Feb 04, 2016 - Sale 2404

Sale 2404 - Lot 147

Price Realized: $ 219
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 150 - $ 250
(FORTUNE-TELLING.) The Wheel of Fortune. Manuscript, 3 x 7 1/2 inches; foxing, archival tape repair along fold, uneven edges; unrelated manuscript poem on verso. Np, circa 1800
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Additional Details

This small manuscript describes two fortune-telling techniques. By one of them, you add a random number, today's date, and the numerical value of the first letter of your name, and if the sum is not divisible by three, your current venture is doomed to failure, unless perhaps you buy a vowel. The text is taken almost verbatim from Erra Pater's Book of Knowledge, Treating of the Wisdom of the Ancients, which appeared in numerous editions from 1710 onwards, including American editions from at least 1787 to 1806. This version, however, adds a fifth row to the Wheel of Fortune table, making it 25% more accurate.