Details + Condition: Original hand-colored occult engraving from the 1825 first edition (thus), of THE ASTROLOGER OF THE 19th CENTURY by Raphael (pseudonym for Robert Cross Smith). Scarce. This in-text illustration is titled "A Curious Old Astrologer, and His Singular Predictions". It depicts a religious figure (cardinal?) accompanied by a skeleton - very much a memento mori scene. There is text to the bottom of the page, which continues to the reverse (the text on the reverse refers to another section of the book).
Total page measures: 5.25" x 8.75"; engraving measures approximately 2.5" x 2". Please see our other listings for additional occult engravings from the same book. Age toning / darkening present, and page edges are torn.
Robert Cross Smith (1795-1832) was an astrologer, magician, and geomancer. Smith founded the periodical, The Straggling Astrologer in 1824, but failed to receive enough subscribers and the periodical had to be discontinued after a few issues. He collected the issues of the failed periodical in a volume entitled The Astrologer Of The Nineteenth Century in the same year. These writings dealt with topics as varied as alchemy, charms, the virtues of herbs and stones, invoking spirits into crystals, evoking demons, evoking spirits into circles, necromancy, geomancy, palmistry, physiognomy, and more.
