Keipomantia: or, The art of divining by the lines and signatures engraven in the hand of man, by the hand of nature, theorically, practically. Wherein you have the secret concordance, and harmony betwixt it, and astrology, made evident in 19. genitures. Together with a learned philosophicall discourse of the soule of the world, and the universall spirit thereof. A matchlesse piece. Written originally in Latine by Io: Rothmanne, D. in Phisique, and now faithfully Englished, by Geo: Wharton Esq.

ROTHMANN, Johann.

Published by Printed by J.G. for Nathaniel Brooke, at the Angell in Corne-Hill. 1652, 1652

Front., illus., [16], 176, 161-167, [1]p. 8vo Sm. internal hole affecting 2 leaves (pp107-110) & 4 words. Contemp. sheep, double ruled blind tooling; corners bumped, hinges sl. rubbed, faint sign of later label removed from spine. Armorial bookplate of Mark Dineley. A good copy in its original binding. ESTC R210441, recorded as Keiromantia, 4 copies only in the British Isles, 6 in North America. Johann Rothmann was a German astrologer and author, famed for combining the arts of astrology and chiromancy. He believed that the 'mounts' of the hands coincided with planets, and that if one knew a person's birth date, and could see the lines of their hands, they could cast an accurate horoscope. The man who translated Rothmann's work - George Wharton, 1617-1681 - was the son of a blacksmith who went on to become a noted astrologer, poet, and journalist. Wharton was a loyal Royalist, and after his troop was defeated by the Parliamentary army in 1643, he attended to Charles I at Oxford; at this time he was given a paymaster position and became friends with antiquary, alchemist and book collector Elias Ashmole. From 1647 he began writing for and editing the Royalist newsbook Mercurius Elencticus, which attacked the Parliamentarians. He was imprisoned for his writing in 1649, but was released after the intervention of Ashmole and his former Parliamentarian adversary William Lilly - whom he had probably first met at the Society of Astrologers of Gresham College in 1647. Possibly as thanks for helping him out of prison, Wharton dedicated his translation of Rothmann 'to the truly noble and universally learned (my much honoured friend) Elias Ashmole'. Seller Inventory # 62215

Bibliographic Details

Title: Keipomantia: or, The art of divining by the ...
Publisher: Printed by J.G. for Nathaniel Brooke, at the Angell in Corne-Hill. 1652
Publication Date: 1652