Now before copyright legal weasels start rubbing their hands in anticipation of emptying the 'PC Towers widows and orphans Christmas fund', I should point out that I have a small collection of genuine antique newspapers from when I was interested in collecting “Ephemera”, or the objects of everyday life in bygone eras. I stopped collecting this stuff (or rubbish as my then girlfriend would insist on describing it), when it became obvious that an unfocused collection of 'ephemera' (from ration cards, to police whistles, and of course Newspapers), was the surest path to becoming a ‘hoarder’ (always an easy line to cross in even the best of ‘collectors’).
But while the other items largely disappeared over the years in house moves etc - some with much regret when I realised their loss – I always retained the old newspapers. I guess I thought it was a kind of ‘sacred trust’ through the ages. They had survived the centuries, and I wasn’t going to be the one who dropped that baton. However I am at the point where I have to start considering passing on that baton to another (via eBay), to someone else who might look after them for a few decades more, but before they go, I decided to scan a few of the articles and headlines into my PC and republish them for the ages, partly as insurance against their eventual destruction, and partly as nice post subjects (I was going to say ‘easy’ posts, but in fact the scanning, cleaning them as they are quite dirty from handling over the centuries, and recombining the split scan parts for the very large images, is time consuming – so not ‘easy’ posts).
The first of these posts is from a publication entitled as a 'Vox Stellarum' or 'a Loyal ALMANACK' of 1753, by Francis Moore physician – which the more observant amongst you will know later became the well known 'Old Moores Almanac', and is still on sale today.
A Loyal Almanac |
So amongst the 'predictions' of the future, and of course the predictions of tides, sun rises, moon phases and seasonal events, that were of great use to a society still based on the land and farming, there were also historical tables and discussion pieces for the farmers and landed gentry who it was aimed at::
Lists of the Monarchs and a paean of praise for Britannia |
But the big piece was a religious tract about the Revelation to come .... in particular the importance of the number '1260' in the events that will mark the end of times ....
The Revelations of St John and the Number of 1260 |
More of these reports from the NoPC vaults will follow over the next few months .... assuming that its not in the cycle of 1260 that seems to indicate that the end cometh.
Addendum:
As promised, I have revisited and scanned the additional two pages from the 'Almanack'
Astrology and Remarkable Events 1665 |
Remarkable Events 1665 |
Are there any more stories or commentaries in this Almanack?
ReplyDeleteI took a good look - there are a few bits and pieces - lots of praise for the Protestant faith, but there's also a Zodiac page, plus a 'Chronology of many remarkable Occurrences, from the year 1600, to this present year 1753' ... I will copy and post them at a later date .... kinda fortean, as it lists plagues where 68,586 dies in London.
DeleteLooking at the lists we seem to have lost a few Kings since that list of 1753. Kings Egbert, Ethelwolf, Ethelbald and Ethelbert all gone, I wonder why? Also the list in Wiki includes someone called 'Edgar the Ætheling' as King of England (although not crowned) and he is not on the 1753 list (so one back). History is not set in concrete it seems.
ReplyDeleteAll this just shows how one mans 'propaganda' is another persons 'history' .... the restored monarchy had an interest in emphasising the length of 'Kingship in Britain', so a propagandist such as the 'good doctor' would be happy to have a list that goes back to 819 AD, rather than the 872 AD that modern lists start with.
DeleteThanks for taking the time to comment anon.