122

William Lilly (1602-1681)

A Prophecy of the White King: and Dreadfull Dead-man Explaned.

London: Printed by G[eorge] M[iller] to be sold by John Sherley & Thomas Underhill, 1644.
First edition, quarto; bound in later full parchment over boards, endleaves detached; rare at auction the last copy recorded by RBH sold in 1979; 6 3/4 x 5 1/4 in.

Wing L-2240; ESTC R4060.

Lillly's status as court astrologer would require a book to explain and contextualize. The old prophecy of the white king is revived here in reference to Charles I. Prognosticating astrology in this period, as Ann Geneva writes in Astrology and the 17th-century Mind, is complicated. "Astrology in 17th century England was not a science. It was not a religion. It was not magic. Nor was it astronomy, mathematics, Puritanism, Neo-Platonism, psychology, meteorology, alchemy or witchcraft. [...] [It] used some of these as tools; it held tenets common with others, [...] but it was only itself: a unique and divinatory prognostic art embodying centuries of accredited methodology and tradition."

In this particular work, Lilly singles out an astronomical prediction of Kepler, which he calls "the fiery Trygon" of 1603. Between December 16th and 18th, 1603 Jupiter would be in conjunction with Saturn in Sagittarius, one point of the Fiery Trigon. In autumn of the following year, with Jupiter and Saturn still in place, Mars would arrive in conjunction with Saturn [September 26th] and then Jupiter [October 9th]. All of these convergences were expected to presage some great event(s) in prophecy circles. Kepler was watching, along with many others. "Some watched to correct their ephemerides, some, for the sake of pleasure, some, because of the rarity of the occasion, some, to verify their predictions, and others, indeed, to see if there would be a comet, as had been expressly predicted by the astrology of the Arabs." (Quoted from Kepler's Opera Omnia, vol. II, page 617.)

  • Notes: Ex libris Professor, Astronomer, Historian & Bibliophile Owen Gingerich.
  • Condition: A-D4.

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