Henry Coley 'Clavis Astrologiae Elimata': auction ends soon

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This auction on eBay for an original 1676 copy of Henry Coley's masterwork of Renaissance English astrology, 'Clavis Astrologiae Elimata', has two days left at the time of writing.

http://cgi.ebay.com/1676-COLEY-ASTROLOG ... 7806wt_905

The auction was begun with no reserve and the current price of ?36 is in antiquarian terms a pittance for this fine and rare work.

Complete copies are sold by booksellers for $2000-$4000 where listed at all.

Mildly defective copies like this one, with the engraved tables missing, are normally offered for $1500 or so (see Krown and Spellman's copy on the used book market via the usual book search engines).

The difference between this one and the Krown and Spellman copy priced at $1500 is that, while the Krown and Spellman copy lacks a significant number of text pages altogether, this copy had a few missing but has had them replaced in facsimile, rendering it more complete.

One of the reasons why this book is normally so valuable is that it contains the second printed edition of Kepler's Rudolphine Tables at the back. This makes it valued by astronomy collectors as well as astrology collectors. These tables have usually been completely omitted from reprints and also seem to be missing from this original copy, which could make it an excellent opportunity of a bargain for someone wanting only the astrological work by Coley. Most reprints of Coley have also heavily truncated the third book of Coley's own work, the main astrological text, although I understand that Just Us Associates (Carol Wiggers etc.) offer a complete reprint of all three volumes of the main text.

I do hope this book sells to an astrologer. As usual when advertising such an auction, I have no knowledge of or connection with the bookseller, but it appears to be a professional British bookseller in this case.

My guess is that professional booksellers knowing they can resell this for a much higher price will be sniping this auction at the end, so if interested, do not be lulled into a false sense of security by the current low price: the book should run well into the hundreds of dollars at least at close of auction. Good luck to anyone who tries!

Re: Henry Coley 'Clavis Astrologiae Elimata': auction ends s

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Philip Graves wrote:
My guess is that professional booksellers knowing they can resell this for a much higher price will be sniping this auction at the end, so if interested, do not be lulled into a false sense of security by the current low price: the book should run well into the hundreds of dollars at least at close of auction. Good luck to anyone who tries!
Good guess on both counts. Here it is on offer now. http://www.abbeybook.com/entries/V73743.html