Hi guest! As you can see, the new Wizard Forums has been revived, and we are glad to have you visiting our site! However, it would be really helpful, both to you and us, if you registered on our website! Registering allows you to see all posts, and make posts yourself, which would be great if you could share your knowledge and opinions with us! You could also make posts to ask questions!
University of Chicago
University of Washington
Fordham University,
Dartmouth College,
Harvard University,
Indiana University
the University of Notre Dame
and Manhattan College,
as. well from Yale, authorities said.
It depends on what you mean by rare books. If you mean 1st editions and out-of-print titles that are simply hard to find, then a book store or online store such as ebay or Abebooks is your best bet.
If you mean manuscripts and aged works that are hundreds of years old, then the best possibility is the university collections you mentioned above or donated collections to museums that digitalise such works for public consumption. Finding private manuscripts is incredibly difficult and requires either a lot of money or special connections to groups / people who have the manuscript in their possession. Sometimes if you are lucky, you can find such things being sold on ebay or specific auction sites, but then they are usually hideously expensive to the average person (minimum thousands of dollars). Otherwise you will need to be lucky to know someone who is possession of the manuscript and see if they would let you create a facsimile / buy it. At this point, it is private collectors and maybe magical groups who have access to these resources in their own personal libraries. Either way, it would take a lot of time to get access to.
Readership of manuscripts or rare books is always tightly restricted. Be prepared to be grilled by library or museum officials wanting to make sure that you're a genuine scholar and not some crank.
The Astronomicum Caesareum, or “The Emperor’s Astronomy,” is one of the most lavish and technically complex books ever printed. Published in 1540 by Peter Apian, a professor at the University of Ingolstadt, it was dedicated to the Holy Roman Emperor Charles V and his brother Ferdinand.
The amazing thing about it is that it’s a paper analogue computer, that the emperor used for casting horoscopes!
If you think that’s fascinating, you should consider studying history here. BUT if I were posting this before the 18th Century, you could have come to study Astrology here!
Texts on magic and fortune telling.
Shelfmark:
Bodleian Library MS. Rawl. D. 252
Holding Institution:
Bodleian Libraries, University of Oxford
Catalogue Description:
According to Frank Klaassen, this is one of the earliest surviving dedicated necromantic collections from England, along with London, Society of Antiquaries 39 and Sloane 3849 (Transformations of Magic, 124). Date: s. xv Scribes:
Medieval owners:
Original location or linguistic profile:
Magic Category:
Specific magic texts: At least seventy separate items copied by two hands. The majority of the rituals are conjurations, some with no indication of their purpose. The rituals cover the standard aims of ritual magic: seeking lost or stolen treasure, detecting thieves, divination (often with the aid of a young boy), illusions, getting spirits to do one’s bidding, etc. Charm motifs:
Online Information: Images from the
. Bibliography: Valerie J. Flint. “A Magic Universe.” In Horrox, Rosemary, and W. Mark Ormrod, eds. A Social History of England, 1200–1500. Cambridge University Press, 2006, 340-355.
Richard Kieckhefer. Forbidden Rites: A Necromancer’s Manual of the Fifteenth Century. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998.
Frank Klaassen, “English Manuscripts of Magic, 1300-1500: A Preliminary Survey.” In Claire Fanger, ed. Conjuring Spirits: Texts and Traditions of Medieval Ritual Magic. University Park, PA: Pennsylvania State University Press, 1998, 3-31.
–. “Learning and masculinity in manuscripts of ritual magic of the later middle ages and renaissance.” The Sixteenth century journal (2007): 49-76.
–. “Subjective Experience and the Practice of Medieval Ritual Magic.” Magic, Ritual, and Witchcraft 7.1 (2012): 19-51.
–. The Transformations of Magic: Illicit Learned Magic in the Later Middle Ages and Renaissance. Penn State Press, 2013.
