Astrolearn Vintage Astrology CD 17:
Dr. William Joseph Simmonite
Contents of CD 17:
This particular CD contains the scans of nine original antiquarian volumes from Astrolearn’s private collection, as detailed below. NB: The abraded print at the top of p. 208 of “The Scientific and Literary Messenger” has been clarified in typing on a separate page included in the file for this volume.
Books:
- Simmonite, William Joseph ‘The Astro-Philosopher and Meteorologist’, Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., undated[1]. Part of a half-leather volume with cloth-covered boards. [vi] + [2 pages of advertisements] + 220 + [4 plates] + [pp. 221-240]
- Simmonite, William Joseph ‘The Celestial Philosopher: or, the Complete Arcana of Astral Philosophy, being Genethliology Simplified, or the Doctrine of Nativities’, Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., Stationers’-Hall Court, London, undated[2]. Two copies. Copy A: cloth. Copy B: part of a half-leather volume with cloth-covered boards. Both copies: [5] + [pp. iv-vi] + [3] + 247 + [1 page of advertisements]
- Simmonite, William Joseph ‘Mathematical and Astronomical Tables, for the use of Students of Astro Mathematics, for the Practical Astronomers, Astrologers, and Astro-Meteorologists; with an Introduction, Containing an Explanation and Use of the Tables’, Simpkin, Marshall, & Co., Stationers’ Hall Court, London, undated[3]. Bound with ‘1846: W. J. Simmonite’s Astronomical Ephemeris and Astro-Phenomena, with an Aspectarian, Comprising the Latitudes, Longitudes, and Declinations of the Sun, Moon, and Planets. 1846’ (same publication details as the above). Bound with ‘1847: W. J. Simmonite’s Astronomical Ephemeris, Being a Yearly Companion to the Arcana of Prognostic Astronomy: Containing the Longitudes, Latitudes, and Declinations, of the Sun, Moon, and Planets’ Printed by G. Thorpe, Market-Place, Thorne. Two copies. Copy A: cloth. Copy B: part of a half-leather volume with cloth-covered boards. xii + [96] + [1 leaf] + [18] + [16]
- Simmonite, Dr. W. J. ‘The Prognostic Astronomer; or, Horary Astrology: Containing an Improved Method of Solving the Thousand Inquiries Relative to Futurity’ Printed and Published by Israel Holdsworth, Central Market, Leeds, 1851. Cloth. [3] + [pp. iv-xviii] + 196pp
- Simmonite, W. J., Dr. ‘Prognostications on Revolutions; or, Solar Figures: Showing the Daily Events Likely to Occur Throughout the Natal Year of Any Person’s Horoscope’ Simpkin, Marshall, and Co., Stationers’ Hall Court, London / Israel Holdsworth, Central Market, Leeds, undated[4]. Paper covers (front cover chipped, detached; rear cover missing). Bound by staples through inner margins. 76pp + [4 pages of advertisements] (final leaf of advertisements detached)
- [Simmonite, W. J.]; ed. Story, John ‘The Daily Guide, with Simmonite’s Prognostications on Revolutions, or Solar Figures, Showing the Daily Events Likely to Occur Throughout the Natal Year of Any Person’s Horoscope: Also the Aproximate Longitudes of the Planets’ Places from 1889 to 1900, With Additions and Emendations’ New Edition – Foulsham and Co., 4, Pilgrim Street, Ludgate Hill, London, 1891. Cloth. 56pp
- Simmonite, W. J. ‘Medical Botany, or Herbal Guide to Health, Explaining the Natural Pathology of Disease, with Hundreds of Herbal Recipes, Thus Making Every Man His Own Physician’ Revised and Modernized Edition – W. Foulsham & Co. Ltd, 61, Fleet Street, London E. C., 1917. Cloth. viii + [pp. 9-127] + [1 page of advertisements]
Magazine and Almanac:
‘The Scientific and Literary Messenger’
Full title:
- The Scientific and Literary Messenger. Devoted to Astro-Meteorology, Astronomy, Predictory Astronomy, Astrology, Geology, Botany, Chemistry, and Phisical Sciences (overall vol. title)
Editor: Simmonite, W. J., Ph. Mat. M. M. S.[5] (all issues)
Publication credits:
