Raphael's Witch!!! Or the Oracle of the Future, by the Author of the Prophetic Messenger. With ten coloured designs on copper by R. Cruikshank & the Author, and a piece of music by Blewitt by Raphael [Robert Cross Smith (1795-1832), pseudonym], Isaac Robert Cruikshank; [illustrator] - 1831

London: William Charlton Wright, 1831. [First Edition]. Hardcover. Very Good. [First Edition]. Hardcover. Illustrated title page and present only one folding plates (uncolored): "The Mystical Wheel of Pythagoras" " Formerly owned by Alfred Pearce, noted 19th century astrologer. Includes annotations. Robert Cross Smith (1795-1832) was an English astrologer, writing under the pseudonym of "Raphael". He married in 1820 and moved to London, where he became interested in astrology. Together with G. W. Graham, he published a book on geomancy in 1822. Smith began to edit a periodical entitled "The Straggling Astrologer" in 1824, but failed to receive enough subscribers and the periodical had to be discontinued after a few issues. He collected the issues of the failed periodical in a volume entitled "The Astrologer Of The Nineteenth Century" in the same year. From 1827 until his death in 1832, he edited an astrological almanac, entitled "The Prophetic Messenger." Also published by Smith was The Familiar Astrologer and A Manual of Astrology, both in 1828. Smith died on 26 February 1832 in London. His almanac continued to be edited as Raphael's Ephemeris and would become a standard work in British and US American astrology. Raphael's Ephemeris popularized the system of Placidian system of astrological houses in the English-speaking world and in modern western astrology in general. Published posthumously. Isaac Robert Cruikshank, sometimes known as Robert Cruikshank (27 September 1789 - 13 March 1856), was a caricaturist, illustrator and portrait miniaturist, the less well-known brother of George Cruikshank, both sons of Isaac Cruikshank. Just like them he holds importance as a pioneer in the history of comics for creating several cartoons which make use of narrative sequence and speech balloons. Moderate wear, discoloration, otherwise tight, bright, and unmarred. 24pp, xxiv, 36pp + illus.,1 b/w foldout plate.12 mo. Rebound in black library cloth with paper spine label. Incomplete [only a fraction of the text, pp. 37-153 lacking, and lacking any handcolored plates].