Returning now from the $2000+ results of the Nostradamus sale to the relatively modest results of sales on ebay, we find the following still to be noted:

1: A recent reprint of Robert Ambelain's three-volume set 'Traite d'Astrologie Esoterique' still managed to hit the seller's reserve of 60 Euros:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

2. A rather fine copy of 'Astrology Made Easy' by H. F., A Fellow of the Universal Brotherhood from 1898 sold for a bargain $4.99 to a sole bidder.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=016

(Definitely one I would have bid on in normal circumstances!)

3. An original 1647 first edition of 'Christian Astrology' by William Lilly in rather worn and soiled condition was at first unsold (reserve not met) but was then relisted on a 'Buy It Now or Best Offer' basis and a single offer of just $750 was accepted by the seller. But for the condition, this would have been an outrageous bargain in view of how much the book is normally worth (upwards of $3250). As it was, it was still an antiquarian bargain, and with rebinding it would double or triple in value overnight at the very least.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0103938843

4. A limited edition reprint from 1947 of 'Pratique abr?g?e des jugements Astronomiques sur les Nativit?s' by Le Comte Henri de Boulainviller (first published 1717) sold for just 12,50 Euros.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=001

5. A bound volume of Alan Leo's journal 'Modern Astrology' for the whole of 1906, in indifferent binding condition but otherwise good, sold to a sole bidder for the seller's opening price of just $45.00. This was rather a bargain at the price for a whole relatively early year of this scarce and historically important journal.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=010

6. An attractively bound copy of the 1822 edition of 'William Lilly's History of His Life and Times 1602-1681, Written by Himself' sold to a sole bidder for the starting price of $165.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=015

Although not one of the two rare early 18th century editions from 1715 and 1722 (?), this later reprint is generally considered the 'next best thing', and this price was very reasonable.

7. A fine and rare first edition from 1867 of Frances Rolleston's 'The Letters of Miss Frances Rolleston' sold for ?76.99.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=009

This was a very good buy at the price (probably worth at least twice as much in truth) for its revealing insights into the research of the author of the Mazzaroth. (I bid on it to ?74.99 myself but did not have the money to spare to keep pace with the competition!)

A tip for anyone interested - a mixed first / second edition of 'Mazzaroth', most parts the first edition from 1862-65, but Part One the second edition from 1875, was listed just a few days ago by a reputable UK bookseller on Abebooks that I have dealt with before very satisfactorily, for around ?150.00 (may offer a 10% discount for direct purchase if asked). There are some faults to the condition, but for such a rare book this is a reasonable price. Complete first editions tend to cost upwards of ?350-?400 ($700-$800) if in sound condition, and both first and second editions are very rare.

8. A first edition in hardcover binding from 1952 of Rodney Collin's 'The Theory of Celestial Influence' sold for ?26.01 (just over $50):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=013

9. A fine first edition of E. Bullinger's 'The Witness of the Stars' from 1893 sold to a sole bidder for the starting bid of ?75.00 (approx. $150). Though there are cheaper unsold copies on the used market, none of them is in such nice condition, and this price was justified. It was marketed by this seller as Christian literature, but is arguably of more interest to astrologers!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=014

(Another one I would have bid on myself but for having other strict priorities at the present time!)

10. A first edition from the 1970s in three hardcover volumes of Otto Neugebauer's 'A History of Ancient Mathematical Astrology' sold for $425.00. Second-hand copies tend to cost upwards of $600 depending on condition. This one was not in perfect condition, and a new reprint would be cheaper, but it was still a lot cheaper than any other first edition set available. (I don't have this great work on the early history of astronomy, which is reputed to be equally important in understanding the development of ancient astrology, in any form yet, but it's on my future shortlist!)

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 19555&rd=1

Still more to catch up on after these, maybe ten or so, but that's all I have time for just now!

Philip

Since I partially updated this only earlier today, I'm going to resume the numbering of today's additions from where I left to avoid confusion.

11. Another 1931 edition of William Tyler Olcott's 'Star Lore of All Ages' sold for a surprisingly high $71.00

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=007

12. A true first edition from 1903 of Alan Leo's 'How to Judge a Nativity', in two parts bound together in one volume (the alternative option was in two separate volumes, though in this early edition they had yet to reach their definitive length and full content) sold to a sole bidder for the starting price of ?15 (about $30). (I personally came close to bidding on this but could not ultimately justify it when I already have an excellent set of the more complete second edition from c. 1908-10)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=019

13. An 1895 original edition of 'Traite d'Astrologie Judiciere' by Abel Haatan sold for 37,30 Euros (just over $50). It was not in the best condition in terms of binding but unsold copies in sound condition list for upwards of $200 on the used book networks, so this was a very fair price despite the condition.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=009

14. A copy of 'M?thode astrologique de la m?decine herm?tique, diagnostic et th?rapeutique des maladies' by Th. Teretschenko from 1936 sold for 29,50 Euros (just over $40).

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=009

15. Five lectures out of eight in the set of what appears to be a variant form of the second edition from 1970 of William Davidson, MD's famous 'Lectures on Medical Astrology and Health', together with the separate lecture 'Introduction to Medical Astrology', sold together for around $31. The lowish price reflects the incompleteness of this set, but is still a bargain. On the used book networks, these lectures tend to list for at least $19.99 each in any edition, so this little lot was arguably worth just under $120.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=010

There have been three main editions of this set that I'm aware of, all of them rare based on demand exceeding supply, although with three editions having been printed there are evidently enough in circulation for used copies to show up every now and then, only to be bought immediately by hungry astrologers and collectors in most cases!

The first edition was from 1959, published by ABC - the then trade name of Charles Jayne's Astrological Bureau I believe. It is distinguished by its separately coloured cover sheets for each of the eight lectures, making for quite a varied and bright-looking set!

The second edition was from 1970, but can also be found in a different binding with the eight main lectures bound as four pairs in yellow covers with black backs. (This is the form I have it in, so seeing the cyan covers of the individual lectures in this listing was a surprise to me.).

If I recall correctly, the third edition was from around 1978 or 1979, and was retitled 'DAVIDSON'S MEDICAL ASTROLOGY' in brash black letters on a green cover that enclosed all eight of the main series of lectures in a single binding. It was edited by Vivia Jayne with a foreword by her. As applies to the second and first editions, the 'Introduction to Medical Astrology' is a separately bound lecture that is optionally available but not included in the binding with any of the other eight!

The collectibility of these lectures, apart from Davidson's reputation within his own field as a medical astrologer, occult thinker, etc., I believe has been strongly influenced by Linda Goodman's recommendation for them and testament to their rarity in her bibliography at the rear of 'Linda Goodman's Love Signs'. It was conceivably in response to renewed demand following this that the third edition was printed in the late 1970s! But it can't have been long before that ceased publication too as it is as scarce as the earlier editions if not more so from what I've observed; and there has not been any fresh printing in the past quarter of a century and a bit longer since then. Of course, both Charles and Vivia Jayne, like Davidson before them, have long since passed away now, bless them!

16. A true hardcover first edition from 1930 in very good to near-fine condition of 'Amulets and Superstitions' by legendary Egyptologist Sir Wallis Budge sold (to a dealer, no less!) for ?56.01 (about $112). There is some content of astrological relevance here, and this price was far below retail, hence the trade buyer.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=009

17. A set of the popular but out-of-print four-volume abridgement and selection of the works of Galen translated into French by Jean Chieze, published in 1962, and limited to a print-run of 5000 copies, which is enough to allow them to resurface from time to time decades later, sold for a relatively cheap 57,90 Euros (this set normally commands a second-hand retail price closer to double this at least):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=015

One of the volumes includes a chapter on Galen's theories of relevance to astrological medicine.

