The Complete Book of Fortune.

Author: Anonymous (compiled work). Title: The Complete Book of Fortune. Publisher: London: Associated Newspapers Ltd., Northcliffe House, E.C.4, [circa 1935]. Edition: Early edition. Language: English. Pages: 640 pages. Size: 8 x 6 inches. Binding: Very good publisher’s original green pictorial cloth binding, the upper cover and spine strikingly decorated in black, green and cream with an Art Deco-style design incorporating a crystal ball, stars, an owl, playing cards and a palm-reading hand; plain green rear board. Light rubbing and minor wear to the extremities, with a few small marks consistent with age, as shown. Overall, a particularly attractive and well-preserved example of this wonderfully evocative binding. Protected in a removable mylar cover. Content: Very good content, generally bright, tight and clean, with gentle age toning, occasional light foxing and a few scattered spots and marks, as shown. Includes the Birthday Calendar at the end. Illustrations: Profusely illustrated throughout with tarot cards, diagrams of playing-card arrangements, divination charts, magic squares, talismans and amulets, astrological and zodiacal figures, and numerous other illustrations relating to the occult sciences. **** The book: A fascinating and remarkably comprehensive popular compendium devoted to fortune-telling, divination and the occult sciences. The Complete Book of Fortune brings together an extraordinary range of practices intended to reveal character, destiny, and the secrets of the past, present and future. Its subjects include fortune-telling by playing cards, dice and dominoes, tea-leaf reading, crystal-gazing, dreams, Napoleon’s Book of Fate, numerology, physiognomy, phrenology, palmistry, graphology, oracles, omens and popular superstitions. Further sections explore talismans and amulets, the meanings of names, precious stones, the symbolic language of flowers and colours, and astrology. Particularly appealing are the numerous period illustrations, including the Major Arcana of the Tarot, elaborate card layouts such as the Temple of Fortune and the Great Figure of Destiny, Arabian magic squares, traditional talismans, and a zodiacal wheel. Both an entertaining practical handbook and a wonderful reflection of the early twentieth-century fascination with fortune-telling and esoteric knowledge, the volume is especially desirable in its distinctive original pictorial binding.…