XX BF1681 .L5532
About the Author
William Lilly was born in Diseworth, England in 1602 to poor farmer parents. He went to school and learned Greek and Latin, studying until he was eighteen when his master was forced from the school and he was subsequently kicked out of school. Lilly’s father, Robert Lilly, could not afford to send his son to school. Lilly then took up a job as a servant in London to a wealthy couple. His employer died and Lilly married his widow. This rise in status allowed Lilly to put forth more effort in studying astrology, going to lectures and reading texts.
Lilly published several books on astrological predictions before his death in 1681, also writing his autobiography. [1]
Content
William Lilly wrote astrological predictions for the years 1648-1650, mainly focusing on political events like the treaty between the king and Parliament, the Scottish army, and how well the generals are doing at leading the troops. One whole section is dedicated to weather predictions for the month of July in 1648.
After the main text was printed, another section was added to the text. This section was focused on addressing the libel that had been printed about various members of Parliament. Lilly wrote to disprove the lies that have been printed.
Significance of the Book
Lilly predicted events for the second English Civil War, actions of the generals, and even treaties between the Parliament and the King. At that time Lilly was a well-known astrologer with several books of predictions published. The public would have looked to this book to help them understand what was happening with their country and its upheaval.
Condition
Blue marbled paper boards are half bound with leather. The boards have wear along the edges. Wear along spine joints and a cracked back strip suggests that the book was heavily used. The endpapers are heavily tanned, possibly from age. Calculations appear in the margins of text and on rear flyleaf. Vast differences in the quality of printing at various points in the text suggest that at least two different people were printing this book.
Rebinding
The differences between the endpapers and the text block suggest that at some point the book was rebound by one of the owners. The endpapers are of higher quality paper than the rest of the leaves, and the fore-edges have a clean-cut edge. The leaves of the text block have varying size cuts to the bottom edges and have deckled edges.
Chain of Ownership
The book was published in early 1648 by T.B. in London, England. Whoever originally owned the book left no discernable ownership markings. However, the owner did leave many astrological calculations in the margins of the text as well as a full page of a rear flyleaf.
The rear flyleaf also features the names “Ann” and “Bartlett,” but because it was written over by calculations it is difficult to determine what the full names are. These names could be possible owners of the book.
Written in the section of libels are two names written upsidedown on the bottom margin, “Henery Prigge” and “Woollin Drap,” in the section of libels against members of Parliament.
During the Second English Civil War, Prigge supported the Parliament’s army. He was a former member of the Parliamentary Committee for Safety. This made him a target for the royalists, who raided his house at one point due to his alliance with Parliament.
It stands to reason that Prigge had owned this book. If he was concerned about what was going to happen to him because of his loyalties he would have had a book that predicted what was going to happen with the war written by someone who also had Parliament loyalties. [2]
Another piece of evidence that Prigge owned this edition is the maths doneon the rear endpaper. There are many calculations for yards, as well as the word “cloath,” which was the way cloth was written in the 17th century. [3]
The next link in the chain of ownership comes from bookshop stickers in the front pastedown endpaper.
The two stickers come from Occult Books Samuel Weiser, Inc. one laid right on top of the other. The stickers appear to be address labels, and because there are two it suggests that the store changed addresses and added a new label to show that. It might mean that Occult Books had this in their possession for a long time. Occult Books was founded in 1926 by Samuel Weiser on 4th avenue in New York City. The store specializes in books of the occult genre, including astrology, which is why there is a good reason that they would have this book. The store moved around, even making its way to Book Row. The top sticker has the address of 117 Fourth Ave. [4] It is unknown exactly when the store was at this address because of the many moves and no physical store anymore, but it was between 1926 and the pre-1950s before being bought for $400.00, which is the price written in pencil on the rear endpapers. This is thought to be the case because of the next link in the ownership chain.