18. A copy of the (printed 1676) translation into Latin from the original French (unusually enough, but that was what was done!) of Jacques Gaffarel's 'Curiositez Inouyes', as 'Curiositez inovyes, Hoc est:
Curiositates inaudit? de figvris persarum talismanicis,
horoscopo patriarcharum et characteribus coelestibus' sold for 565,55 Euros:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=001

19. A stated first edition from 1887, in attractive original binding apparently, of Franz Hartmann's 'The Life of Phillipus Theophrastus Bombast of Hohenheim, Known by the Name of Paracelsus, And The Substance of His Teachings Concerning Cosmology, Anthropology, Pneumatology, Magic and Sorcery, Medicine, Alchemy and Astrology, Philosophy and Theosophy', sold for ?53.61 (just over $105):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=007

There are no first editions on the used book network at all so this was a very good buy at the price. It may be worth at least twice that amount if not three or four times.

20. A mixed set (ie not a continuous run, but a fairly random assortment) of 15 fascicules of Andre Volguine's classic journal 'Les Cahiers Astrologiques' sold (to me, in this instance, since this material is one of my key areas of research interest) for just over 40 Euros. This was quite a bargain in view of the usual retail cost per fascicule for this journal, which is typically between 10 and 15 Euros depending on how early the issue. (However, with these jumbled up sets I'm ending up with a number of spares!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=006

Ok, I think that's enough to bring the records up to date. After repeatedly reporting in January and February how quiet things were on the auction scene for really rare and desirable astrology books, I have been pleasantly surprised by the recent glut of high-value classics such as Lilly's 'Christian Astrology' (1647), Morin's 'Astrologia Gallica' (1661) and Varley's 'Treatise of Zodiacal Physiognomy' (early 19th century) for which I've been able to report sales results recently, although not all copies have been in the best condition....

I must admit however that I'm still in a state of mild shock from the recent $54,000 price fetched by a copy of the 16th century Latin original of Johann Schoener's 'Three Books on the Judgements of Nativities', as discussed a few posts ago.... Schoener, it would appear, is worth five times as much as a 15th century original printing of Guido Bonatti's 'Decem Tractatus Astronomiae', and over twenty times as much as an original of Morin's 'Astrologia Gallica'. And at least twice as much even as first printings of the most celebrated works of Abu Ma'Shar.... But could this be a sign that the prices of other rare early astrological texts will rise dramatically in the next few years, or was this just a freak result specific to Schoener? Time will tell....

There are some more upcoming major auction house auctions of some interest to astrologers noted in Americana Exchange currently as being forthcoming for early May. I'll try to remember to give advance notice of these, but study commitments currently limit my maintenance of this strand to the minimum, which tends to be the reporting of results rather than advance advice of auctions also, although I'd rather I had the time for both consistently! Above all though, I hope that the selections I pick out in this strand bring astrological literary history to life for a few people and are both educational and entertaining to look at!

Philip

Made it in good time for advance notice here - there are some very interesting lots coming up at an auction in Scotland by auctioneers Lyon and Turnbull on May 9th.

The auction house has bundled together all kinds of books in some lots which means that for a collector only interested in one or two of them to buy the whole lot would be extremely expensive, so they are a 'dealer's choice' and it would be hoped that a dealer would buy them and offer their individual components for resale.

But there are some individual lots too, and I'm going to list the ten most astrologically relevant lots I could find here for perusal by any interested Skyscript members:

1. An extremely early but, strangely enough, not particularly rare (to judge from the substantial numbers of copies found in OCLC member libraries) astrological book by Joannes Eschuid from 1489, 'Summa astrologi? iudicialis de accidentibus mundi qu? anglicana uulgo nuncupatur Ioannis Eshcuidi niri [sic] anglici peritissimi scieti? astrologi? foelici sidere inchoat', which is described by Gardner in his 'Bibliotheca Astrologica':

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 121&rd=1,1

2. A scarce original 1811 copy of Drummond's 'Oedipus Judaicus':

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 312&rd=1,1

This is one of the pioneering works on astrological symbolism in the bible, particularly the Old Testament. Used booksellers value first editions of this very highly, around $1500, although the one who started this trend, Krown and Spellman, states that the printing its copy comes from was limited to fifty copies, so it may be that there was also a larger print-run published the same year which is less valuable.

3. What appears to be a rebound first edition set of Lynn Thorndike's 'A History of Magic and Experimental Science':

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 393&rd=1,1

Not in the best of condition in all volumes - there may be better copies of later hardcover editions worth paying a bit more for ($500 - $600) from a used book dealer.

4. A lot that frustrates me no end because of its mixture of contents, one of which is a book I've been after for a long time, but the rest of which I own in some form or another or have no interest in:

a) A complete one-volume edition, from 1812, of Ebeneezer Sibly's vast 'A New and Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology', mixed with:

b) An original 1862 edition of just three of the parts of Frances Rolleston's 'Mazzaroth' - it is not stated which three, but presumably the first three out of four, thus excluding the fourth and also the Mizrain that is usually bound in with the other four parts. But all the same, it would be valuable since the first edition is so scarce.

c) A first edition from 1835 of Zadkiel's abridgement of Lilly's 'Christian Astrology' as 'An Introduction to Astrology'

d) What appears to be a first edition of Frederick Cramer's 'Astrology in Roman Law and Politics' from 1954;

e) Several non-astrological texts of little or no interest to astrologers;

f) A copy of Rupertus Stella (sic)'s 'The Astrologian's Guide in Horary Astrology' from 1833. (This one item in the lot is the one I would like to buy. Would anyone here who yearns for original copies of Sibly and Rolleston care to buy the rest of the lot and sell on this one to me for a reasonable price, say ?50-?100 or $100-$200?)

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 315&rd=1,1

5. A stated 'early 18th century' French astrological manuscript called 'Trait? des interrogations et des erreurs des astrologues'. Looks very interesting though not all that long!

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 922&rd=1,1

6. An original copy of John Gadbury's 'Collectio Geniturarum'

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 958&rd=1,1

7. A really bizarre lot consisting of a mixture of a first edition copy of Cooper's translation of Placido de Titus's 'Primum Mobile' with a book about works prohibited by the papacy and several books on the Kabala. Friendly to the bookseller perhaps, but a completely unpalatable mixture of subjects for a collector!

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 364&rd=1,1

8. Another mixed bundle lot, this one featuring both the 1968 German edition and the 1986 Latin edition of the Picatrix as separately published by the Warburg Institute, together with a hardcover reprint from 1896 of the Ashmand translation of Ptolemy's 'Tetrabiblos', a two volume set from 1910 of 'The Hermetic and Alchemical Writings of Paracelsus', and several other assorted non-astrological works!

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 745&rd=1,1

Since I've just paid $199 (about ?100) for the Warburg Latin edition of the Picatrix, this lot is of no interest to me, but perhaps someone who can read German as well as Latin would jump at the chance to acquire both editions at a bargain price together with a host of 'freebies'!

9. A first edition from 1533 of Agrippa's 'De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres':
http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 051&rd=1,1

10. Another very strange mixed lot. It appears to consist of a complete collection of the entire twenty-volume run of Helena Blavatsky's journal 'Lucifer' (although the dates given for the lot are incorrect if so, since the journal ran for ten years and not three), which in itself is massively more valuable than the auctioneer's estimate for the entire lot, mixed in with ten assorted early volumes of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, and various other books.

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 790&rd=1,1

Looks like another bookdealer's lot to me. The Lucifer journal alone, if the twenty volumes are indeed complete, would probably retail for ?2000 ($4000) (?100 or $200 per volume) to a collector. And the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research must be pretty valuable too I would have thought, although this is a choppy, partial run.

