A COLLECTION OF ANCIENT AND MODERN PROPHECIES CONCERNING THESE PRESENT TIMES, WITH MODEST OBSERVATIONS THEREON. THE NATIVITIES OF THE EARL OF STRAFFORD, AND WILLIAM LAUD, LATE ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY, HIS MAJESTIES GREAT FAVORITES; ASTROLOGICAL JUDGEMENTS UPON THEIR SCHEMES; AND THE SPEECH INTENDED BY THE EARL OF STRAFFORD TO HAVE BEEN SPOKEN AT DEATH.
Book Details + Condition: Printed for John Partridge and Humphries Blunden (London). First Edition, 1645. Original pamphlet has been bound in soft covers. 54 pages, with b&w in-text illustrations. Lilly's very scarce, first edition treatise on past, present and future divination. Due to the tragedies of the Great Plague and the English Civil War, the work sparked a renewed interest in divination, prophecy and astrology - notably, attracting the attention of many members of Parliament and Sir Oliver Cromwell. For more information on William Lilly, please see below. Firm binding; toning to original pages; small inked notation to bottom of title page, which is slightly faded and discolored; small inked scribbles to reverse of last page; small section of one sentence underlined in "To the Reader".
William Lilly (1602-1681) was perhaps England’s most famous and influential seventeenth century astrologer. He is described as having been a genius at something "that modern mainstream opinion has since decided cannot be done at all" having developed his stature as the most important astrologer in England through his social and political connections as well as going on to have an indelible impact on the future course of Western astrological tradition." [Wikipedia]
