12 Of the meanes how I came unto London ............................................ 14 On Tuseday the 4th of Aprill, I took leave of my father ............................... 15 My Masters name was Gilbert Wright .............................................. 16 My Master married this his second wife ............................................ 17 My Mistris was very curious to know .............................................. 17 Of my mistris death and occasion thereof by meanes of a Cancer ....................... 17 When my Mistris died ........................................................... 18 The occasion of framing this Sigill was thus ......................................... 19 Away shee went to Doctor Symon Forman .......................................... 19 Of Doctor Symon Forman ........................................................ 20 Now wee come to his death ...................................................... 24 All his raritys, secret manuscripts ................................................. 24 The year 1625 now comes on ...................................................... 24 At last in August the bills of mortallity so increased .................................. 26 22: May 1627 my Master died ..................................................... 26 Of my marriage the first tyme ..................................................... 27 At St. Georges in Southwark I was married unto her .................................. 28 How I came to study Astrology ................................................... 28 Two of his Actions I will relate, as to mee delivered .................................. 30 I applied my selfe to study ....................................................... 32 One Jeffery Neve at this tyme student in Phisick and Astrology ........................ 33 William Pool, a nibbler at Astrology ............................................... 33 Doctor Ardee, but his true name was Richard Delahay ................................ 34 John Booker became famous ...................................................... 35 I became acquainted with Nicholas Fisk ............................................ 36 I now come to continue the story of my own life ..................................... 38 In the year 1634 ................................................................. 38 in March and Aprill 1636 remooved my goods unto Hersham ......................... 40 In the yeares 1637 and 1638 ....................................................... 41 In the year 1640 ................................................................. 41 I had never seen John Booker at that tyme .......................................... 42 Having now in part recovered my health ........................................... 43 I did carefully in 1642 and 1643 ................................................... 48 All the antient Astrologers of England ............................................. 54 In 1646 I printed a Collection of Prophecys .......................................... 58 About this tyme the most famous Mathemetician .................................... 61 12 © Copyright 2009 Sue Ward and The Tradition Library www.traditionlibrary.com In 1647 I published the Worlds Catastrophe ......................................... 61 In 1648, I published a Treatise of the 3 Suns, ......................................... 64 And now wee are entred into the year 1649 ......................................... 65 After that his Majesty was beheaded ............................................... 66 In 1651 I published Monarchy or no Monarchy ...................................... 66 In 1651, I purchased 110L per Annum in fee Farm Rents .............................. 67 The Parlament now growes odious unto all men ..................................... 68 In this year I published Annus tenebrosus .......................................... 68 The 16° of February 1653 my second wife died ...................................... 72 In October 1654 I married the third wife ............................................ 72 His Majesty had many misfortunes ever attending him ............................... 78 In Olivers Protectorship, I wrote freely ............................................. 79 Of the year 1660 the Actions whereof .............................................. 80 One would think my troubles for that year had been ended, ........................... 84 In this year 1660, I sued out my pardon ............................................. 85 In anno 1634 and 1635 ........................................................... 89 Having mentioned Doctor John Dee ............................................... 90 It hath been ever my happiness to meet with many Raritys ............................ 92 Ashmole’s Addendum to the MS and additional from his Notes ........................ 95 Appendix 1: Lilly’s License to Practice ............................................. 98 Appendix 2: Last Will and Testament .............................................. 99 Appendix 3: Example page from the MS ........................................... 101 Appendix 4: Nativities of some of those mentioned ................................. 102 William Lilly ....................................................... 103 Elias Ashmole ..................................................... 104 John Booker ....................................................... 106 John Dee .......................................................... 107 Sir Kenelm Digby .................................................. 110 Simon Forman ..................................................... 112 Sir Richard Napier .................................................. 113 Ruth Nedham ..................................................... 114 William Oughtred .................................................. 