Tag: astrology

An exhibition at the Ashmolean Museum, ‘Power and Protection‘ is “the first major exhibition to explore the supernatural in the art of the Islamic world”.  The exhibition also offers a rare chance to see one of the highlights of the… Continue reading

Almanacs have a long association with medicine. Potted health advice lent itself to inclusion in the sort of cheap booklets for a mass market that proliferated under the name ‘Almanack’ from the 16th century onwards. But what exactly is an… Continue reading

The next seminar in the 2015–16 History of Pre-Modern Medicine Seminar Series takes place on Tuesday 2 February. Speaker: Peter Jones (University of Cambridge) The medicine of the friars in late medieval England Abstract: Compared to occupational groups like physicians, surgeons, barbers, apothecaries and… Continue reading

As noted by Elma Brenner in her post ‘The enigma of the medieval almanac’, Wellcome MS. 8932, a folding almanac produced in England in the first part of the 15th century, is a remarkable object. The almanac is of great… Continue reading

A remarkable fifteenth-century folding almanac in a green and pink silk binding was recently acquired by the Wellcome Library. It stands out because of its exquisite textile binding, and the high artistic standard of its illustrative features, particularly the Zodiac… Continue reading

Before beginning my dissertation research at the Wellcome Library my understanding of astrology was, like most people’s, limited to my star sign (Taurus) and reading the occasional horoscope in the paper. As a medieval art historian, I had some sense… Continue reading

This year’s Manchester International Festival sees the premier of a new opera, based on the life of the Elizabethan mathematician, astrologer and alchemist, John Dee. We’ve already tweeted about the Opera and flagged up some Dee-related items from our collections.… Continue reading

This week’s free Wellcome Library Insight session – on Thursday 13th May – explores the Library’s collections relating to the Occult. Our Insight sessions offer visitors to the Wellcome Library an opportunity to explore the variety of our holdings. Sessions… Continue reading

This week’s free Wellcome Library Insight session – on Thursday 4th February – explores the Library’s collections relating to the Occult. Our Insight sessions offer visitors to the Wellcome Library an opportunity to explore the variety of our holdings. Sessions… Continue reading