Either this lot will far exceed its estimate, or a dealer will be laughing all the way to the bank ten days from now. In fact, if I had the money up-front and didn't know that my wife would find the proposition completely intolerable, I would be sorely tempted to purchase the lot myself and resell its components at a great profit in time, even though shipping books abroad from Sweden costs a small fortune....

But I mentioned it here only because of Blavatsky's major influence upon astrological thinking in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Some of the contents could be fascinating historically, to say the least....

The rest of the auction is full of early editions of philosophy books, and also contains one lot of early Aleister Crowley works that dealers and bargain-hunting collectors can be reasonably expected to draw swords over!

Philip

The great Edinburgh auction is still a day away, but a fortnight has passed since the last update of notable results from ebay auctions, so it's time for me to bring the records up to date.

1. Another copy of the 1932 publication 'The Wheel of Fortune', which contains a posthumous reprint of Sepharial's 'Elementary Astrology' together with four other short works on different divinatory subjects presumably written by other authors, closely matched the success of the previous copy I reported on a few months ago in these pages, fetching $77.04.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

2. A first edition from 1916 of 'Fresh Sidelights on Astrology' by Major C.G.M. Adam sold for a bargain ?2.20.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

3. A beautiful-looking copy of Raphael's Prophetic Almanac for 1857 sold to a sole bidder for the starting price of $29.99:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

3. Another early copy (1886, to be precise) of the second edition of Raphael's Book of Dreams sold for ?11.50:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

4. An 1845 edition of Culpeper's Complete Herbal sold to a sole bidder for the starting price of $145:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

5. An original 1964 copy, with heavily black-stained front cover, of Volume 2 ('The Rameside Star Clocks') only of Otto Neugebauer's 'Egyptian Astronomical Texts' sold for $187.50:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

6. (a) A later 1943 edition of Hiram E. Butler's 'Solar Biology' fetched an astonishingly high $71.00...

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=013

... even while (b) a relatively early 1901 edition at first failed to sell altogether from a starting price of just $5.00, and then when relisted sold for a measly $9.26:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=004

The seller of the $71.00 copy is a well-established ebay trader, and presumably has a strong clientele of past customers who check his or her listings regularly. Seller reputation counts for a lot on ebay, but this sale price was greatly excessive for a copy of an edition as late as 1943, while the $9.26 achieved by the 1901 edition was a relative bargain.

7. An externally fine-looking copy of an early 1900s 'Revised and Enlarged' edition, published by David McKay in the United States, of Sepharial's classic 'New Manual of Astrology' sold for a bargain $6.20 to a very fortunate individual:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=010

All hardcover editions of this book that predate the discovery of Pluto are somewhat valuable and well worth studying. The post-Pluto Foulsham reprints of the 1960s and after lost quite a lot of their (ie Sepharial's) personality through destructive editing. I have yet to fully compare the first edition from 1898 (published by George Redway) with the early 1900s 'Revised and Enlarged' edition, but this could prove an interesting task also.

By the way, the claim by the seller of this copy of 1898 as a publication date is demonstrably false. 1898 was the date of the first edition and not the 'Revised and Enlarged' edition, which first appeared I believe around 1903.

8. The theme of 1898 first editions strikes again, this time more directly, as an 1898 first edition of L.D. Broughton's 'Elements of Astrology' sold (to me, in this instance) for $93.50 after fierce competition between three earlier bidders. This may sound a lot of money to have paid for a book commonly available as a reprint, but first editions of this book are extremely scarce in libraries around the world, the posthumous 1906 second edition edited and published by Broughton's brother Ray being somewhat more common and the source of all commercial reprints.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=004

Broughton should need no introduction to even the most amateur astrological historians, as one of the most influential pioneers in the development of western astrology in the USA (although an immigrant from the UK originally), who published a famous predictive journal sporadically in the 1860s during the American Civil War, and employed Jack London's father W.H. Chaney as his assistant in his astrological work.

9. What appears to be a fine-looking 1748 two-volume set of Pluche's 'Histoire du Ciel', yet bizarrely was not credited to its author by the Spanish seller, still managed to sell for 385 Euros:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=002

10. A relatively good-looking (compared to the previous one I reported on and bought myself around the start of the year) copy of Sepharial's 'The Little Book of Magic' sold, appropriately, for a relatively high price, namely ?21.00:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=014

11. What appears to be a first edition from 1959 of Hans Niggemann's revised edition of the Rules for Planetary Pictures sold to a sole bidder, the well-known financial astrologer Tim Bost, for the starting price of $149.99.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=013

This is the first time I've spotted a copy of this particular work by Niggemann, who is best known for having imported and adapted the Hamburg School of astrology into the United States, and is said by some to have been responsible for renaming it 'Uranian astrology', although I should add that I'm far from being a reliable source of knowledge on this subject and am just passing on what I have read....

After seeing the starting price and title, I felt this book was probably not worth buying for someone who already has copies of his two later works 'The Key to Uranian Astrology' (which is itself a slightly lengthier list of planetary pictures) and 'The Principles of the Uranian System' as well as the more widely available Witte-Lefeldt edition of 'Rules for Planetary Pictures'. But the price was ultimately fair for such a scarce work.

12. An early (probably 16th century or very early 17th century to judge from the seller's uncertain description) edition of Agrippa's 'De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres' sold for a relatively cheap $1681.00 after being listed without reserve, despite attracting bids from nineteen distinct individuals in the course of the auction. The 1531 first edition coming up at the auction in Scotland is expected to fetch at least twice this. The buyer of the ebay copy should count him- or herself lucky that it was not listed in a high-profile major auction house auction! It looks in pretty fine condition for its age to me:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=019

13. An undated David McKay edition (ie an early hardcover reprint in the United States) of the literarily prolific later Raphael Robert Thomas Cross's 'Key to Astrology' sold for a reasonably high $31.70 after attracting competitive bidding:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=005

14. A defective (disbound and lacking two leaves of text) first edition from 1715 of William Lilly's 'True History of King James the First and King Charles the First' sold to a fairly regular astrological collector on ebay for a suitably modest ?22.40:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=007

This copy has a title page that my 1721 second edition lacks, yet to judge from the sample photographs the main text of this edition is still headed with the legend 'Observations on the Life and Death of King Charles' on every page, at variance with the title page that mentions both James and Charles. The mystery of the disparity between official title and running title (and contents) in this work remains unexplained to me, although a close examination of the title page shown in another of the digital pictures appears possibly to provide as a clue the indication that the earliest part of the account of King Charles's Life and Death related in part to King James, sic: 'An account of King James being poisoned by the Duke of Buckingham's mother'. Not a version of events supported by the Wikipedia article on King James I. Any explanations, anyone?

15. A fine-looking undated David McKay hardcover edition (presumably the first American edition, contemporaneous with the first UK edition published by Rider) of Dutch astrologer A.E. Thierens's 'The General Book of the Tarot, Containing the Astrological Key to the Tarot System', with dustjacket, sold for $51.00.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=007

All early hardcover editions of this work are rare. This was a sound buy at the price.

16. A stated 'tenth edition' from 1704 of a tiny astrological handbook of which all editions are impossibly rare to find second-hand, Eland's 'Tutor to Astrology', was unsold after the seller's reserve was not met, despite bidding reaching $127.50:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=007

The seller put himself or herself at a disadvantage by refusing to allow Paypal payments from bidders outside the United States. The copy is externally very scuffed and in need of binding repair or rebinding in any case; and some of the tables and other pages have been cut and / or frayed right up to the edge of the text, making it a far from ideal copy. However, in view of its rarity (I have not seen any other copy listed on ebay in the past two years of following ebay listings of astrology books, and have seen no copy at all on the fixed-price used book networks) the book should have realised a price of $200-$250 without any trouble if only the vendor had accepted convenient international payment methods. It will be interesting to see if the book is relisted or not. (In the latter case, it might perhaps have been offered privately to the highest bidder in the first auction.)

