A handsome second edition of this popular Hausbuch of divination, printed in red and black, a compendium of occult sciences dressed in the respectable garb of academic authority. Drawing in part on the chiromantic writings of the Marburg professor Rudolph Goclenius (1572–1621), this anonymously published text presents chiromancy, physiognomy, geomancy, and oneiromancy not as vulgar superstition but as systematic, even "scientific" inquiry into the hidden correspondences between body, mind, and fate. Grässe lists the work under Schalitz (p. 107).
The work is richly illustrated throughout with woodcuts: detailed diagrams of the hand for palmistic analysis, and a remarkable series of naïve physiognomic portraits that read moral character in the topography of the nose and face: an early attempt to map the soul's inscription on the flesh. Further sections treat geomancy and the Punctir-Kunst (divination by dots), and the volume concludes with a separately paginated Traum-Buch (Dream Book).
A telling detail of use: while chiromancy dominates the title page, the contemporary spine label identifies the volume simply as a "Traum Buch," quietly revealing what the original owner actually reached for it to consult. Small penciled owner's monogram to front pastedown (partially legible, in circle).
Die Astronomischen Lehrsätzen nach lehrende Chiromantie, benebenst der Geomantie und Physiognomie... Auch am Ende mit einem Traum-Buch und einer Anweisung zu Punctiren versehen. [Chiromancy taught according to Astronomical theorems, alongside Geomancy and Physiognomy... provided at the end with a Dream-Book and instructions on Puncturing]. Zweyte Auflage. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Franz Christian Mumme, 1746. Format: Octavo (175 × 115 mm). [8], 336, 24 pp. Signatures: )(⁸, A–X⁸, a⁸, b⁴. Contemporary brown calf, spine with raised bands and red morocco label lettered "TRAUM BUCH." Contemporary calf showing wear to corners and edges; spine ends rubbed with minor worming present. Text block slightly browned and foxed, consistent with German paper of the period; minor worm tracking to endpapers. A solid, honest copy of a popular ephemeral text.
A handsome second edition of this popular Hausbuch of divination, printed in red and black, a compendium of occult sciences dressed in the respectable garb of academic authority. Drawing in part on the chiromantic writings of the Marburg professor Rudolph Goclenius (1572–1621), this anonymously published text presents chiromancy, physiognomy, geomancy, and oneiromancy not as vulgar superstition but as systematic, even "scientific" inquiry into the hidden correspondences between body, mind, and fate. Grässe lists the work under Schalitz (p. 107).
The work is richly illustrated throughout with woodcuts: detailed diagrams of the hand for palmistic analysis, and a remarkable series of naïve physiognomic portraits that read moral character in the topography of the nose and face: an early attempt to map the soul's inscription on the flesh. Further sections treat geomancy and the Punctir-Kunst (divination by dots), and the volume concludes with a separately paginated Traum-Buch (Dream Book).
A telling detail of use: while chiromancy dominates the title page, the contemporary spine label identifies the volume simply as a "Traum Buch," quietly revealing what the original owner actually reached for it to consult. Small penciled owner's monogram to front pastedown (partially legible, in circle).
Die Astronomischen Lehrsätzen nach lehrende Chiromantie, benebenst der Geomantie und Physiognomie... Auch am Ende mit einem Traum-Buch und einer Anweisung zu Punctiren versehen. [Chiromancy taught according to Astronomical theorems, alongside Geomancy and Physiognomy... provided at the end with a Dream-Book and instructions on Puncturing]. Zweyte Auflage. Frankfurt and Leipzig: Franz Christian Mumme, 1746. Format: Octavo (175 × 115 mm). [8], 336, 24 pp. Signatures: )(⁸, A–X⁸, a⁸, b⁴. Contemporary brown calf, spine with raised bands and red morocco label lettered "TRAUM BUCH." Contemporary calf showing wear to corners and edges; spine ends rubbed with minor worming present. Text block slightly browned and foxed, consistent with German paper of the period; minor worm tracking to endpapers. A solid, honest copy of a popular ephemeral text.
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