Research Guides: HIST 350: Astrology (HC): Primary Sources

Finding Primary Sources

There are some online collections available for early modern printed texts. Haverford has access to both Early English Books Online (EEBO) and Eighteenth Century Collections Online (ECCO). Other primary source collections like Gallica from France's Bibliothèque national are open access on the Web.

Examples of searches in EEBO include:

Search in the Tripod catalog: astrology [Subject] AND "controversial literature" [Subject] AND eebo

Search in the EEBO database: astrology [Subject] AND almanacs [Subject] AND (women OR woman)

Still other sources are available in printed form. Those that have been edited or reprinted in facsimiles can be borrowed through E Z Borrow or interlibrary loan if they are not in Tripod.

Examples of sources in print include:

An Astrologer at Work in Late Medieval France: The Notebooks of S. Belle
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This book explores the notebooks of S. Belle, an astrologer who lived in late fifteenth-century France, as a case study of late medieval astrological practice. These notebooks combine astrological doctrine, a large collection of horoscopes, an almanac, and three complete judgements of nativities. Texts in Latin with commentaries in English.
An Astrological Diary of the Seventeenth Century : Samuel Jeake of Rye, 1652-1699
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A seventeenth-century merchant and nonconformist from Rye in Sussex, Samuel Jeake had a passionate interest in astrology. In his diary--recovered in Los Angeles and published by Oxford University Press--Jeake not only recorded the events of his life; he subjected them to astrological scrutiny, interspersing his text with horoscopes.

Databases for Early Modern Books and Documents
Consortium for the History of Science, Technology and Medicine Special Collections Search Hub
Books printed in the 16th or 17th century are kept in libraries' rare book collections. You can go to Bryn Mawr, the University of Pennsylvania, and other local libraries to see books published during that era. Use this search page to find history of science related books by author, title and subject in the Philadelphia area. You will be surprised to see the wealth of materials available locally.

Early English Books Online (EEBO)
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Contains digital images of virtually every work printed in England, Ireland, Scotland, Wales and British North America and works in English printed elsewhere from 1473-1700. This collection contains about 100,000 of over 125,000 titles listed in Pollard & Redgrave's Short-Title Catalogue (1475-1640) and Wing's Short-Title Catalogue (1641-1700) and their revised editions, as well as the Thomason Tracts (1640-1661) collection and the Early English Books Tract Supplement. Includes books, pamphlets, manuscripts and newspapers.
Eighteenth Century Collections Online
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Offers full-text access to English-language titles and editions published between 1701 and 1800 including books, pamphlets, almanacs, Bibles and treatises. Subjects covered include history, geography, fine arts, medicine, science, literature, language, religion, philosophy and law. Significant collections of women writers, collections on the French Revolution, and numerous eighteenth-century editions of the works of Shakespeare are also included.
Medieval & Early Modern Sources Online
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A collection of digitized editions of texts concerning economic, political, legal, and ecclesiastical history, such as treasury accounts, chronicles, papal registers, etc. Most are from England, Ireland, and Scotland, although some are from Milan and the New World.
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Use Europeana to search through millions of digitized books, art, newspapers, and other sources from European museums, galleries and national libraries.

Gallica
Gallica is a digital library of French and francophone culture maintained by the Bibliothque nationale de France. Contains numerous electronic texts, images, maps, animation, and sound files of French and other publications in history, literature, science, philosophy, law, economics, and political science. Covers the Middle Ages to the present.
Biblioteca Digital Hispánica
Search and access digitized material from Spain's Bibliotheca Nacional. Includes books printed between the 15th and 20th centuries, manuscripts, drawings, prints, brochures, posters, photographs, maps, atlases, sheet music, historical press, and sound recordings.
Hispana: collecciones digitales de archivos, bibliotecas y museos españoles
Access to over five million digital objects from over 200 repositories in Spain. A project of the Ministry of Culture. (Searchable database of documents, facsimiles, transcriptions, photos, and more.)
PARES: Portal de Archivos Españoles
A portal and database created by Spain's Ministerio de Cultura containing more than twenty million documents and digital images from the principal Spanish archives, including the Archive of the Indies.

Art Sources

Art Full Text
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Offers abstracts of journals, museum bulletins and yearbooks in the fields of art, architecture, decorative arts and photography. Covers abstracts from 1929-present, full-text articles 1997-present.
ARTstor
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A digital library that provides access to thousands of digital images derived from a variety of museum, library and archival collections. Images support a variety of disciplines including architecture, painting, sculpture, photography, decorative arts, and design. Coverage varies.

Astrology, magic, and alchemy in art
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Survey of art motifs with treatment of specific topics including the zodiac, the planets and the labors of the months.
The Farnesina frescoes at Rome
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Study of the Classical-inspired paintings of Agostino Chigi's horoscope.
Influences : art, optics, and astrology in the Italian Renaissance
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The author analyzes Renaissance artworks with astrological themes. She argues that the images were viewed as functional because of theories which affirmed the influences the art had over the viewers' bodies and minds.