*******

Well, that brings matters up to date for ebay. Will post again after the Lyon and Turnbull auction results are in. There are a few more assorted major auction house auctions of some note coming up which I'll announce here after posting the Lyon and Turnbull results. Most of the lots in these other auctions are probably too obscure for Skyscript users to be likely to want to buy them, but it can be interesting from a historical point of view to be aware of their existence and value all the same.

By the way, if ever in updating this strand I make an historical or factual assertion based on memory or opinion that appears to anyone reading it to be incorrect or at least in need of some degree of moderation or qualification, please do not hesitate to step in to put it right!

Philip

In descending order of prices realised, the items in this week's Lyon and Turnbull auction in Edinburgh that I picked out two posts ago as being worthy of watching for astrologers were (without repeating the links since you only need to check two messages above for them):

1. The first edition of Agrippa's 'De Occulta Philosophia Libri Tres' sold for ?3800 + 20% buyer's premium, ie ?4560 (about $9100). This was well over five times the price of the unclearly dated but still very early edition sold on ebay just a few days ago.

2. The 15th century Joannes Eschuid volume on astrology sold for ?2800 + buyer's premium, ie ?3360 (about $6700). This was well over double the auctioneer's upper estimate and far higher than I personally expected. Despite the fact that there are well over a dozen copies in institutional holdings, its very earliness appears to render it unusually collectible. And perhaps virtually all the extant copies are in institutions, rendering copies for sale on the market very rare?

3. The mixed bundle lot including astrological works by Sibly, Lilly and Rupertus Stella as well as three parts of a first edition of Rolleston's Mazzaroth together with many non-astrological books sold for ?1200 plus premium, ie ?1440 (about $2850). This was far above the pre-sale estimate of ?300-?500; but having personally worked out the realisable individual resale value to bookdealers of the entire contents of the lot to be in the region of ?2800, of which arguably only ?600 belongs to the headlining Sibly book itself, and maybe ?120 to the Rupertus Stella book, I was not surprised by this outcome. It remains to be found out whether or not the lot's individual components will be listed by a dealer in due course. I was in contact before the auction with my friendly local bookdealer from the Bristol area of England (where I used to live before emigrating to Sweden three years ago) who said he would be attending the auction and bidding on this lot. He correctly predicted in advance that the lot would reach ?1000 or more. Here's hoping he held out in the face of the competition and bought it!

4. The mixed bundle lot including both German and Latin editions of the Warburg Institute's publications of the Picatrix as well as various other books about Paracelsus, Giordano Bruno, etc. sold for ?420 plus premium, ie ?504 (about $1000).

5. The old and tired-looking presumed first edition set of Lynn Thorndike's 'A History of Magic and Experimental Science' confounded my expectations by selling for a sky-high ?360 plus premium, ie ?432 (about $860). Complete sets can be bought for as little as $400-$500 on the used book networks currently. (I paid $500 for a near-fine set about a year ago.) I have the sense that a couple of bidders at the auction did not research the market for this item properly, unless there is some hidden value to this particular set that has escaped my notice....

6. The first edition of 'Oedipus Judaicus' by Sir William Drummond sold for ?320 plus premium, ie ?384 (about $760). At half of the price of copies available on the used market, this was a good buy if it went directly to a collector.

7. The mixed lot including all twenty volumes of Blavatsky's original theosophical journal 'Lucifer' hidden away behind the headlining bundle of volumes of the Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research sold for the outrageous bargain price of ?280 plus premium, ie ?336 (about $670). I would be most surprised if the Lucifer journal was offered for resale for less than ?1000 ($2000) - possibly twice this much, and even more surprised if it were to emerge that it had sold directly to a collector, and not to a bookdealer, at the much lower final auction price.

8. The first edition of John Gadbury's 'Collectio Geniturarum', in nice condition but lacking the centiloquy that should follow the main text at the end, sold for the very modest price of ?200 plus premium, ie ?240 (about $475). This low price should have made a collector or dealer happy. (I might have bid on this but for the missing pages at the end.)

9. The mixed lot containing the first edition of the Cooper translation of Placido de Titi's 'Primum Mobile' and a few other books on unrelated subjects also sold for ?200 plus premium, ie ?240 (about $475).

10. The French astrological manuscript sold for ?170 plus premium, ie ?204 (about $405).

***********************************************************

Meanwhile, over on ebay, legendary American financial astrologer Jack Gillen's enterprising son Tom managed to sell a simple spiral-bound copy of his father's 'The Jack Gillen Seminars: 35 Years of Research and Development', the first copy he had listed since the Autumn of 2005 or thereabouts if memory serves me correctly, for an awe-inspiring $1161, despite starting the auction at just $10 and without reserve.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

He regularly sells softcover reprints of some of his father's more famous works such as 'The Key to Speculation on the New York Stock Exchange' and 'The Key to Speculation on Casino and Lottery Games' for $30-$169 (typically $50-$125) per copy, doling out only one of each to the competitive ebay auction market every month or two, with the effect that demand continues to exceed supply and prices remain high.

But the 'Jack Gillen Seminars' book, which reportedly contains separate chapters on Gillen's astrological theories and research on each of numerous distinct areas to which financial speculation can be applied, is a case apart, having appeared in Tom Gillen's ebay listings only this one time in the past eighteen months. Tom told me himself that it was a 'rare find', suggesting that it is not regularly reprinted by him. I politely suggested that it might be a nice idea to reprint this title in the future! Time will tell whether or not he decides to do so. Perhaps it is one of those works whose knowledge, in the tradition of the more expensive courses of W.D. Gann et al, the Gillen clan desires to remain the exclusive preserve of a small number of committed traders? I rather hope not, since I'd love to be able to afford to read it and compare its ideas with those published by other astrological thinkers some day; and I doubt very much that I stand alone in this desire....

Philip

As indicated previously, most of those astrologically themed books upcoming at major auction houses are rather obscure and unlikely to be of collecting interest to anyone who doesn't have a comprehensive collection of the more famous works already, but I am including them in any case. Few of these have made it to ebay's 'Live Auctions' listings yet, and not all necessarily will do, but please search for the authors at www.americanaexchange.com for full details of the lots and links to the various auction houses' individual websites if interested:

1. Christie's are offering a copy of Johannes Regiomontanus's 'Tabulae directionum profectionumque, non tam Astrologiae iudiciariae, quam tabulis instrumentisque innumeris fabricandis utiles ac necessariae. Eiusdem Regiomontani tabula sinuum, per singula minuta extensa, universam sphaericorum triangulorium scientiam complectens' on May 15th. Estimated at just 200-300 Euros. Tables are never as valuable as text, it would seem!

2. On May 17th, Bloomsbury Book Auctions are offering an original 1658 first edition of John Gadbury's 'Genethlialogia or The Doctrine of Nativities', not in the best of condition, hence the estimate of ?300-400.

3. Ketterer Kunst / F. Doerling are offering a copy of 'Astrologiae nova methodus' by Yves de Paris, also from 1658, on May 21st. Estimated at 6000 Euros.

4. Ketterer Kunst / F. Doerling's sale also includes a copy of 'Acroteleution astrologicum, triplex homium genus circa divinationem ex astris in scenam producens, falsamq(ue) astrologiam a vera, rationibus, exemplis & experimentis distinguens' by R. Goclenius, to which is also annexed in the same volume a work by Leovitius ('Cypriani Leovitii') called 'De conjunctionibus magnis, eclipsibus solaribus & cometis'. The estimate for this volume is 1200 Euros.