116 Appendix 5: Beyond the Great Fire by Sue Ward ................................... 117 Index ......................................................................... 139 23 © Copyright 2009 Sue Ward and The Tradition Library www.traditionlibrary.com Preface Lilly’s “Life” is more a series of anecdotes, or after-dinner stories, than an autobiography. Yet these are points in his life which Lilly thought important to recount. Clearly, this recounting is done largely to satisfy his friend Elias Ashmole, and we see this in his directly addressing Ashmole throughout the body of the work, not just in the dedication. The information Lilly provides seems to fall into roughly two categories: that relating to his public life, and that relating to his interest in magic and occult matters generally. In this we see again that it is in reference to Ashmole that he includes this material. There is very little of his personal life to be found, and this was probably because Lilly intended that his “Life” should be published.1 To this day, we know very little about his domestic life, although a picture can be pieced together from his letters to Ashmole (Notes) which relates to the latter part of his life after he had settled permanently in Hersham. In both cases it appears that Lilly is taking this opportunity to tell his side of the story, and he does so in some detail. The importance to him of these matters is evidenced by the amount of that detail he recalls, even to what was said and by whom. Possibly he kept a journal, but none has been found. To the casual reader, the frequent mention of the acquisition of private libraries and papers, or their ownership and whereabouts, must seem unusual in the context of an autobiography. One is tempted to deduce a conceit on Lilly’s part: in addressing his audience, he wants them to know of his involvement in these rather
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Book Reviews Importantly (And Despite Alienists' Claims to the Contrary), That the Choice Between Them Was (And Remains) Inherently Evaluative
    CORE Metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk Provided by PubMed Central Book Reviews importantly (and despite alienists' claims to the contrary), that the choice between them was (and remains) inherently evaluative. Alienists who attempted to dispute this last point were repeatedly impeached by their own inability to agree on a diagnosis. The embarrassment of having eminent men testify that the same individual was both unambiguously mad and unquestionably sane was something the profession felt deeply but could never adequately resolve. Moreover, medico-psychological descriptions of the accused's actions exhibited striking similarities to commonsense, everyday descriptions of conduct, something that was not to be hidden by incantations of scientific truth and appeals to physicalist causation. Nor, in the last analysis, did alienists possess "the requisite standing for the public acceptance of 'clinical facts.' " (p. 40). Smith's discussion of these issues is notable for its empirical richness and theoretical sophistication. The scope of his research is impressive and its presentation is for the most part skilfully handled. Trial by medicine is consequently a major contribution to our understanding of medico-legal history. Andrew Scull University of California, San Diego MICHAEL MACDONALD, Mystical Bedlam. Madness, anxiety, and healing in seventeenth- century England, Cambridge University Press, 1981, 8vo, pp. x, 323, £27.50. Many of the most exciting historical studies of the past decade have exploited caches of manuscript material which illuminate social realities, mental structures, or off-stage activities not visible through printed historical sources. Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie's Montaillou, Carlo Ginzburg's The cheese and the worms, and Robert Darnton's The business of Enlightenment are three examples noteworthy for their imaginative use of these raw materials of history.
    [Show full text]
  • Verse and Transmutation History of Science and Medicine Library
    Verse and Transmutation History of Science and Medicine Library VOLUME 42 Medieval and Early Modern Science Editors J.M.M.H. Thijssen, Radboud University Nijmegen C.H. Lüthy, Radboud University Nijmegen Editorial Consultants Joël Biard, University of Tours Simo Knuuttila, University of Helsinki Jürgen Renn, Max-Planck-Institute for the History of Science Theo Verbeek, University of Utrecht VOLUME 21 The titles published in this series are listed at brill.com/hsml Verse and Transmutation A Corpus of Middle English Alchemical Poetry (Critical Editions and Studies) By Anke Timmermann LEIDEN • BOSTON 2013 On the cover: Oswald Croll, La Royalle Chymie (Lyons: Pierre Drobet, 1627). Title page (detail). Roy G. Neville Historical Chemical Library, Chemical Heritage Foundation. Photo by James R. Voelkel. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Timmermann, Anke. Verse and transmutation : a corpus of Middle English alchemical poetry (critical editions and studies) / by Anke Timmermann. pages cm. – (History of Science and Medicine Library ; Volume 42) (Medieval and Early Modern Science ; Volume 21) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-90-04-25484-8 (hardback : acid-free paper) – ISBN 978-90-04-25483-1 (e-book) 1. Alchemy–Sources. 2. Manuscripts, English (Middle) I. Title. QD26.T63 2013 540.1'12–dc23 2013027820 This publication has been typeset in the multilingual “Brill” typeface. With over 5,100 characters covering Latin, IPA, Greek, and Cyrillic, this typeface is especially suitable for use in the humanities. For more information, please see www.brill.com/brill-typeface. ISSN 1872-0684 ISBN 978-90-04-25484-8 (hardback) ISBN 978-90-04-25483-1 (e-book) Copyright 2013 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands.