In the corner of the front pastedown endpaper is a gift stamp from the Lincoln Philosophical Research Foundation in Cleveland, Ohio dated 1953. The name of the person who gifted the book is Louis S. Vosburgh, the founder of the LPRF and the next link in the ownership chain.
Vosburgh was probably the person to buy this text from Occult Books since his name is the next piece of provenance after the bookstore, as he was a collector of philosophy and occult books and worked as the president of the Lincoln Philosophical Research Foundation. Another gift stamp of the LPRF can be found in The Philosopher’s Stone by Nicholas Flammel. [5]
After he established the LPRF, Vosburgh donated this book to the Foundation in 1953. The Lincoln Philosophical Research Foundation published books about philosophy and Abraham Lincoln. [6] Not much information can be found about it since the foundation has closed.
The next piece of provenance information brings the book closer to Michigan. Either after the Foundation closed or the book was deaccessioned, William D. Chase was the next owner of the book.
“W.D. Chase 8 November 1982” appears written in pencil on the face-front endpaper at the front of the book. W.D. Chase turns out to be William D. Chase, an Ann Arbor man who works and writes extensively on almanacs. He founded Chase’s Calendar of Events with his brother and continues to publish almanacs. [7] Chase could have gotten this book after the Lincoln Philosophical Research Foundation closed. It makes sense that this book was in his collection, considering the whole section on weather, which is an important part of the almanacs that Chase writes.
William D. Chase donated this book along with his collection to the library of Michigan State University in 2016.
Works Cited
[1] Lilly, William. “The Lives of Those Eminent Antiquaries Elias Ashmole, Esquire, and Mr. William Lilly, Written by Themselves; Containing, First, William Lilly’s History of His Life and Times, with Notes, by Mr. Ashmole: Secondly, Lilly’s Life and Death of Charles the First: and Lastly, the Life of Elias Ashmole, Esquire, by Way of Diary. With Several Occasional Letters, by Charles Burman, Esquire.” Google Books. Google, June 4, 2007. https://books.google.com/books?id=DxE2AAAAMAAJ&printsec=frontcover#v=onepage&q&f=false.
[2] Stoyle, Mark. From Deliverance to Destruction: Rebellion and Civil War in an English City. Exeter: University of Exeter Press, 1996.
[3] “Cloth, n.” Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford English Dictionary, 2019. https://www-oed-com.proxy2.cl.msu.edu/view/Entry/34649?rskey=JAbnIX&result=1&isAdvanced=false#eid.
[4] “About Us.” Weiser Antiquarian, 2019. https://www.weiserantiquarian.com/about.php.
[5] “Nicholas Flammel His Exposition of the Hieroglyphical Figures Which He Caused to Be Painted upon an Arch in St. Innocents Church Yard in Paris: Concerning Both the Theory and Practice of the Philosophers Stone.” Biblio. Biblio. Accessed November 6, 2019. https://www.biblio.com/bookstore/jakoll-north-troy/alchemy-philosophers-stone-1800s/38255265.
[6] Russell, Beatrice K. “The Lincoln Way.” Google Books. Google. Accessed November 6, 2019. https://books.google.com/books?id=J1mxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PT3&lpg=PT3&dq=louis+s.+vosburgh+Lincoln&source=bl&ots=Occ7mO5UXA&sig=ACfU3U2jgYFZXRtOSYfp8BOC5E6N4mY8gw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwiXr46_1NblAhWsnaOKHW9ZB20Q6AEwAHOECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q=louis s. vosburghLincoln&f=false.
[7] Miller, Janet. “Ann Arbor Man, 90, Founded Catalogue of Events for Every Day of the Year.” AnnArbor.com. The Ann Arbor News, April 2, 2012. http://www.annarbor.com/news/chasing-down-days-ann-arbor-founder-of-chases-calendar-of-events-turns-90/.
Compiled by Montanna Ziems in HST 483 for Dr. Brockey in Fall Semester of 2019.