- Simpkin & Marshall, Stationers’ Hall Court[6], London, undated but internal references suggest 1843[7]
Holdings:
- Vol. I No. 1, January 1842. 24pp
- [February 1842]. [pp. 25-48]
- [March 1842]. [pp. 49-72]
- [April 1842]. [pp. 73-96]
- [Date unclear]. [pp. 97-120]
- [July 1842]. [pp. 121-144]
- [Date unclear]. [pp. 145-170 or 172 or 178]
- [After November 1842[8]]. [pp. 171 or 173 or 179 to 208]
Binding format and presentation notes:
- All issues bound together, as reissued by publisher, without original issue covers, in quarter cloth (cloth torn at top 4cm and bottom 5mm of rear hinge; chipped towards top of spine) with paper-covered boards (worn at outer cornres and parts of edges; title label faded). (Front and rear inner paper hinges cracked but cords holding. Separation between pp. 72-3, with lower half of leaf comprising pp. 73-4 loose from binding but upper half firmly attached. Separation between pp. 120 and 123, with leaf comprising pp. 121-2 detached but present. Upper and central parts of pp. 123-142 loose from binding, but cords holding to lowest third. Leaf comprising pp. 207-8 torn at upper margin, with some of the print from the uppermost lines of p. 208 transferred to the following blank but decipherable. Trace of damp staining to upper margins from pp. 73-96, not affecting text.)
- Volume starts with [1 leaf] + [1 leaf of advertisements] + [pp. v-vi (torn towards top of inner margin)] + [pp. vii-viii], before the main contents take effect.
- Only the first component issue has a clearly marked identification header dating it; but the dates of the first four and the sixth issues can be inferred by their predictive references for the months concerned, and the boundaries between issues are mostly clear enough to determine, although the regular 24-page issue format is lost towards the end of the volume, rendering determination of the boundary between the original seventh and eighth issues impossible. It would appear from the available internal evidence that after the April issue, the publication schedule slipped somewhat, and that this tendency became much worse after the July issue, resulting in the last couple of issues being longer but much more irregularly printed.
The Meteorologist (sole issue):
Simmonite, W. J., A. M. Ph. Mat. ‘Catastrophe Mundi, the Effects of the Conjunction of Jupiter and Saturn, For 200 Years to come. The Meteorologist and Catastrophe Mundi; or, the World’s Fate for 1844. Containing an Almanack: Also an Aspectarian of the Planets and Asteroids; Astrologer’s Guide; Predictions of Epidemic Diseases of 1844’ Sixth Yearly Edition – Simpkin and Marshall, Stationers’-Hall Court, London. Cloth (split down both hinges, torn towards top of spine, and worn at outer corners of boards). [3] + [pp. 4-64]
[1] The included advertisements suggest a date of circa 1847
[2] The advertisements suggest that this is a circa 1849 printing of this work originally published thus in 1847
[3] COPAC suggests 1847
[4] Library records show 1854
[5] This is followed by a list of credits thus: ‘Author of “The Practical Self Teaching Grammar of the English Language; also of the “Annual Meteologist;” Principal of the Sheffield Young Man’s College, &c.’
[6] ‘; and sold by all other booksellers. Printed by George Thorpe, Thorne’
[7] This is a compendium into a single volume of the content from all issues published from the 1st, dated January 1842, until publication was suspended due to lack of support (permanently, as it turned out) in 1843. There are no title pages indicating the dates of issues after the first, nor is it easy to determine when one issue ends and the next begins, but the evidence indicates that the early issues were 24 pages each although this regularity was not sustained throughout the volume.
[8] An horary question dated November 16, 1842 appears in this issue, indicating that it cannot have been printed before late November or December, 1842