    [Show full text]
  • Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records
    Casebooks in Early Modern England: Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records Lauren Kassell Bulletin of the History of Medicine, Volume 88, Number 4, Winter 2014, pp. 595-625 (Article) Published by Johns Hopkins University Press DOI: https://doi.org/10.1353/bhm.2014.0066 For additional information about this article https://muse.jhu.edu/article/564670 [ Access provided at 5 Oct 2021 13:50 GMT with no institutional affiliation ] Casebooks in Early Modern England: Medicine, Astrology, and Written Records LAUREN KASSELL Summary: Casebooks are the richest sources that we have for encounters between early modern medical practitioners and their patients. This article compares astrological and medical records across two centuries, focused on England, and charts developments in the ways in which practitioners kept records and reflected on their practices. Astrologers had a long history of working from particular moments, stellar configurations, and events to general rules. These practices required systematic notation. Physicians increasingly modeled themselves on Hip- pocrates, recording details of cases as the basis for reasoned expositions of the histories of disease. Medical records, as other scholars have demonstrated, shaped the production of medical knowledge. Instead, this article focuses on the nature of casebooks as artifacts of the medical encounter. It establishes that casebooks were serial records of practice, akin to diaries, testimonials, and registers; identi- fies extant English casebooks and the practices that led to their production and preservation; and concludes that the processes of writing, ordering, and preserv- ing medical records are as important for understanding the medical encounter as the records themselves. Keywords: casebooks, medical records, astrology, paper technologies, cases, patients, Simon Forman, Richard Napier This research has been supported by the Wellcome Trust, through an Enhancement Award 2004–9 and a Strategic Award 2009–14 on “Generation to Reproduction” (grants 074298 and 088708).
    [Show full text]
  • PDF Hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen
    PDF hosted at the Radboud Repository of the Radboud University Nijmegen The following full text is a publisher's version. For additional information about this publication click this link. http://hdl.handle.net/2066/175314 Please be advised that this information was generated on 2021-09-29 and may be subject to change. Issue 35 Spring 2017 Anyone who has had the pleasure to browse magic manuscripts in the Magic British Library knows how rewarding the experience can be, particularly if the books belong to collections that have not been made accessible through adequate descriptive catalogues. A case in point are the magic Manuscripts manuscripts once in the possession of John Somers (1651-1716) and Sir Joseph Jekyll (ca. 1662-1738). With the exception of one item in from Somers the Additional collection, 23 of these important sources on medieval and early modern magical practices ended up in the library of the physician and antiquary Sir Hans Sloane (1660-1753), whose books and and Jekyll in artifacts formed the founding collection of the British Museum in 1753.1 Even though the ca. 4,200 Sloane manuscripts are among the richest the Collections repositories on the history of science and medicine worldwide, the printed descriptive catalogues of these manuscripts are notoriously haphazard.2 It is likely, therefore, that members of the Societas Magica working on of the British late medieval and early modern ritual magic in the Sloane collection will be familiar with one or more of the Somers/Jekyll magic manuscripts, Library perhaps unknowingly. Frank Klaassen, for instance, relied on a fair number of these books in his study of late medieval and renaissance 3 László Sándor Chardonnens magic.
