Collection ID: 0002 | Metadata type: TEI | TEI XML | Data

Title

Perpetual card

Other related names

• Lea, Henry Charles, 1825-1909, former owner
• Buel, Richard H. b. 1842, former owner

Call number

Ms. Codex 1196
(Philadelphia, University of Pennsylvania, Rare Book & Manuscript Library)

Alternate identifiers

• bibid: 4320780
• http://hdl.library.upenn.edu/1017/d/medren/4320780

Publisher

The University of Pennsylvania Libraries

Language

Latin, some English (p. i-vi, 195-200), with some French (p. 58-63), Italian (p. 28, 57), and Greek and Hebrew characters (throughout p. 70-175)

Origin

Date

1688

Place

London

Summary

A perpetual card (an infinite calendar), with explanation on how to read it, followed by various predictions using a collection of astrological, numerological, divinatory, and magical techniques. These techniques are described through text, tables, and charts. Examples of prediction-types in the Vaticinia varia include childbirth, matrimony, disputes, and traveling. The majority of these predictions involve a form of numerology using names and dates. The majority of the book after the Vaticinia varia deals with complex charts, diagrams, and symbols for what appears to be divination through numerology and astrology. Since explanations of how to read and interpret such charts end after the Vaticinia varia, it seems that a previous knowledge of the subject is assumed in order to comprehend the majority of this book.

Notes

• Ms. codex.
   
• Title from incipit.
   

Extent

109 leaves : 150 x 88 mm. bound to 150 x 100 mm

Foliation

Paper, i (18th-century[?] paper) + 109 + i (18th-century[?] paper) leaves; [xii], 1-95, [i], 95-193, [194-216]; contemporary pagination in ink, modern pagination in pencil, upper outer corners.

Support

Paper

Binding

Contemporary gilt calf, rebacked (Zacour-Hirsch), with two metal clasps on upper cover.

Decoration

Sun and phoenix in separate circles (p. 70); Adam and Eve in the garden of Eden (p. 74); horned Moses with ten commandments (p. 75); two cherubs holding the ark of the covenant (p. 75); God the father within star of David within circle (p. 79); Jesus with cross and pennant within pentagram (p. 81); Holy Spirit as bird with faint six-pointed star behind (p. 83); various stars with text within circles (p. 79-4); sun and scrolls, with zodiac figures (p. 87); two hands with zodiacal symbols, one holding a stick, within circles (p. 93); bull-headed man forming a triangle with outstretched arms, covered in zodiacal symbols (p. 94); figure of a man with zodiacal symbols forming a pentacle within a circle (p. 94); Saturn wearing a crown and cape, holding a flag, riding a crowned gryphon (p. 106); crowned Jupiter holding three arrows, riding a winged stag (p. 109); Mars in battle gear in front of a lion (p. 112); the sun as a man with a sun for a head in a chariot carried by two lions (p. 115); Venus holding a heart with a small winged cupid by her side (p. 118); Mercury wearing petasus and talaria, holding caduceus and open book (p. 121); the moon as a woman with a crescent on her forehead, on a swimming bull, holding a torch (p. 124); Saturn, Jupiter, Mars, Sol, Venus, Mercury, and Luna as gods in circles (p. 127-135); the figures of the zodiac in respective spheres and accompanying magic symbols (p. 160-171); sator square (f. 217).

Script

Written in a variety of cursive hands.

Provenance

• Formerly owned by Henry Charles Lea (bookplate, inside lower cover and inscription dated 1888, f. i verso).
   
• Formerly owned by Richard H. Buel (bookplate, inside upper cover).
   

Subjects topical

• Numerology--Early works to 1800
• Divination--Early works to 1800
• Astrology--Early works to 1800
• Magic--Early works to 1800
• Prophecies--Early works to 1800

Genres

• Codices
• Manuals (instructional materials)
• Manuscripts, Latin--17th century
• Manuscripts, European

Licenses

• Text

  This description is ©2017 University of Pennsylvania Libraries. It is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License version 4.0 (CC-BY-4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode. For a description of the terms of use see the Creative Commons Deed https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

• Text

  All referenced images and their content are free of known copyright restrictions and in the public domain. See the Creative Commons Public Domain Mark page for usage details, http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/.

  URL

  http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

Table of contents

• 1 — Vaticinia varia, p. 1
• 56 — Tables of dominant planets, signs, kabbalistic predictions, and some numerology, p. 56
• 69 — Calendarium, p. 69

Decorations

• Inside front cover — Bookplate, Inside front cover
• 1 — Diagram, p. 1
• 3 — Diagram, p. 3
• 5 — Diagram, p. 5
• 7 — Diagram, p. 7
• 8 — Diagram, p. 8
• 9 — Diagram, p. 9
• 11 — Diagram, p. 11
• 13 — Diagram, p. 13
• 15 — Diagram, p. 15
• 16 — Diagram, p. 16
• 17 — Diagram, p. 17
• 19 — Diagram, p. 19
• 21 — Diagram, p. 21
• 22 — Diagram, p. 22
• 29 — Diagram, p. 29
• 30 — Diagram, p. 30
• 35 — Diagram, p. 35
• 37 — Diagram, p. 37
• 39 — Diagram, p. 39
• 41 — Diagram, p. 41
• 42 — Diagram, p. 42
• 43 — Diagram, p. 43
• 44 — Diagram, p. 44
• 45 — Diagram, p. 45
• 46 — Diagram, p. 46
• 47 — Diagram, p. 47
• 48 — Diagram, p. 48
• 49 — Diagram, p. 49
• 50 — Diagram, p. 50
• 51 — Diagram, p. 51
• 53 — Diagram, p. 53
• 54 — Diagram, p. 54
• 56 — Table, p. 56
• 57 — Table, p. 57
• 58 — Table, p. 58
• 59 — Table, p. 59
• 64 — Table, p. 64
• 65 — Table, p. 65
• 66 — Table, p. 66
• 67 — Table, p. 67
• 68 — Table, p. 68
• 69 — Drawing, p. 69
• 70 — Drawing, p. 70
• 71 — Drawing, p. 71
• 72 — Table, p. 72
• 73 — Drawing, p. 73
• 74 — Drawing, p. 74
• 75 — Drawing, p. 75
• 76 — Table, p. 76
• 77 — Table, p. 77
• 78 — Drawing, p. 78
• 79 — Drawing, p. 79
• 80 — Drawing, p. 80
• 81 — Drawing, p. 81
• 82 — Drawing, p. 82
• 83 — Drawing, p. 83
• 84 — Drawing, p. 84
• 85 — Table, p. 85
• 86 — Drawing, p. 86
• 87 — Drawing, p. 87
• 88 — Table, p. 88
• 89 — Table, p. 89
• 90 — Table, p. 90
• 91 — Table, p. 91
• 92 — Drawing, p. 92
• 93 — Drawing, p. 93
• 94 — Drawing, p. 94
• 95 — Table, p. 95
• 96 — Table, p. 96
• Inside back cover — Bookplate, Inside back cover