Eland's Tutor to Astrology: or, Astrology made Easie; Being a Plain Introduction to that Art, whereby the meanest Capacity may learn to Erect a Figure, and to give Judgment on any Question or Nativity what soever. The Tenth Edition. Corrected from its former Errors, and Enlarged: With several Tables and Examples, shewing thereby how to find out the true Time of a Nativity, and to discover the most remarkable Passages that shall happen from the beginning to the end of a Person's Life. So completely furnished, that all the Operations of a Nativity may be perform'd by this little Compendium only, without the help of other Authors. By Geo. Parker, Philomath.
London: G. Conyers, J. Sprint & F. Ballard, 1704. Tenth edition. Hardcover. 12mo. (viii])+ 268pp. Late nineteenth century custom cloth binding (for F. G. Irwin), with gilt lettering & gilt swastika device on spine . B/w tables & diagrams. First published in anonymously in 1657 under the title "A Tutor to Astrology," Eland's book became a popular introduction to astrology in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, although copies of any early edition are now genuinely rare. This is a stated "tenth edition" with the Preface to the Reader written for this edition by George Parker, but it seems likely that the number of "editions" may have been overstated to inflate the perceived popularity of the book, Gardner lists only two (this and one from 1694) and OCLC identifies a total of four different printings. This copy from the library of Major F. G. Irwin (1828-1892), an enthusiastic book collector and hermeticist, friend of Frederick Hockley, and member of the Societas Rosicruciana in Anglia, The Society of Eight, the Fratres Lucis and the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn. Although it does not have his bookplate it is in the distinctive cloth binding with gilt-stamped reverse swastika on the spine that Irwin commissioned for books of his that needed to be rebound, and there is no doubt that it is from his library. Binding clean and tight, inner front hinge cracked but holding firm. An elaborate early eighteenth century owner's name (Samuel Waind) and ownership statement on verso of title-page, some pages wrinkled & discolored (but without affecting legibility of text), fore-edge of pp. 265 / 266 chipped with the loss of a few letters, otherwise a solid, complete Good+ copy. Scarce. Item #42245
Price: $650.00