5. Hauswedell & Nolte are offering a copy of T. Moller's 'Astrologia iudiciaria' from 1581 on May 23rd. Estimated at 900 Euros.

6. Sotheby's on June 5th are offering a typed personal letter, one page long, typed and signed by Carl Gustav Jung, discussing astrology, with an estimate of ?3000-?5000.

Sotheby's includes in its description of this lot the information that Jung in this letter characterises astrology as 'one of the 'intuitive methods', like the I Ching, Geomantics and 'other divinatory procedures''. There is more information given in their description, all of which serves to confirm the impression we have of Jung's particular attitude towards astrology from the psychological astrologers who have followed his ideas. Personally I'm at least as unimpressed by his own words detailed in the full description as by certain examples of the astrological writings that others went on to produce under his influence.

7. Bloomsbury Books on June 11th are offering a first edition of 'Compilatio...de astrorum scientia decem continens tractatus' by Leopoldus, from 1489. It is estimated at ?3000-?4000.

8. The Romantic Agony Book and Print Auctions are offering on June 15th a 'unique' first edition copy from 1606 of a work in Dutch by Jan van Ghelen called 'Thuys de[r] Fortune[n] en[de] dat Huys der doot. En[de] die thien outheden des menschen. En[de] hoe de mensche ghestelt is van binnen' and said to concern 'astrology, medicine and the like'. The auctioneer notes that no first edition copies are recorded in any institutional libraries, and sets an estimate of 13000-15000 Euros.

9. In the same Romantic Agony auction is a first edition from 1607 of a work by Robert Fludd called 'Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia in duo volumina secundum Cosmi differentiam diuisa', in two parts, estimated at 4000-6000 Euros.

I can't imagine that many Skyscript members will be bidding on these - even the more accessible Gadbury volume leaves a little too much to be desired condition-wise in this copy, but still, there are some interesting titles and authors to look into here!

Philip

The first five results from the above list of major auction house auctions are in, plus one more major ebay result of note, so to update:

1. The Regiomontanus tables far exceeded the auctioneer's lowly estimate, turning in a hammer price of 1100 Euros, which becomes 1320 Euros inclusive of buyer's premium!

2. The copy of Gadbury's 'Genethlialogia or the Doctrine of Nativities' with significant flaws to its condition sold at the lower end of the estimate, ?300, before buyer's premium: about ?360 all-inclusive.

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 087&rd=1,1

3 and 4: Ketterer Kunst was spectacularly unsuccessful in its attempts to sell the two rare astrological works (one by Goclenius and Leovitius; one by Yves de Paris) that it had listed for auction. Neither attracted a single bid from anyone.

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 905&rd=1,1

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/Allaeu ... enameZWDVW

The starting prices were too high (too close to the estimates) to entice those looking for a bargain, and in the event nobody bid at all. Also I think they were rather poorly catalogued - the Yves de Paris lot was listed with the headline of 'Astronomy: Allaeus' and the Goclenius and Leovitius lot was classified as 'Botany; Zoology'. The mind boggles....

Only by searching the details beneath would the actual titles be provided, showing that they were astrological and not as stated in the headlines!

I suspect the Yves de Paris lot may be the same volume currently unsold at fixed price. Sometimes booksellers who have had rare books on their shelves for several years without a credible offer may resort to auctioning them off but with a high starting bid equating to their own personal reserve. If the starting bid is too high then nobody bids even then.

5. The T. Moller volume on judicial astrology offered by Hauswedell & Nolte did rather better, selling a little above the pre-sale estimate, at 1100 Euros (hammer price).

*****

Now to ebay:

Foremost among the recent batch of results has been another work by Leovitius, aka Cypriano Leovitio or Leovitz, etc. etc.. Reputed to have been a major source text for most of Nostradamus's annual predictive almanacs published from the 1550s onwards, this work attracted a phenomenal number of distinct bidders and reached quite a respectable final sale price despite a very low starting bid and no reserve.

Entitled (according to the seller's listing, though the photographic image of the actual title is not clear enough and my Latin not good enough to correct any mistranscriptions) 'Eclipsium Omnium ab anno Domini 1554 usque in annum domini 1606 accurata descriptio & pictura, ad meridianum Augustanum ita supputata, ut quibusuis alns facilime accommodari possit, una cum explicatione effectuum tam generalium quam particularium pro cuiusque genesi', it appears to be a massive folio volume of 232 pages, and sold for 1760 Euros (just over $2200), which is pretty high for any astrology book sold exclusively on ebay, although perhaps it would have done even better if listed simultaneously through a major auction house too?

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

*****

There are many more minor results from ebay to note as well when I have more time, but family duties call and I just wanted to update the major results for now!

Philip

Two weeks since the last major auction results update, there has been only one more result to report:

The typed and signed personal letter by Carl Jung on astrology sold slightly below the auctioneer's estimate, but still fetched ?2400 excluding buyer's premium (?2880 all-inclusive) at Sotheby's. [This was not an easy result to access - Sotheby's requires registration with full name, address and telephone details to see its results online!]

******************************************************

Four weeks since my last report of ebay results in this strand, high-value books of relevance have been relatively thin on the ground, but allow me to pick out the most notable ones from my watch-list....

1. A 1651 copy of the English translation of Agrippa's 'Three Books of Occult Philosophy' sold at a provincial auction held by Hall's in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England, for a relatively lowly (for such an early edition) ?500 plus buyer's premium. Quite a bargain for the occult collector who spotted it and took advantage, even though the auctioneer's estimate was lower still!

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 565&rd=1,1

[I happen to know Shrewsbury very well having lived there on and off from 1983 to 1998. Shropshire is definitely book-lovers' country, with a large number of country residences that must hold very old collections, and some good second-hand stores particularly in places like Bishop's Castle and Ludlow in the south of the county, not all that far north of the famous book-collector's haven Hay-on-Wye in neighbouring Herefordshire. But I digress....]

2: Two first editions of the quite common but nonetheless sought-after 1854 title by Roback 'The Mysteries of Astrology and the Wonders of Magic' passed through ebay's doors with varying results in accordance with condition:

2a: A somewhat worn copy fetched $76:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

2b: An uncommonly fine copy fetched $178.51, a very reasonable price for its condition really as it is seldom seen as well-preserved as this:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

Roback's writing was scorned by Broughton in his 'Elements of Astrology'. "The Mysteries of Astrology...' certainly doesn't have the reputation of being a serious dedicated astrology book.

3. A 1986 reprint of the elusive 'La Revelation d'Hermes Trimegistre' in four books, bound in three, by Festugiere, sold for 171 Euros.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

Earlier copies are astronomically priced on the used market. There is a reprint available new, of all four books together in a single hardcover volume, for about the same price as this used one sold for, from chapitre.com in France. I believe the first of the four books is the one that treats of the hermetic works on astrology. It's supposed to be rather an important study. I hope that a cheaper copy will hit the marketplace some day since I'd like to read it alongside the Festugiere edition of the Corpus Hermeticum!

