Astrology, Almanacs, and the Early Modern English Calendar

This book is a handbook that provides a comprehensive guide to early modern calendars and almanacs, unlocking their cultural, religious, and scientific material. It explains the basic cosmological, astrological, and medical theories that underpinned these calendars, traces their medieval evolution into their early modern format, and discusses the history of the English almanac in the context of the rise of the printing industry in England. It also includes a primer on deciphering early modern printed almanacs and an illustrated guide to the rich visual and verbal iconography of seasons, months, and days of the week.

Format: Hardback
Length: 338 pages
Publication date: 23 November 2020
Publisher: Taylor & Francis Ltd

Astrology, Almanacs, and the Early Modern English Calendar is a comprehensive handbook designed to assist modern readers in accessing the rich cultural, religious, and scientific content found in early modern calendars and almanacs. It provides an overview of the fundamental cosmological, astrological, and medical theories that shaped these calendars, traces the medieval evolution of the calendar into its early modern format against the backdrop of the English Reformation, and explores the history of the English almanac in the context of the rise of the printing industry in England. The book includes a primer on deciphering early modern printed almanacs, as well as an illustrated guide to the diverse visual and verbal iconography of seasons, months, and days of the week, sourced from material culture, farming manuals, almanacs, and continental prints. As a practical guide to English calendars and the social, mathematical, and scientific practices that inform them, Astrology, Almanacs, and the Early Modern English Calendar serves as an indispensable tool for historians, cultural critics, and literary scholars engaged with the primary material of the period, particularly those with interests in astrology, popular science, popular print, the book as material artifact, and the history of time-reckoning.

Astrology, Almanacs, and the Early Modern English Calendar is a comprehensive handbook designed to assist modern readers in accessing the rich cultural, religious, and scientific content found in early modern calendars and almanacs. It provides an overview of the fundamental cosmological, astrological, and medical theories that shaped these calendars, traces the medieval evolution of the calendar into its early modern format against the backdrop of the English Reformation, and explores the history of the English almanac in the context of the rise of the printing industry in England. The book includes a primer on deciphering early modern printed almanacs, as well as an illustrated guide to the diverse visual and verbal iconography of seasons, months, and days of the week, sourced from material culture, farming manuals, almanacs, and continental prints. As a practical guide to English calendars and the social, mathematical, and scientific practices that inform them, Astrology, Almanacs, and the Early Modern English Calendar serves as an indispensable tool for historians, cultural critics, and literary scholars engaged with the primary material of the period, particularly those with interests in astrology, popular science, popular print, the book as material artifact, and the history of time-reckoning.

Weight: 738g
Dimension: 162 x 241 x 26 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781472481832