Item Details
A New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology; or, the Art of Foretelling Future Events and Contingencies by the Aspects, &c., of the Heavenly Bodies...In Four Parts [in one volume].
London: Printed for, and sold by, the Proprietor, at No. 17, Ave-Maria Lane, St. Paul's, 1817-1820. Twelfth edition in four parts. Half calf over boards. Ebenezer Sibly (1751 – c. 1799) was an English physician, astrologer and writer on the occult. He studied amongst other things, medicine, alchemy, and history of witchcraft. The masterwork, "A New and Complete Illustration..." covered aspects of the classical tradition of astrology, but also "its so called magical strain of divination (as exemplified in horary practice and elections and also worked with ingress charts and solar returns" (Bobrick, The Fated Sky, pg 246). Examples of Sibly's divination questions include: "An Engagement at Sea. Which shall have victory?" "Shall the Querent Marry the Gentleman she loves?" "Question on theft." "Shall the Querent attain the Promotion desierd?" The work originally appeared in 1784 and had already gone through several printings by the time of Sibly's death in 1799, and went through several more after, with revisions and under varying titles. A beautifully bound and complete single-volume collection of this landmark publication in astrology. To say that Sibly was just an occultist and astrologer would be dismissive. The assessments, predictions, and observances are quite scholarly and scientific. He referenced major figures of history including Agrippa, Aristotle, Newton, Paracelsus, Swedenborg, and Culpeper. A strange, wonderful, and comprehension occult tome, and should be regarded as one of the most important occult texts on scientific and medical astrology of the 18th-19th century. Near Fine. Tight, bright, and unmarred. Four separate title pages, dated 1817, 1815, 1822, and 1820. Thick 4to, 26 x 21cm, [13], 1130pp, frontis, 30 copper plates intact, as called for by the index, tables and charts. A few marginal notes in ink and pencil throughout, some scattered foxing, mainly to plates, and staining in gutters, otherwise clean. Half polished calf over marbled boards, gilt stamped border and date on spine with compartments stamped in blind. Calf spine label with title in gilt just lifting at the corners. Item #11121
Price: $3,250.00