Manuscript of "The Extract or Tables of Rotalo, 1500".

Frederick Hockley's manuscript of the 16th-century fortune-telling Rotalo, which provides the equation to predict the future winning lottery numbers through diagrams, mathematics, and astronomical calculations. The manuscript also contains Hockley's pencilled calculations and a cabalistic alphabet at the rear. Hockley (1808-1885) was a significant collector of occult works and manuscripts. In 1853, he established the Croydon Circle, the first spiritualist organization in London. The group used crystals to invoke spirits, led by the "Crowned Angel of the Seventh Sphere". Hockley was particularly associated with Rosicrucianism, a spiritual movement that arose in Europe in the early 17th-century and which promised a universal reformation of mankind. The Rosicrucians drew on earlier esoteric movements, such as Hermeticism, Christian mysticism, and alchemy, seeking to combine them with modern science. The original Rotalo is attributed to Ansaloni Sebastiano (1523-1599) who wrote under the pseudonym of his assistant Rutilio Benincasa. The manuscript is held in the Vatican Library where it was strictly forbidden on pain of death to copy the text. Despite this extreme measure, a monk purportedly succeeded by visiting the manuscript daily and memorising its contents. Hockley transcribed his copy from that of the physician and writer Dr Ebenezer Sibly (1751-1799), now held at the Wellcome Institute. Sibly's copy was acquired after his death by the antiquarian bookseller John Denley, from whom Hockley copied several occult texts while working with him. Other than the original manuscript and Sibly's copy, we presume to know of three further copies of the Rotalo, formerly belonging to the anonymous intrepid monk, Giuseppe Balsamo (1743–1795), and Charles Rainsford (1728–1809) respectively. Hockley's library and his manuscripts on crystals, alchemy, divination, ceremonial magic, and Rosicrucianism were acquired after his death by occult publisher George Redway, "and ultimately dispersed by way of a catalogue prepared by his young and underpaid assistant, Arthur Machen" (Gilbert, p. 26). His copy of the Rotalo was acquired by F. G. Irwin (1828-1892), a collector of Masonic and occult literature. Following Irwin's death, the manuscript appeared as lot 45 in the 1895 Puttick & Simpson sale catalogue of his library. R. A. Gilbert, "Secret Writing: The Magical Manuscripts of Frederick Hockley", John Hamill (ed.), The Rosicrucian Seer: Magical Writings of Frederick Hockley, 1986. Small quarto (210 x 176 mm). Comprising pp. 182, hand written on pp. 124 in black ink, mostly within red rule border, pp. 79 paginated by hand. Mid 19th-century black half calf, red morocco label, spine decorated with gilt and blind tooling, floral blind roll to covers, blue cloth sides, marble endpapers and edges. Loss to spine ends and corners, joints sometime repaired with partial splits at ends, marks and rubbing to cloth, front inner hinge cracked, board holding, occasional spot of foxing. A very good copy.…