Many questions remain unanswered with respect to the various
original editions of Nostradamus' Prophecies. This article seeks
to list a few of these questions and offers a comment on each.
*
All known copies of the original editions of the Prophecies come
from these four editions:
*
1. The Macé Bonhomme edition of May 4, 1555.
2. The Antoine du Rosne edition of September 6, 1557.
3. The Antoine du Rosne edition of November 3, 1557.
4. The Benoist Rigaud edition dated 1568, published in whole or
in part as early as June 27, 1558.
*
A detailed examination of each known copy of these books reveals
that no two copies are identical, i.e., many changes were made to
the printing.
*
QUESTION: Why were changes made to the printing of a given
edition?
*
COMMENT: The most logical answer would be: to correct mistakes
found in an earlier printing of that book. Problem: there are
almost as many new 'mistakes' in these so-called corrected copies
as there are corrected old 'mistakes'. Which would suggest that
the purpose of these changes was not to correct mistakes.
*
QUESTION: How many copies of each printing of each of these
original editions were ever *printed*?
*
COMMENT: No information has so far surfaced which would answer
that question.
*
QUESTION: How many copies of each printing of each of these
original editions were ever *sold*?
*
COMMENT: We do not even know if these books were ever sold. The
author could very well have purchased from his printers the
entire print run, and could have distributed the books himself in
any manner he saw fit.
*
QUESTION: What do we know about these books, other than that they
exist today?
*
COMMENT: We know very little about them.
*
Nostradamus could very well have ordered very small print runs,
which could account for the very few books known to exist today;
or, there might have been 'normal' print runs, and the normal
loss of many copies of these books after 400 years would account
for the very few remaining copies known to exist today. We just
don't know the size of these print runs.
*
We know that, on April 30, 1555, Macé Bonhomme was given a 2-year
privilege to print the Prophecies. After April 30, 1557, no such
privilege is known to have existed. We can therefore say that the
Macé Bonhomme books were probably printed before the expiry of
that 2-year period. But they contain only 353 quatrains. So, they
became obsolete as soon as the Antoine du Rosne editions came out
of the printing shop.
*
A close examination of the two Du Rosne editions above shows that
the November 3, 1557, edition was used as a model for the
printing of the September 6, 1557, edition. This casts doubt on
the dates found in each of these editions. We also know that
Nostradamus' youngest son, André, was born November 3, 1557. A
coincidence? Perhaps. Or perhaps not.
*
Both Du Rosne editions announce on their frontpage a further
batch of as yet unprinted 300 Prophecies, making them obsolete
almost as soon as they were printed, as a wise purchaser would
have waited for the remaining 300 to be printed, then purchasing
the entire package in one book.
*
The last three Centuries are only found in the fourth of these
original editions. There is evidence to suggest that they were
known to exist long before the 1568 date printed on that book.
Either that date is false, or there was another printing of that
book, or of part of that book, as early as June 27, 1558, date of
the Letter to Henry which prefaces these last three Centuries.
*
Very few *contemporary* comments about Nostradamus' Prophecies
are known today. At the time, most of the controversy about
Nostradamus centered around his Almanachs, not his Prophecies.
*
Bottom line: the mystery about these books might even be greater
than the mystery surrounding the poetry and prose they contain!
*
Happy 500th, Nosty!
*
------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
Claude Latrémouille % -- "Claude! There ain't no stinkin' -- %
Le 15 novembre 2003 % cryptic anagrams in them dang verses,- %
APNCL#1391 -------- % ya hear?!" (A chorus of a.p.n. voices) %
------------------- %%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%
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=== CLAUDE LATRÉMOUILLE ===
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C L A U D E L A T R E M O U I L L E
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