More on Zadkiel...

16
While his two main astrological books, first published in 1833 and 1861-3 (two vols.) respectively, use only circular figures, I must note that the original Zadkiel (Morrison)'s annual almanac presents a mixed picture. I have only a very partial run of this publication, but it would appear reasonable to conclude that the limited space per page allowed in the almanac format was the decisive factor causing him sometimes still to use the square chart format when demonstrating figures in his almanac. I have 1841-5 inclusive, 1851-61 inclusive, and 1870-80 inclusive, aside from odd later years. Given that Morrison died in April 1874, only the dates until this are relevant to his tenure of the post of Zadkiel. I find:

1841: square figure p. 35;
1842: square figure p. 37;
1843: square figure p. 39;
1844: square figures pp. 35 + 37;
1845: square figures pp. 33, 34, 37;
1851-2: no figure at all;
1853: square figure p. 46;
1854: round figure p. 63;
1855: square figure p. 55; two square figures p. 72;
1856: square figure p. 44; two square figures p. 67;
1857: square figure p. 44; round figure p. 66;
1858: square figure p. 42;
1859-60: no figure at all except one theoretical round figure (not showing house cusps at all);
1861: round figure p. 42
1870-1: no figure at all;
1872: facsimile of square figure from 1853 issue p. 42
1873: round figure p. 66;
1874: round figure p. 66;
1875: no figure at all;
1876: square figure reproduced from "The Scotsman" May 22nd, 1872;
1877-80: no figures at all

Thus it is apparent that, while the last authentic, original (non-reproduced) square figure I could find appeared in 1858 (lacking though I do the years 1862-69 inclusive), and round figures were increasingly the norm in the latter years of Morrison's life, Pearce was not in the habit of including astrological figures in the almanac at all in the earliest years of his tenure of the post of Zadkiel. In any case, the abiding impression I have is that space was at a premium in the production of this almanac, with its large print-runs and popular low price, and compromises were made to save space where figures were included at all, which was not the case every year by any means.

Furthermore, it is not entirely clear whether Zadkiel was singly responsible for the production of his almanac or employed an office assistant from time to time, who might have found the square figures, with their straight lines, easier to draw. Some of the circular figures are notably marked 'Zadkiel Tao Sze' in their centres, as though as a seal of his own hand, unlike any of the square ones. But I think that the limited space argument holds up more strongly than this latter hypothesis on analysis. Morrison, more so perhaps than Oxley and Pearce, would seem to have been a pragmatist, especially when it came to making his astrological publications work profitably as a business.

PS: To test these theories further I have just investigated Zadkiel's larger physical format weekly magazine 'The Horoscope' that ran in 1834 for 19 issues only: the year following the publication of the first edition of his 'Grammar of Astrology' in other words.

Here we find round figures on pp. 25, 45, 57, 73, 89, 113, 129 and 145. There is no square figure in the entire run of the journal.

Lastly, Zadkiel's later monthly magazine, also called 'The Horoscope', that had a similar physical format to its earlier weekly predecessor, and ran in six monthly issues in 1841:

Here we find round figures on pp. 4 (the schematic of the houses) and 24; but square figures on pp. 6, 7, 14, 44, 62, 84, 85, 87, 163, 165, 167, 168, 203, 216, and 222 (mundane astrology house schematic).

What was going on here, you might well wonder? Why would Zadkiel have backslid from using round figures in the early-mid 1830s to using square ones in the early 1840s? Could Oxley's influence, strong in the aftermath of the initial publication of 'The Celestial Planispheres' in 1830, have waned in the intervening years? Or could the pragmatic cost-cutting Morrison have been re-awakened by the 1840s following years of hard experience publishing his almanac? Note that the only figures to appear in Zadkiel's almanac in the early-mid 1840s are also square.

That Morrison should have slipped back into a more old-fashioned style of chart drawing in the 1840s, only to return definitively to the modern circular format later in his life, might seem an historical oddity indeed. Sometimes new movements suffer a popular backlash before they definitively take hold. Morrison might have been a circularist at heart, but have bowed to peer pressure during the mid-part of his career. There would seem to be a wide field of possibilities to account for this.

