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Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
PEUCER, CASPAR. Commentarius de praecipuis generibus divinationum. [8], 448, [32] leaves, including the blanks A8, penultimate leaf with large woodcut of Christ on recto, and final blank; lacks the folding table. 8vo, 164x99 mm, contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards with panel stamps of Elector Johann Friedrich of Saxony on front cover and arms of Saxony on rear cover, front additionally gilt-stamped C*K*O and dated 1584, cover corners bumped; contents heavily browned, scattered minor marginal tears without text loss, text on X6v-X7r scored but mostly legible, repair in lower outer corner of 2V3 entering 2 words on recto, 18th-century owner's inscription on front free endpaper. Wittenberg: Johannes Lufft, 1580
Survey of different forms of divination originally published in 1553. "After discussing divination in general, he turns to oracles and theomancy, then to magic . . . then to divination from entrails, to augury and aruspicina, to lot-casting . . . and to dreams and their interpretation. Next he considers medical prognostications, meteorology and weather prediction, physiognomy and chiromancy, astrology, and last prodigies and portents"--Thorndike VI, 495-96.