    [Show full text]
  • Dreams in Early Modern England: Frameworks of Interpretation
    Dreams in Early Modern England: Frameworks of Interpretation by Janine Rivière A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of PhD Graduate Department of History, University of Toronto. © Copyright by Janine Rivière (2013) Abstract Dreams in Early Modern England: Frameworks of Interpretation, PhD (2013), Janine Rivière, Graduate Department of History, University of Toronto. While dreams as visions have received much attention from historians, less work has been undertaken on understanding more commonly experienced dreams that occurred in sleep. In this dissertation I seek to begin redressing this neglect. Two overarching questions focus the dissertation: How did early modern English people understand their dreams? And did these understandings change in response to significant developments in English culture? To answer these questions I explore early modern English theories, beliefs and experiences of dreams through a close study of key medical, demonological, philosophical, spiritual, oneirocritic and private writings. I suggest that in the period 1550-1750 there were three principal frameworks used to understand dreams: (1) health of the body and mind, (2) prediction and (3) spirituality. These three frameworks coexisted, either reinforcing or contesting one another throughout the period. The framework of health saw dreams as natural products of the body and mind that revealed the overall health of the dreamer. In the model of prediction, dreams were deemed significant, yet encoded, clues to the future that required careful interpretation. Finally, in spiritual frameworks, dreams were conceived as sent by God, angels or the Devil. Since early modern English writings reveal a diversity of natural and supernatural theories about dreams that never really “declined,” a study of them also helps to complicate ideas about the “disenchantment of the world." Finally, I also suggest that early modern English writings on dreams reveal the perceived vulnerability of the dreamer to internal and external forces.
    [Show full text]
  • The Will of William Lilly in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury
    Working Paper Series No.22 The Will of William Lilly in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury Yoshihiko Okabe and Ryuji Kagami July 2013 THE ECONOMIC SOCIETY OF KOBE GAKUIN UNIVERSITY The Will of William Lilly in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury Yoshihiko Okabe and Ryuji Kagami1 1 Probate Record of the Prerogative Court of Canterbury The purpose of this short article is to introduce the will of William Lilly, a famous seventeenth- century astrologer. The most famous collection of manuscripts related to Lilly is the Ashmole Papers in the Bodleian Library at Oxford. However, Lilly’s will was not found there, because it is included in probate records in the Prerogative Court of Canterbury (PCC), the most prestigious court in England. If someone had personal property in more than one diocese, he could, in theory, undergo probate in the PCC.2 Inventories of wealthy people tended to undergo probate at the PCC. Details concerning PCC probate records are not well known, even for the number of surviving documents. It is possible to find inventories for those in any unique occupation, as in Lilly’s case, that were not found in local record offices. To date, the occupation of astrologer has not been found in probate records through record offices; Lilly’s is the only astrologer’s will found thus far. 2 A short bibliographical note on William Lilly William Lilly, a ‘student of astrology’, is an important figure both for academic researchers of early modern times and for practising astrologers. He is probably the best-known and most successful astrologer of the mid-seventeenth century, which was the ‘halcyon days of English astrology’ as well as the ‘crisis time of astrology’.3 1 Yoshihiko Okabe, Associate Professor, Faculty of Economics, Kobe Gakuin University (Economic and Business History).
    [Show full text]
  • Lions Led by Donkeys? Brigade Commanders of the Australian Imperial Force, 1914-1918
    LIONS LED BY DONKEYS? BRIGADE COMMANDERS OF THE AUSTRALIAN IMPERIAL FORCE, 1914-1918. ASHLEIGH BROWN A thesis in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Philosophy University of New South Wales, Canberra School of Humanities and Social Sciences March 2017 PLEASE TYPE THE UNIVERSITY OF NEW SOUTH WALES Thesis/Dissertation Sheet Surname or Family name: Brown First name: Ashleigh Other name/s: Rebecca Abbreviation for degree as given in the University calendar: MPhil School: Humanities and Social Sciences Faculty: UNSW Canberra, AD FA Title: Lions led by donkeys? Brigade commanders of the Australian Imperial Force, 1914-1918. Abstract 350 words maximum: (PLEASE TYPE) Australian First World War historiography tends to focus on the ordinary soldier: his background, character and involvement in the war. This is a legacy left by Charles Bean who, following the history from below approach, believed in the need for soldiers’ stories to be told. On the other end of the spectrum, attention is given to political leaders and the British high command. British commanders and, by extension, other Allied commanders are too often portrayed as poor leaders who were reluctant to adapt to modern warfare, and did not demonstrate a sense of responsibility for the men under their command. The evidence shows that this perception is not accurate. A comprehensive understanding of the progression of Australian forces on the Western Front cannot be gained without investigating the progression of those in command. This thesis examines the brigade commanders of the Australian Imperial Force who held that level of command for a substantial period while on the Western Front.