4. A very early reprint, from 1700, of the Thomas Creech translation into English verse of the Astronomicon of Manilius (the first English translation ever published, and oft reprinted as recently as the late 20th century), bound with another work by Creech, fetched $406.00:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

5. A signed apparent first edition copy of Robert Ambelain's 'Traite d'Astrologie Esoterique', but apparently consisting of Volume One only (unlike earlier sales reported in these pages which featured all three volumes), fetched an astonishingly high 73 Euros:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

6. An original, attractively hardbound manuscript on astrology in Arabic, by an unidentified author, believed to be probably from the 19th century or possibly earlier, managed to find a buyer in the form of a sole bidder at the starting price of $499.00:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

7. A lucky vendor managed to sell a very early, but not first, hardcover edition by Foulsham of Sepharial's 'New Manual of Astrology' (the 'Revised and Enlarged Edition' first published in the very early 1900s) for $57.00, far more than this edition is worth on the used market in view of the considerable number of surviving copies. Only the George Redway first edition from 1898 is worth this kind of money or considerably more.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

8. A stated 1933 first edition of Cornell's 'Encyclopedia of Medical Astrology' fared a lot better than comparable offerings earlier this year, reaching $123.50, roughly the going rate for copies listed by used booksellers on Abebooks etc.:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

9. An 1861 second edition of Eliphas Levi's 'Dogme et Rituel de la Haute Magie' in two volumes rebound as one sold for a bargain $85, barely a fifth of the price of copies of the same two volumes on Abebooks:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

The workmanlike rebinding job and slight damage to the title page must go some way towards accounting for this low result, but it was still a very cheap buy at the price! You cannot find a second edition from 1923 of the somewhat abridged English translation as 'The Doctrine and Ritual of Transcendental Magic' by one A. E. Waite for as little as twice this price if you search all over the Internet!

[This work will mainly be of interest to astrologers who also have an interest in the ritual magic applications of astrology, and the broader occult field. It's not my area of expertise by any means, but still it is historically interesting!]

10. A fairly early reprint from 1628 of Marceli Palingenii's 'Zodiacus Vitae' sold for 103 Euros (just over $138):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

This appears to have been a very common work in its day which ran to many editions, and the abundance of used copies keeps prices relatively low for a work of its age. I have yet to see a copy, but presume it is another work of relatively peripheral interest for astrological purists but of great interest to historians!

*********************

There have also been a number of interesting scarce 20th century works that have sold for very little money (well under $50) in the past four weeks on ebay, but to keep this post of readable length I thought it perhaps best to stick to $50 as a cut-off point for reported results on this occasion, though I have sometimes strayed into lower price territory before! Generally however it has been a lean month for antiquarian astrology books on ebay, relatively speaking.

It would be nice to see more interactive feedback in this strand again, by the way. Any comments upon or questions about the books mentioned would be good. Also, comments with regard to the selective focus of my reports. Are some of these results entirely uninteresting to most astrologers? Should I focus on scarce works irrespective of price, even those that sell for a pittance, and ignore anomalously high results for more common works?

Philip

Hi Philip ,
answering your "call" for feedback I would like to thank you for this excellent thread - I have read every word of it till now, even though most of the books are out of my league yet - most of the last ones because of the price, some because of language they are in. But I love books, I love astrology and what is for me really interesting in your posts is the history of all the prints you write about, I love when you write about the differencies between editions and evoling of the book story. Also it helps me to find out which books are worth to buy and which not. And while I am still far away from buying first editions and so (but it is on my to do list when I grow up more) for me it is also interesting when you post the pittance books, or even as you few times did the coming auctions, because that may be my chance to get hold on some good books, which I may alone not identify in the mass market has to offer.
And I love the idea of the library, you wrote few times about. Maybe in few years I would even love to participate in this project - after I grow up more (in astroknowledge and finances) and start to buy all those nice books you write about.

With hopes you keep this thread for many years to come, best wishes

Pavla

Hi Pavla,

Thank you so much for the feedback the other day! I'm sorry for being so slow to acknowledge it, but appreciated it very much, and then thought it might be best to wait until I had another update to the results listing to offer before returning my name to the 'Last posted' position on this thread.

Anyhow, I'm very glad that the information about different historical editions etc. is interesting to you.

I might not always be able to keep up contributing to this strand with the same level of frequency and the same extent of posting, depending on current work priorities, and other transient circumstantial factors, but I'd rather keep it going on a monthly update basis with the emphasis on the rarest and most important books than drop it altogether if I get seriously pressed for time.

Glad you're interested in the idea of an astrologers' reference-only library based in northern Europe (but visitable in summer-time by bona fide researchers all over the continent and beyond) too. Although I am guessing from your references to being a student etc. in your post that I am likely to be considerably older than you are, it is bound to be quite a few more years yet before I'm in a position to even attempt to implement such a plan, in view of my ongoing commitment to co-writing a series of novels with my wife etc. etc., and the need for strong funding to make it a reality. So in practice it may not see fruition for a decade or more yet.

Another possible project that could perhaps be simpler to organise at an earlier stage would be a voluntary register of astrologers' private astrological book library contents to be circulated around all members of the register, with an emphasis on their being willing to help each other out with responses to enquiries about books they don't have access to, as well as leaving the possibility of exchanges, purchases and sales between list members and (when they pass on) their heirs. While this kind of activity happens between friends and acquaintances in the astrological world already to an extent, it might be useful to set up a more formalised network in the future so that more people benefit.

I think the Astrologisk Museum in Denmark is perhaps the closest thing to the library vision already in existence, but it focuses mostly on Danish literature from what I've heard. UK residents have good access to astrological source texts of all ages at the British Library, but it is perhaps not the most ideal environment for astrology study because it is so vast and does not have residential study facilities for example.

I'll post some more results by the end of this week anyhow.

Best wishes, and thanks again,

Philip

Firstly to announce the results of the last of the major auction listings previewed back on May 12th in this column:

1. At the Bloomsbury Books auction of June 11th, the original copy of 'Compilatio...de astrorum scientia decem continens tractatus' by Leopoldus (aka King Leopold of Austria), from 1489, sold for ?3400 before 20% buyer's premium, ie ?4080 (about $8000): almost exactly on the auctioneer's pre-hammer mid-estimate. Once again, the earliest-printed astrology books are shown to be far and away the most expensive, probably because the earlier one goes back in time the more competition there comes from non-astrologers who just have a penchant for collecting the earliest printings of books on all manner of subjects!

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 572&rd=1,1

Fortunately, there is a UMI reprint of this particular text (all in the original Latin) available (as I discovered not so long ago) for only a small fraction of that sum - probably around $100.

2. At the Romantic Agony Book and Print Auctions auction on June 15th, the rare Jan van Ghelen book 'Thuys de[r] Fortune[n] en[de] dat Huys der doot. En[de] die thien outheden des menschen. En[de] hoe de mensche ghestelt is van binnen' narrowly outstripped even the auctioneer's high estimate, achieving a final result, presumed inclusive of premium because it's such an uneven figure, of EUR 18450. This places it well up in the price territory occupied by the costliest, rarest, earliest Nostradamus almanachs that sold a few months ago in New York.

3. At the same auction, the 1607 first edition, complete in two parts, of Robert Fludd's 'Utriusque cosmi maioris scilicet et minoris metaphysica, physica atque technica historia in duo volumina secundum Cosmi differentiam diuisa' far outstripped the auctioneer's high estimate, reaching a reported EUR 10455 inclusive of Buyer's Premium.

So that's finally caught up with the results of that batch of auctions announced in advance on May 12th. But there have been other important results coming in too, of which the following are perhaps the most notable:

4. On ebay, a purportedly rare original 1687 copy of 'Harmonie de Propheties Anciennes avec Les Modernes, sur la duree de l'antichriste, et les souffrances de l'eglise' by a Jacques Massard, said to include major references to the quatrains of Nostradamus, sold for a fairly modest (for a book of such vintage and scarcity) $380.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

5. A first edition of Sepharial's 'Hebrew Astrology: The Key to the Study of Prophecy', which sold for very little money to a used bookdealer specialising in books on occult and similar topics when first listed earlier this year, was resold by the same dealer for a much higher price, $80:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

6. As already noted in a separate dedicated strand, a 1647 first edition of William Lilly's 'Christian Astrology' lacking two or three leaves from the index and having only facsimiles of two or three of the prefatory pages and the frontispiece portrait of the author, and also having a detached front cover, but otherwise in pretty good-looking condition for its age, sold for a very reasonable $810:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

7. An 1899 first edition of Richard Hinckley Allen's 'Star Names and their Meanings', in pretty good condition despite some external wear, sold for $110.08, about $40 more than the first edition copy of the same title that I bought, also on ebay, earlier this year; but mine has more wear to one end of the spine, so this seems a fair market result.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

8. Another original copy of John Gadbury's 'Collectio Geniturarum, or Collection of Nativities' (there was one at the recent Edinburgh sale, I seem to remember), also lacking the portrait of the author, but otherwise in quite sound condition to judge by the description, sold for $650 plus buyer's premium:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 737&rd=1,1

[This is a work I'd love to get hold of and study in the future, alongside The Doctrine of Nativities by the same author, but it is low on my list of personal priorities presently.]