Meanwhile, in the United States, it happened like this...

17
The earliest original astrological publication from the USA in my possession is Luke Broughton's journal "Broughton's Monthly Planet Reader and Astrological Journal", publication of which commenced in Philadelphia in April 1860.

In the very second issue, published May 1860, p. 14, a modern circular schematic of the twelve houses appears. In the August 1860 issue, p. 37, appears a fully-filled figure for a particular time, in the same modern circular format.

Perhaps it should come as no surprise to learn that Broughton was in contact with none other than the first Zadkiel, Commander Morrison, whose letter to him published in the July 1860 issue reads thus (p. 26):
London, England, 31st May, 1860.

DEAR SIR:- Your Monthly "Astrological Journal," for April and May, have reached me safely; and I beg to thank you for the same. I am well pleased to see such a work. I consider it a credit to the science and public spirit of America. It has given me pleasure to perceive that the infamous attempt to pass a law to suppress the science of Astrology has failed. If it had for a moment succeeded, your country would have been disgraced. What! put down by law the practice of a science which the famous Zerdusht, or Zoroaster revealed! The science that Plato upheld, that Claudius Ptolemy handed down to us, that Malancthon honored - that Bacon supported!

But these names are doubtless unknown to Mr. Moore at Harrisburg. Poor man! the stars may shine in vain for him. His intelllect is, what shall I say? impenetrable.

I hope soon to be able to send you a brief paper for your Journal, but am at present fully occupied in preparing my Almanac for 1861. The chief astrological feature in that year will be the GREAT CONJUNCTION of SATURN and JUPITER. It will take place exactly at 2 h. 8 m. 17 s., P. M., 21st October, 1861, by Greenwich mean time, and falls in Virgo 18? 22' 52". It will act wonderfully in favour of Louis Napoleon, who will gain still greater fame than ever, under its influence.

In this country, some of our great men of science are at length beginning to think that the Planets may have some influence on the weather, etc. But they fear the parson; who one and all fear that such a notion will "let in astrology." Well, they may; for the public at length will insist on having the truth, and on being no longer humbugged about the matter.

Your Weather Guide for May has been very correct for this country. The end of this month has brought fearful storms, with thunder, etc. (Mercury sextile Jupiter trine Mars - Sun conjunct Uranus & par. to Jupiter;) and over one hundred wrecks have taken place on the 29th May, and perhaps 1000 lives lost, also 80 lives lost on the coast of Holland in one vessel. Surely the ignorance of our savans, and yours also, on these matters, is not to be tolerated for ever, seeing that they demand such sacrifice of life and property!

Your well wisher, ZADKIEL.
Broughton responds:
We have no comments to make on the above letter, but no pains on our part will be spared to make our periodical a credit to the science and public spirit of America. Zadkiel is one of the most liberal Astrological authors that we have ever come across, and should he favor us with a few of his "brief papers", we have no doubt but our readers will be very much interested with them, as he is an astrological writer of no common abilities. And we consider Zadkiel's Almanac second to none, published at its price, which is six pence, English money.

As a specimen of Zadkiel's style of writing, we will here insert a "brief paper" on destiny, as we find it in his Almanac for 1860.
Clearly Broughton and Morrison were at the very least familiar with and subscribers to each other's work, and Morrison's pragmatism was limited to his need to save space in his almanacs, since his idealism and hopes for the future recognition of astrology and astro-meteorology on both sides of the Atlantic ring out loudly and clearly in the above letter he wrote to Broughton early in 1860.

It would not seem too much of a stretch of the imagination to me to presume that it was Zadkiel's pre-existing work in popularising the circular chart that directly paved the way for Broughton's adoption of the same and transmission of it to the United States of America. As the leading American astrologer of the latter half of the 19th century, Broughton's influence on early astrological practices in the United States would in turn have been vast.