ROUSSAT, Richard.

Arcandam Doctor Peritissimus ac non Vulgaris Astrologus, DE VERITATIBUS, & PRAEDICTIONIBUS ASTROLOGIAE, & Praecipue Nativitatum seu Fatalis Dispositionis, vel Diei Cuiuscunque Nati, nuper per Magistrum Richardum Roussat, Canonicum Lingoniensem, Artium & Medicinae Professorem, de Confuso ac Indistincto Stilo non Minus quam e Tenebris in Luce[m] Aeditus, Recognitus, ac Innumeris (Utpote Passim) Erratis Expurgatus, ita ut per Multa Maxime Necessaria & Utilissima, Adiecerit atque Adnotaverit, Modo Eiusdem Dexteritate Praelo Primo Donatus.

      Parisiis: Excudebat Dionysius Ianotius Typographus, 1542. 8vo, a8, e4, A-L8: (200)pp, schematic chart, 12 woodcut illus, publisher’s device verso L8. Mod. vellum, a.e.g., morocco label at spine. Early manuscript library entry at title. Neat rice paper onlay at e1 repairing closed tear with slight obscuration of a small section extending over three lines of text. Nearly invisible expert repair of worm trace throughout text, resulting in the most minimal loss as the trace falls largely between lines. Early marginal ink numeration of sections. Text overall clean and fresh. An attractive copy. ¶ Second edition, first published at Paris in the previous year. Our copy has A1 in the first state, with misspelled “ceelste” in the heading. Like the 1541 edition, this is a Denis Janot issue; two other 1542 issues appeared under J. Foucher and V. Gaultherot imprints. Foucher’s device (Renouard 326) appears at the verso of L8. ¶ De veritatibus & praedictionibus astrolgiae is the first book to appear from the pen of Richard Roussat, an otherwise obscure 16th-century canon and physician. Each of the work’s twelve major divisions is devoted to a sign of the zodiac and headed with an appropriate woodcut vignette. While at least three French translations of De Veritatibus appeared in the 16th century, the English translation was a best-seller: No fewer than sixteen editions of The Most Excellent, Profitable, and Pleasant Book of the Famous Doctor and Expert Astrologian Arcandam appeared between 1562 and 1692. ¶ Not in Adams. Not in Houzeau & Lancaster. None of Roussat’s works are discussed in Thorndike. Both Adams and H&L list Roussat’s Des elements et principes d’astronomie (Paris, 1552). H&L also lists his Livre de l’estat et mutation des temps (Lyon, 1550). For discussions of the relation between Roussat and the prognostications of Nostradamus see the following works by Pierre Brind’Amour: Nostradamus Astrophile: Les astres et l’astrologie dans la vie et l’oeuvre de Nostradamus, University of Ottawa, 1993; Nostradamus: Les premieres centuries ou propheties (Edition Mace Bonhomme de 1555). Edition et commentaire de l’epitre a Cesar et des 353 premiers quatrains. Geneva: Droz, 1996. ¶ All early issues (1541-42) of the De veritatibus are exceedingly scarce: The Catalogue Collectif de France notes a total of eight specimens, five at the Bibliotheque Nationale. COPAC notes a single copy each of the 1541 and 1542 editions, both at the British Library. The German, Swiss, and Austrian libraries in the KVK database note only two copies, one at the Staatsbibliothek Berlin. OCLC adds a single copy of the 1541 edition at Princeton. ¶ Provenence: [old entry at title] “ad Usum Bibliothecae Seminarii Assensij”