9. A professional bookdealer who also advertises on Abebooks listed a 1933 first edition of Howard Leslie Cornell's 'Encyclopedia of Medical Astrology' with an ambitious starting-bid of $179.99. To my surprise, it sold even at this price to a sole bidder. With typically several copies listed on ebay every year, and one or two of those having undercut the $50 mark this Spring, the first edition of this book is not really scarce enough to justify that level of expenditure, although it is probably worth a good $100 or so, and it's certainly a classic in the medical astrology field:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

10. A stated 'tenth edition' (but one of only two in circulation in libraries, apparently) of Eland's 'Tutor to Astrology, or Astrology Made Easie', which earlier this year failed to meet the seller's reserve, achieved a respectable $202.50 on relisting recently. This price would not have been nearly so low if it had been in good condition. Unfortunately it was in very poor condition, dissuading even me from bidding on it despite the lowish bidding level. Not only is the binding extremely faded and in need of thorough repair, but also the pages themselves look very dirty and faded in many places, and the final page is altogether missing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

It's a very rare book for sure, but in that condition I'd rather wait up to a twenty or thirty years if need be for a better copy. There are always many more collectible astrology books available at any one time than any one collector can afford in any case, so exercising a good measure of selectivity where condition is concerned is no bad policy. This said, there must be some collectors who are at a more advanced stage of their collecting and would pay for any copy of certain rare titles that have hitherto eluded them....

11. At a recent Bloomsbury Book Auctions auction in Rome, a copy of Pontano's 'Opera omnia soluta oratione composita' in three volumes, the second volume stated to lack a couple of leaves as far as I can tell from looking at the lot description (which is all in Italian, a language I have yet to learn), sold for a fairly low (for this work) EUR 1100.00 before buyer's premium.

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 774&rd=1,1

The cheapest available set on the used book network is listed at $5500.00

12. At the same Bloomsbury Rome auction, an apparently anonymously penned horoscope and forecast for the city of Genoa on the occasion of the plague of 1656, said to be using the astrological methodology espoused by Campanella, also sold for EUR 1100.00 plus buyer's premium, a little below the auctioneer's hammer price estimate:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 132&rd=1,1

Moving beyond these high-value auction results, in response to Pavla's feedback, I present below some (mostly) lower-value results on ebay that I followed with interest:

13. A copy of the whole year's volume of the journal 'Modern Astrology' for 1930, New Series Volume XXVII, sold for a bargain $21.45:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

Later volumes from after Alan Leo's death of this journal tend to be less collected and therefore cheaper than the earlier ones, but this was still extremely good value.

14. A US buyer who quite often buys rare antiquarian astrology books on ebay, a good home I believe, got away with a virtual steal on a rare first edition of George Wilde's earliest and most serious astrological text, 'A Treatise of Natal Astrology', co-authored with a J. Dodson, at just $31.00.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

Incidentally, I twice politely contacted the US-based seller while this auction was running, requesting permission for a non-US resident to bid on the auction. The seller altogether failed to reply, both during and after the auction. Otherwise, this lot would have sold for considerably more. I'm heavily into collecting 19th century first editions of astrological texts and journals, not least because they tend to be a lot more affordable than 17th century originals; but this is one that has eluded me to date, and continues to do so!

I believe it would be fair to say that sellers who refuse to ship rare astrology books outside the United States (or refuse to accept Paypal from overseas customers, to give another case that sometimes causes problems) are not among my favourite people on ebay.

There are copies listed on Abebooks etc. but only at extremely high prices currently.

15. A copy of Moore's Almanac for 1830 sold to a sole bidder for a bargain ?8.00:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

16. A very good hardcover copy of John Hazelrigg's 'Astrosophic Principles', stated to be the 1917 printing, published by Llewellyn, sold for a bargain $3.99 to a sole bidder:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

17. A very good-looking stated third edition from 1948 of Carey and Perry's 'The Zodiac and the Salts of Salvation' sold to a sole bidder for the starting price of just $12.49:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

18. An original 1922 copy of Vivian Robson's 'A Student's Textbook of Astrology', published by Cecil Palmer, in only fair condition, sold to a sole bidder for the asking price of $9.99:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

19. A fine-looking first edition of Edward Lyndoe's 'Everybody's Book of Fate and Fortune' from 1935 sold to a sole bidder for the opening bid price of just ?0.99: quite a bargain in view of the condition, although the work is not all that scarce:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

20. A set of four of the little hardcover books in the 'Alan Leo's Astrological Manuals' series, namely 'Everybody's Astrology', 'What is a Horoscope and How is it Cast', 'The Horoscope in Detail', and 'Directions and Directing', sold for just $18.00 AU (Australian) combined, another bargain buy:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

21. A lovely-looking copy of the most prolific later Raphael's 'Raphael's Book of Fate' from 1887, probably the first edition in this format (not to be confused with the much earlier 'Royal Book of Fate' published by the first Raphael in the 1830s), sold to a sole bidder for the very reasonable starting bid of ?15.00 (about $29):

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

These tiny books have rarely survived in anything better than seriously bleached and worn-down condition; this example was very unusually fresh, certainly more so than my copy.

22. A first edition from 1917 of the individual degree symbolism guide by Isidore Kozminsky called 'Zodiacal Symbology and its Planetary Power' brought out the bargain hunters. Despite five bids, it sold for only ?2.90:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

23. A very scarce pamphlet by Wynn (here apparently writing under his real name of Sidney Bennett) on the Decans in astrology, from his 'Astrology Student's Notebook' series, all titles in which appear to be very scarce, sold to a sole bidder for a bargain $7.99:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

(I was very tempted to bid on this but am having to economise and prioritise on a narrow range of greatest wants lately!)

24. A letter by an Adam Clarke (supposedly of interest to Methodists, about whom I know almost nothing) that has been extracted from a magazine from the 1790s, and which addresses the subject of judicial astrology, sold for $10.50:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

25. A rather rare biography of Cardano from 1983, by a Markus Fierz, sold for $33.50:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

This looks like one to mentally shortlist for the future!

26. A very scarce small book on astrometeorology titled simply ('Astrometeorologie') by a French author called J. Lippens, from 1977, sold unopposed to a sole bidder from Spain who is quite a regular collector of scarce 20th century astrological materials on ebay, for a bargain EUR 1.99.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

(Another one I somewhat regret not bidding on!)

27. A 1929 hardcover edition of Alan Leo's 'Dictionary of Astrology' sold to a sole bidder for just $8.99:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

28. A rare early French history of astrology by a Vanki, 'Histoire de l'Astrologie', published in 1906, and in its original red softcover binding, and stated to have a reglued back but otherwise to be in good condition, sold to a very fortunate sole bidder for just one Euro:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

I don't have a copy of this so can't comment on its contents, but it is sure to be interesting!

29. A damp and old set of ten out of a total run of twenty-five volumes of a very rare occult journal from the early 1900s called 'The Word' edited by H. W. Percival sold for a respectable $480.00.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

The contents are said to have included astrology.

