911 - CURIOSITIES - ESOTERICISM - INHABITANTS OF THE MOON. Printed esoteric perpetual calendar. 47 x 58 cm. Amiens, [1835]. A few tears along the edges, creases.

CURIOSITIES - ESOTERICISM - INHABITANTS OF THE MOON. Printed esoteric perpetual calendar. 47 x 58 cm. Amiens, [1835]. A few tears along the edges, creases. A rare and curious esoteric “perpetual calendar” printed in the Somme region by Caron-Vitet, which, in addition to listing the kingdom’s fairs, the calendar of saints, the phases of the moon, and the table of movable feasts, also features a “predictions” section for the year 1836 forecasting an earthquake “whose effects will be terrible,” a temporary decline in trade, etc. “For more details, consult the monthly predictions in the Amiens Almanacs; one can place a certain amount of trust in them, as those announced in 1833, 1834, and 1835 came true in their entirety.” There is also a section mentioning a very strange “interesting discovery”—an inhabited world on the moon. “The scholar Mr. Herschel, an astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope, after spending more than 20 years building a telescope of extraordinary size—with tubes 4 feet in diameter and of prodigious length—spotted on the Moon: a mountain covered with poppies; a forest of beautiful fir trees; magnificent sites and very pretty landscapes; countless crystal columns with exquisite capitals; herds of cattle, sheep, and goats; a church; and finally, men and women with wings extending from their shoulders to their heels.”