    [Show full text]
  • William Lilly's History of His Life and Times from the Year
    S 0 ' WILLIAM LILLYS HISTORY OP HIS LIFE AND TIMES, FROM THE YEAR 1602 TO 1681. 38Rrttten bp f^imself, IS THE SIXTY-SIXTH YEAR OT HIS AOE, TO HIS WORTHY FHIENP, ELIAS ASHMOLE, ESQ. PUBLISHED FROM THE ORIGINAL MS. London, 1715. LONDON : RE-PRINTED FOR CHARLES BALDWYN, NEWGATE STREET. M.DCCC.XXII. HAVB1CK, PKINTEB, VENCI1U RCH-STIIEET. I LIST OF PLATES. William Lilly, (from Marshall's Print) to face Title. Ditto (from the Picture) to face Life. «« Dr. Simon Forman 34 * John Booker 68 " Charles the Second 95 m Charles the First 107 - Hugh Peters 134 * Speaker Lenthall 159 Oliver Cromwell l'O „ Dr.JohnDse 223 .Edward Kelly 226 i« Napier of Merchiston 236 ADVERTISEMENT. Prefixed to the Lives op Ellas Ashmole & William Lilly. In 1 vol. 8vo. 1772. ALTHOUGH we cannot, with justice, com pare Elias Ashmole to that excellent Antiquary John Leland, or William Lilly to the learned and indefatigable Thomas Hearne ; yet I think we may fairly rank them with such writers as honest Anthony Wood, whose Diary greatly resembles that of his cotemporary, and intimate friend, Elias Ashmole. Some anecdotes, connected with affairs of state; many particulars relating to illustrious B ii persons, and antient and noble families ; several occurrences in which the Public is interested, and other matters of a more private nature, can only be found in works of this kind. History cannot stoop to the meanness of examining the materials of which Memoirs are generally composed. And yet the pleasure and benefit resulting from such books are manifest to every reader. I hope the admirers of the very laborious Thomas Hearne will pardon me, if I should venture to give it as my opinion, and with much deference to their judgment, that William Lilly's Life and Death of Charles the first contains more useful matter of instruction, as well as more splendid and striking occurrences, than are to be found in several of those monkish volumes published by that learned Oxonian.
    [Show full text]
  • The Squire's Dead Hand: the Influence of Genealogy on the Development of Biography in Restoration England
    The squire's dead hand: the influence of genealogy on the development of biography in Restoration England Jan Broadway The antiquaries who have been the focus of much of my academic research established genealogy and heraldry as central to the study of English local history. Consequently the dead hand of the seventeenth-century squire has been criticised for casting a genealogical blight over the writing of local history in England until the second half of the last century. In my previous research I have explored the balance between the interests of the authors and the preoccupations of their gentry readership in causing this blight. Today I want to consider how the importance of genealogy to the early modern English gentry shaped the formation of a different genre, namely the writing of secular biography as it developed in the period after the civil war. I will argue that here too the squire's dead hand had a lasting and arguably deleterious influence. I belong to that generation of English historians who cut our teeth writing articles for the great exercise in collective biography that is the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. As I strove to corral the details of an individual's life into the approved template within the word limit I had been allocated, I did not question what I was doing. I was more concerned with meeting the deadline and being paid. The shape of a biography seemed to be natural. You started with their name and dates, one or two words to define the category to which they belonged.