30. Two separate lots of first edition sets of pamphlets from Armand Barbault's 'Bases naturelles de l'astrologie' series, published from 1947 to 1949 sold for EUR 9,50 per set, truly a bargain for such a scarce publication by one of the luminaries of 20th century French astrology who was the elder brother, I believe, of Andre Barbault.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... &rd=1&rd=1

Each set offered contained about six pamphlets, without overlap between sets. I was tempted to bid on these but found myself constrained by financial needs from doing so! I did some research online to discover that the early pamphlets in the series were reprinted in a single volume more recently, but not the later ones.

Well, that's my recent selection of the 'pittance' results caught up with. I hope there were some interesting scarcities in there to research among the more common but still important titles!

Philip

It seems to be the off-season for the major auction houses at this time of the year, so the only major rare astrology book results have come in through ebay in the past month and a bit. But it's time to post an update on the most significant of those at least, as my ebay watch-list is now almost completely filled with completed listings!

1. An incomplete copy of the compiled works of George Wharton from 1683, lacking some earlier parts, sold for $455.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=019

2. A rather handsome-looking 1770 edition of Culpeper's 'The English Physician Enlarged' fetched $149:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=005

3. A copy of 'De L'astrologie Judiciaire: entretien curieux' by Monsieur Bordelon, P.P. from 1689 sold for 111 Euros:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=010

4. A copy, apparently from 1878, of a curious small popular publication credited to Zadkiel called 'The Perfect Fortune Teller, or Zadkiel's Mirror of Fate' sold for just $29.98:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=010

5. A woefully incomplete 1647 first edition of Lilly's 'Christian Astrology' astonishingly sold to a sole bidder for the start-price of $1000. With so many lacking pages, this copy is arguably almost worthless. It would cost a fortune to restore the hundreds of missing pages to it even in facsimile. Whoever bought this sadly failed to research prices properly:

http://cgi.liveauctions.ebay.com/ws/eBa ... 32291&rd=1

6. An 1875 second edition of Francis Barrett's 'The Magus' with a well-worn but still serviceable-looking binding sold for $1137, considerably less than the two high-reserve finely-rebound copies that sold last Autumn for $1800 and $2700:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=011

7. A complete but rather poorly bound original copy of the definitive 1652 second edition of Argoli's 'De Diebus Criticis' sold for a relative bargain price, presumably in view of the condition, just $355:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=008

8. An original 1896 first edition of Thomas Burgoyne's 'Celestial Dynamics' sold for $36.75:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=007

9. A complete original copy of the Sibly edition of Culpeper's Herbal and English Physician Enlarged, with cracked spine but boards still holding, sold for $241.39:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

10. A copy of an early almanac (from 1790) including Uranus (noted as 'The Georgian Planet) called 'The Nautical Almanac and Astronomical Ephemeris for 1794' sold for $260:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=017

11. Another ring-bound 1929 first edition of Manly Palmer Hall's 'Astrological Keywords' sold for $30.99:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=016

12. A 1646 Latin edition of Ptolemy's 'Tetrabiblos', titled 'De praedictionibus astronomicis, cui titulum fecerunt Quadripartitum', in its original vellum binding, sold for $900.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=014

This is well over a century later than the first Latin edition, which is much more valuable.

13. A stated 1790 edition of Ebeneezer Sibly's 'Complete Illustration of the Celestial Science of Astrology', in two-volume format, and seemingly in excellent binding condition, sold for a bargain ?206.00:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=006

14. An 1817 copy of the same, in much more worn binding with serious lacks to the spine, but in a single volume, still managed to reach three quarters of the price of the above, at $305:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=005

15. A copy of the out-of-print and in-demand 'Astrology Really Works' credited to the Magi Society and published in 1995, although the earliest copies were credited to Alexander Ming, sold for $69.51:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=003

16. A very uncommon book called 'All Past Time: by Astronomical Measurements and the Zodiac', written by a J.B. Dimbleby, premier chronologist to the British Chronological and Astronomical Association, a purported ninth edition from 1897 (although no copies of any edition can be found at fixed price on the used book networks, so either each edition was printed in an absolutely miniscule run or the claim was a fallacious one), and stated to contain a classification of historical eclipses, apparently with mundane astrological connections being drawn, sold for $113.40. One I somewhat regret not bidding on!

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

17. A very large grouping of 37 early 20th century astrological and in some cases numerological books sold for $425. Since many scarce and quite valuable books were included, this was very reasonable even as a wholesale price. The individual components collectively far exceed $1000 in value at even the roughest estimate:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

18. Another 1898 first edition of Broughton's 'Elements of Astrology', this one custom-rebound in purple cloth with gilt detail for a former owner, the binding being an attractive one although far removed from the authentic original red cloth cover, sold for $67.11, about $24 less than the copy I bought in its original cover at another auction a few months back:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

19. A fairly random-seeming selection of three mid-era and three late-era volumes of Modern Astrology magazine, the three last being from successive years and in fine condition, but the earlier three being very random and in indifferent condition, sold for $152.50, a very reasonable price indeed for these rare volumes:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

20. Another copy of George Wilde's 'A Treatise of Natal Astrology' was listed, this one open to international bidders. It sold for $151.71, proving my point that the failure of the lister of the previous copy mentioned in a recent posting to this strand to allow international bids had seriously deflated its value. (This time, I bid, but was not the highest bidder!)

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

21. A rare set of the three successive early complete years in separate hardcover volumes of the US 'National Astrological Journal', from 1933 to 1935, sold for $172.48:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

NB: In correction to my original assertion at the time of posting, these were not the first three years of the journal, but rather years 5, 6 and 7, since it began in 1929.

22. An attractively bound copy of the first edition from 1814 of John Cooper's translation of Placido de Titi's 'Primum Mobile' sold for $209.40:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

This remains a much more common edition than the earlier translation, originally in two separate volumes, by Manoah Sibly in 1789, which is much more valuable commensurate with its greater antiquity and scarcity. Regular readers may recall my earlier observation that Cooper's translation, though apparently feted by Gardner, James Holden and other sources as having been superior to that of Sibly, was in fact for the most part a wholesale copy, with just a few amendments made here and there to mark it out.

23. A very attractively bound copy from 1822 of 'William Lilly's History of His Life and Times' sold for $209.49, about $100 less than the very roughly bound copy of the much earlier 1721 second edition I purchased on ebay last Autumn shortly before this strand began. The 1822 edition also seems to have pictures that were lacking in the 1721 one, but the market for collecting nearly always favours early editions, and it is the 1715 and 1721 first and second editions that take priority where this work is concerned, even though even they were both posthumously published decades after Lilly penned them.

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

24. A fine signed first edition of 'Cheiro's Memoirs' from 1918 sold for $87.98:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

25. A complete set of bound copies of the four-year-run of a scarce turn-of-the-century (1899-1903, to be precise) astrological and occult journal called 'Star of the Magi', edited by an N.E. Wood, sold for $300:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=018

This does not appear in Gardner's 'Bibliotheca Astrologica' but perhaps was put in another of his works because of the broader scope of its contents? Although stated to be a limited edition of just 100 bound sets, it is clear from international library records that several of these sets have survived in libraries, more than of some other astrological journals that have not been thus numbered, but it's scarce all the same.

26. A bound copy (though with detached front cover and plenty of wear generally) of the early astrological periodical from 1794 'The Astrologer's Magazine and Philosophical Miscellany' sold for $208.50:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... :IT&ih=020

This has also survived in several library holdings, but is nonetheless desirable to collectors as a very early example of an astrological journal.

There are many more minor or at least lower-priced results to add later, but that's all I'll have time for this evening, and I may not have time to put in the bold and italic that I usually do until a later edit! Sorry it was a bit rushed.

Philip