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Extremely rare manuscript of a handmade 19th-century "perpetual almanac"
A genre rooted in the 'computus' tradition, the popular calendar science of the Southern Netherlands/Flanders used to calculate the dates of holidays such as Easter and Pentecost; a blend of theology, astronomy, and arithmetic. Such almanacs were used from the Middle Ages through the 19th century.
The large title page, titled ‘Eeuwigduerenden Almanach’ (Perpetual Almanac), displays a table listing sunrise and sunset times for each month—a typical feature of such almanacs, as they served as practical annual references. The central strip contains a series of small windows labeled ‘Jaer’ (Year), ‘Paesschen’ (Easter), ‘Sinxen’ (Whitsun), and so on; however, the accompanying rotating discs are missing. The maker is identified at the bottom: Jacques Van den Bosch, dated 26 February 1837. He was likely also the author of the accompanying manual.
Such calendars also featured a mechanical component with rotating discs (volvelles). These allowed the user to calculate—for any given year—dates such as Easter, Ash Wednesday, and Pentecost. Of these, only one remains functional in the manual: "Het Wieltje" (The Little Wheel), the disc indicating the day of the week for the first day of each month. The other discs (Sunday Letter, Solar Cycle, Golden Number, Epact) are still present as drawn or inscribed elements but can no longer be rotated.
The text section explains the use of the calendar and addresses various aspects of calendar calculations, such as: definitions of time, day, and month (synodic and sidereal lunar months) and the solar year; explanations and worked examples for the Sunday Letter, Solar Cycle, Golden Number, Roman Indiction, and Epact; a passage on the Gregorian calendar reform (Pope Gregory XIII, 1582); and a fully worked-out example of the Easter date calculation for the year 1850. The final page features a handwritten text in French containing instructions for use.
Title board: 33 x 23 cm. Text booklet (21 x 17 cm) with handwritten instructions and illustrations (67 pp.). Heavily soiled pages. 32 pages containing text and drawings; the remaining pages are blank. The first 12 pages, featuring images of rotating discs, show severe signs of water damage. Everything is housed in a binder (23 x 35 cm).
Price including shipping, send from Holland, worldwide