    [Show full text]
  • The Queen's Corps of Commissionaires
    Click here for Full Issue of EIR Volume 24, Number 34, August 22, 1997 head of the various Corps of Commissionaires, as part of her official duties as Commander-in-Chief of all military forces of the Empire. In short, the Corps is an integral part of the The Queen’s Corps military structure of the Crown—albeit a usually “invisible” part. of Commissionaires Given the Corps’ royal sponsorship and direction, it should come as no surprise that the British Corps’ Board of by Dean Andromidas Governors is dominated by retired senior officers, who have held positions within the Royal Household. Many board members belong to the Order of the Bath, the only chivalric Earlier this year, the government of Papua New Guinea was order, which honors military officers who made extraordinary voted from office, following the worst scandal to hit the coun- contributions to the Crown. The Order of the Bath was try since its independence. It was triggered when the govern- founded, in the eighteenth century, by King George I, in the ment sought to contract a British mercenary firm, Sandline early days of the Hanoverian-Windsor dynasty. International, to take on the task of wiping out a local insur- gency. For weeks, the press ran articles depicting Sandline as Her Majesty’s mercenary clearinghouse the stereotypical mercenaries, the dogs of war, hired killers. A spokesman at the Corps’ London office, in a recent But, there was barely a mention of another company which interview, confidently assured EIR that the Corps could draw was also involved in bidding for security work in P.N.G., and upon a pool of former military and uniformed services person- which, in fact, had initiated the proposal that the government nel, from ex-SAS veterans, to regular soldiers, to senior offi- bring in “private” companies to fill its counterinsurgency needs.
    [Show full text]
  • The Intellectual and Social Declines of Alchemy and Astrology, Circa 1650-1720
    The intellectual and social declines of alchemy and astrology, circa 1650-1720 John Clements PhD University of York History December 2017 Abstract: By the early decades of the eighteenth century alchemy and astrology had ceased to be considered respectable or credible by elite society. Astrology had been removed from university curricula, while alchemy largely ceased to be publicly practised by the educated and respected and became regarded by those of elite status to be little more than a tool for charlatans or quacks. This thesis draws out these twin declines and considers them in parallel, focusing on trying to analyse what changed intellectually and socially within England to so dramatically alter the fates of these arts. There is a scholarly tradition which has discussed the declines of alchemy and astrology as part of a broader notion of a decline in ‘occult practices’ or ‘magic’, an idea which is often twinned with the wider notion of a ‘rise of science’. This thesis will therefore consider alchemy and astrology as connected arts, which nevertheless possessed separate identities, and then analyse these arts’ declines alongside each other. Through this process it will explore to what degree and in what ways one can describe the declines of these arts as part of one unified trend, or if one needs to interpret these declines as purely grounded in their own unique circumstances. By utilising the works of alchemical and astrological practitioners and placing the decline of these arts in a longer historical context this thesis studies what those who practised the arts considered to be their core conceptual components and will therefore analyse how these elements were changed or challenged by intellectual developments that occurred in the second half of the seventeenth century.
    [Show full text]
  • “Unheard of Curiosities” an Exhibition of Rare Books on the Occult and Esoteric Sciences
    “Unheard of Curiosities” An Exhibition of Rare Books on the Occult and Esoteric Sciences Exhibition Catalog by Erika B. Gorder February 2014 Special Collections and University Archives Rutgers University Libraries About the Exhibition “Unheard-of Curiosities”: An Exhibition of Rare Books on the Occult and Esoteric Sciences showcases rare books from Special Collections and University Archives that display evidence of the enduring popular interest in a diverse constellation of “occult” topics from the 16th century to the present day. The exhibition primarily features books collected by the late Rutgers Professor of English, Clement Fairweather (the "Fairweather Collection"), which predominantly center on astrology and early astronomy from the 17th through the 19th centuries. Secondary topics include prediction and prophecy, demons and the devil, witchcraft and magic, the mysteries of ancient Egypt, and the 19th and-early-20th-century occult revival. A temporal rift in the collection is evident, roughly divided between works from the 17th century and the 19th century. The exhibition's topical boundaries are drawn by the Fairweather Collection itself—both its strengths and weaknesses. The curators reviewed the collection of nearly 300 volumes and identified major areas of concentration: astrology, astronomy, astrological medicine, alchemy and hermeticism, witchcraft, and prophecy and prognostication. Some topics, though not documented with great depth in the Fairweather Collection, are nonetheless featured because of their novelty or significance within the framework of the history of the occult. These include Merlin, magic and spells, Aleister Crowley, Egyptology, and cartomancy. Where relevant, books from the general rare book collection are included to enhance and illuminate a subject.
    [Show full text]