The Conjuror’s Magazine
Writings of, and references to, William Gilbert, or B.
About The Conjuror's Magazine Notes on Astrology E-Text editorial notes
Entire contents as single PDFfile
Volume 1
1 (Aug 1791)
No trace of B.
2 (Sep 1791)
42 Announcement of General Essay on Magic
46-8 Remarkable fulfilment of Events notified by the solar eclipse June 4, 1788.
3 (Oct 1791)
80
Magic – lists of planetary numbers and names
80
Farther astrological remarks on solar eclipse June
4th 1788
4 (Nov 1791)
106 Editorial: re 'author of Remarks on the Solar Eclipse in June 1788'
109-110 Explanation of the Jewish or Planetary Hours
110-111 To the Rev Richard Beere
112 Judgment of the Winter Solstice
124-5 Answer to Query II
126 Questions for Astrologers (Signed "Omega")
5 (Dec 1791)
138 Editorial page: B’s answer to Query I.
144 Astrological notices for January: (Prediction: “The head of Sweden drowned cruelly”.)
153-4 The Augur No IV
6 (Jan 1792) [Printed as ‘Feb’ in error]
170 Editorial. re B’s answer to query upon palmistry
173 Astrological notices for February
175-6 Observations on, and List, of Remarkable Fires in 1791
183 Proposal to make Talismans
183 The Augur No V
7 (Feb 1792)
204 Editorial: message and announcement from B.
205-9 William Pitt’s Nativity (at request of Editor)
209-10 Astrological Notices for February [sic]
220 Proposal for a Philosophical Society
220-224 Explanation of the number 666.
224 Response to J.P Astro. Philo. re Talismans [signed William Gilbert]
225 Answer to Query III: Verification of a chiromantic prophecy.
[p.334 follows p.233 in numbering error - no pages are missing]
8 (Mar 1792)
336 Editorial page: B explains his erroneous no frost prediction etc.
337-41 Truth and Importance of Astrology
342 Spring Quarter Notification
9 (April 1792)
368 Editorial: messages from B.
369-70 Truth and Importance of Astrology (cont. from p. 341)
370-2 Predictions for April
374 Answer to Astrological Queries in IV Disagreement with WE.
382-3 The Augur VI
389-90 B. to the Public proposing a society
391-2 On Henry Cornelius Agrippa
396 Domestic News: p.144 prediction by B. “fulfilled”. King of Sweden assassinated.
10 (May 1792)
400 Proposals for instructing Pupils in Spiritual Knowledge.
404 W. E. takes up B.'s challenge.
11 (Jun 1792)
432 To Correspondents: “The letters to Mr B. are forwarded as directed”.
435 Mercurius of Bath writes in support of W. E.’s attack on B.
12 (Jul 1792)
466 Editorial: “What is become of Mr B.? Has W. E. touched him too closely?”
466-7 W. E. letter to B naming him as William Gilbert and criticising his faulty astrology.
Volume 2
13 (August 1792)
7-8 W. E. explains that he did not intend Gilbert to be identified in the last issue.
20 (March 1793)
284-5 Hints to Mariners. B. contributes “a new and easy Method of preserving Water sweet in Sea Voyages.”
22 (May 1793)
404-6 Astrological Scraps by our correspondent B.
23 (June 1793)
412 Correspondents. "Our worthy friend B's favour shall be duly noticed in our next".
24 (July 1793)
516-9 French and other Matters. A final rich mix of astrological notes and biographical information.
518 Georgean Planet and Platina. Gilbert on the importance of the new planet Uranus.
E-text editorial aims and practices.
Aims
The e-text prioritises a readable text, rather than to replicate every page as
originally printed in the magazine. This means that page breaks and editor's captions have been
omitted.
A few obvious printing errors (such as missing end quotation marks) have been
silently corrected but only when these are beyond any doubt.
Quotations have always been left as Gilbert wrote them. Translations have been
added after the original, and unattributed quotations have been traced where
possible. Significant
variations with the original are commented on editorially.
Great care has been taken to preserve original spelling,
punctuation and especially Gilbert's use of emphases. In ascending order -
italics - SMALL CAPITALS
- FULL CAPITALS. Although much of this could be seen as a convention of the time, Gilbert's
use of emphases is idiosyncratic and is often a guide to meaning.
Practices The full source
reference by page and number is provided as a heading.
An article serialised in different numbers is shown as a single entity.
Page breaks in the original have been disregarded.
Gilbert's own footnotes are shown at the end of the text referenced by numbers.
Editorial headnotes appear in small font immediately below the Conjuror's
Magazine reference heading.
Editorial endnotes are prefixed with an E: [E1]
[E2] etc..
Astrological symbols in the original are silently transliterated into text -
e.g. Mars for which Gilbert wrote
♂. This is out of necessity: I have not been able
to trace a usable set of astrological glyphs that can be integrated with text.
Square brackets in the text other than the above indicate editorial insertion.
This is kept to a minimum.
Acknowledgements
Vanda Zajko and Ellen O'Gorman have kindly helped with Latin translation
where noted.
esoteric archives,
the work of Joseph H. Peterson, and Astrological
References and Background have been invaluable for tracing Gilbert's occult
sources.