Eschatus; Future Prophecies From Nostradamus' Ancient Writings

New York: Paper Tiger Books by Simon and Schuster, 1977. Presumed First Edition, First printing thus. Trade paperback. Good/No dust jacket issued. Bruce Pennington. Format is approximately 12 inches by 12 inches. 78, [2] pages. Decorative cover. Cover has some wear and soiling. Striking color illustrations. Bruce Pennington (born 10 May 1944, in Somerset, England) is a British painter, best known for his science fiction and fantasy novel cover art. Pennington's works have largely featured on the covers of novels of Isaac Asimov, Clark Ashton Smith and Robert A. Heinlein, adopting both science fiction and fantastical themes. His past of speculation and youthful wonderment lead to his current outlandish form and style. Pennington's works are largely characterized by bold, daring colors; rich pinks and blues sustaining his continuing motifs of speculation as well as precise brush strokes, harmonious pigment blending as well as the acute concentration in the detail of his depicted subjects, usually landscapes of other times or worlds. Pennington attended the Ravensbourne School of Art in Bromley during the early 1960s. He began working as a freelance illustrator in 1967. In 1976, Paper Tiger Books published an LP-sized graphic album, Eschatus, featuring Pennington's paintings inspired by the prophecies of Nostradamus. They followed this, in 1991, with a graphic album, Ultraterranium, collecting various private and commercial works. The book is a visual interpretation of many of the prophecies of Nostradamus. Bruce Pennington is its deviser. Unlike most interpretations (which rely on dead events, seeking clues in Nostradamus not to the future but to the past), Bruce Pennington's theme is entirely the future, the history that lies silently in wait for us like a lion in the grass. Michel de Nostredame (December 1503 - July 1566), usually Latinized as Nostradamus, was a French astrologer, apothecary, physician, and reputed seer, who is best known for his book Les Prophéties (published in 1555), a collection of 942 poetic quatrains[b] allegedly predicting future events. Nostradamus's father's family had originally been Jewish, but had converted to Catholic Christianity a generation before Nostradamus was born. He studied at the University of Avignon, but was forced to leave after just over a year when the university closed due to an outbreak of the plague. He worked as an apothecary for several years before entering the University of Montpellier, hoping to earn a doctorate, but was almost immediately expelled after his work as an apothecary (a manual trade forbidden by university statutes) was discovered. He first married in 1531, but his wife and two children died in 1534 during another plague outbreak. He fought alongside doctors against the plague before remarrying to Anne Ponsarde, with whom he had six children. He wrote an almanac for 1550 and, as a result of its success, continued writing them for future years as he began working as an astrologer for various wealthy patrons. Catherine de' Medici became one of his foremost supporters. His Les Prophéties, published in 1555, relied heavily on historical and literary precedent, and initially received mixed reception. He suffered from severe gout toward the end of his life, which eventually developed into edema. He died on 1 or 2 July 1566. Many popular authors have retold apocryphal legends about his life. In the years since the publication of his Les Prophéties, Nostradamus has attracted many supporters, who, along with some of the popular press, credit him with having accurately predicted many major world events.[6][7] Academic sources reject the notion that Nostradamus had any genuine supernatural prophetic abilities and maintain that the associations made between world events and Nostradamus's quatrains are the result of (sometimes deliberate) misinterpretations or mistranslations.[8] These academics also argue that Nostradamus's predictions are characteristically vague, meaning they could be applied to virtually anything, and are useless for determining whether their author had any real prophetic powers.