[Ptolemy]; tr. Wilson, James ‘The Tetrabiblos; Or, Quadripartite of Ptolemy Being Four Books, Relative to the Starry Influences. – Translated from the Copy of Leo Allatius, with Critical and Explanatory Notes’ Printed and Published by William Hughes, Islington Green; and sold by all other booksellers, London, undated[1].
Original limp cloth-covered boards (separating at top cm of both hinges, bottom 1.5 cm of rear hinge and bottom 5mm of front hinge; worn at some outer corners of boards; lightly rubbed along remainder of hinges; original spine label lost). (Internal front paper hinge mostly cracked and internal rear paper hinge partly so, but underlying spine strong.) [Frontis. table] + [1 leaf] + [pp. iii-xxv] + iii + 55 + [pp. 57-224]
[1] Internal references to dated recent events in the preface indicate no earlier than the Spring of 1828, with credible COPAC records also suggesting 1828, though others estimate 1820, which is impossible in view of the internal references
About this Book Scan
In 1828, nine years after the appearance of his popular and opinionated Complete Dictionary of Astrology, English astrologer James Wilson had his own fresh translation of Ptolemy’s Tetrabiblos published by William Hughes of London.
Like the previous translations by Whalley and Ashmand, it was based on the Latin translation by Leo Allatius of the ancient paraphrase by Proclus. Unlike Ashmand’s translation, it has never been professionally reprinted since; and the original volume has become rare.
The file offered here is scanned in full colour from the original first-edition printing of Wilson’s translation in our library.