NOSTRADAMUS, Michael.
True Prophecies or Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus Physician to Henry II. Francis II. and Charles IX. Kings of France, and one of the best Astronomers that ever were. A Work full of Curiosity and Learning.
London: Thomas Radcliffe and Nathaniel Thompson , 1672.
$12,800.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-151294
+$500
"SITTING BY NIGHT IN MY SECRET STUDY…": Rare First Edition in English of Nostradamus' True Prophecies or Prognostications
First edition in English of Nostradamus famous prophetical work. Folio, contemporary calf, copper-engraved frontispiece, title-page printed in red and black, morocco spine label. The predictions of the famed 16th century astrologer Michel Nostradamus, or Notredame, 1503-1566, given in the original French rhymed quatrains and in English translation. The copper-engraved frontispiece depicts the translator at his desk, quill pen in hand, portraits of Michael Nostradamus and Theophilus Garencières on the wall. There are old ink notes within, both marginal and interlinear, and on the back of the frontispiece. Wing N1399. In very good condition, rebacked, marginalia, rear hinge starting. Rare and desirable in contemporary calf.
A physician by trade, Michel de Nostredame "began his prophetic writings in the early 1540s with a series of short yearly almanacs in which he made predictions in verse. The new art of printing gratified a popular demand for supernaturally acquired 'certainty,' and such almanacs were a common literary production of the day. It was with Les Prophéties (1555), however, that Nostradamus became an author of contemporary reputation and a figure who has had an impact on later history… [His more than 1000 rhyming quatrains, arranged in 'centuries' of 100] constitute the largest body of prophetic verse prepared to that day, perhaps in all literature" (Clute & Grant, 694). By blending scholarly learning, received folklore and religious sentiment in richly symbolic, highly poetic and frequently innovative language—and by crafting veiled commentary on the celebrities, scandals, warfare and pressing issues of his day—Nostradamus captured both the public's imagination and the French royal family's patronage. The doctor-seer's influence continues: readers have found in his prophecies such crises as the French Revolution and both World Wars, and several have interpreted his reference to war erupting in the Balkans or the Middle East as a glimpse at the end of the world. "More than any other writer in modern times Nostradamus knew how to titillate the deep-seated craving, felt by potentate and plebeian alike, to foresee the future, near and remote" (DSB). Wing N1399. Lowndes, 1708.
True Prophecies or Prognostications of Michael Nostradamus Physician to Henry II. Francis II. and Charles IX. Kings of France, and one of the best Astronomers that ever were. A Work full of Curiosity and Learning.
$12,800.00
In Stock
