Christopher Heydon A Defence of Iudiciall Astrologie 1603

Heydon, Sir Christopher, Knight ‘A Defence of Iudiciall Astrologie, In Answer to a Treatise lately published by M. John Chamber, Whrein all those places of Scripture, Councels, Fathers, Schoolemen, later Divines, Philosophers, Histories, Lawes, Constitutions, and reasons drawne out of Sixtus Empiricus, Pixus, Pererius, Sixtus ab Heminga, and others, against this Arte, are particularly examined: and the lawfulnes thereof, by equivalent proofes warranted’ Printed by John Legat., Printer to the Universitie of Cambridge, And are to be sold in Pauls Churchyard at the sign of the Crowne by Simon Waterson, 1603.

Old leather (wear to upper outer corners of boards and part of top edge of rear board; moderate wear to lower outer corner of front board and part of bottom edge of rear board), rebacked, with gilt-stamped raised title label to spine. Tiny holes in a small number of isolated later leaves, occasionally effacing part or most of a single character of text, but without loss of comprehensibility of the text in context. [1 leaf] + [14] + 25 + [1] + [p. 26] + [1] + [p. 27] + [1] + [p. 28] + [1] + [p. 29] + [1] + [p. 30] + [1] + [p. 31] + [1] + [p. 32] + [1] + [pp. 33-4] + [pp. 37-331] + [pp. 342 (1) – 343 (1)] + [pp. 334-5] + [pp. 346 (1) – 347 (1)] + [pp. 338-9] + [pp. 350 (1) – 351 (1)] + [pp. 342 (2) – 432] + [pp. 443-551] + [51]

About this Book Scan

Carefully scanned in full colour from our original printing purchased from an American antiquarian bookseller in the 2010s.

Sir Christopher Heydon’s book A Defence of Iudiciall Astrologie (1603) was one of the first substantial books about astrology to be originally published in the English language, predating William Lilly’s Christian Astrology by 44 years.

However, its purpose is completely different from that of Lilly’s text, being a reasoned discourse in favour of astrology against the objections then recently levelled against it by John Chamber in his similarly named A Treatise Against Iudiciall Astrologie (1601).

Please note that the original book was printed on thin, delicate paper. Some bleed-through of text can be seen on our scan, and very occasionally there is a small perforation in the paper of some later leaves, partly effacing a single character of text, but all text remains clear to read in context.

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