|
 In
1942, the first edition of Nostradamus or the
future foretold, a study by James Laver on Nostradamus and the Centuries,
was published by Collins in London.[1]
Ten years later, in 1952, seven years after the end of World War II, Penguin Books in Harmondsworth published the second, revised
edition.
In this article, the contents of the second revised edition of Nostradamus or
the future foretold are compared with the contents of the first
edition, notably chapter 9, in which Laver linked a number of quatrains
to World War II and events which preceded this war.
|
Contents
The second edition of Nostradamus or
the future foretold counts 265 pages of text and a couple of pages
with list of titles of other books, published by Penguin Books. In both
editions, the arrangement of the text in chapters is identical. In the
second edition, the chapters are numbered with Arab figures instead of
Roman figures. The titles in the second edition of two paragraphs in the
bibliography differ slightly from those in the first edition.
The second edition of Nostradamus or the future foretold does
not contain illustrations. The portrait of Nostradamus, which in the
first edition preceded the title page, is not included in the second
edition.
Like the title page of the first edition, the title page of the second
edition contains a statement by Napoleon III regarding the Centuries:
Ça
épouvante et énerve l'imagination. The Legis Cautio, the
warning, directed to inapt critics, in some editions of the Centuries
a not-numbered quatrain which comes next to quatrain 06-99, in other
editions a not-numbered quatrain which is situated between the sixth and
the seventh Century, is not printed on the title page of the
second edition. It was printed on the title page of the first edition.
Laver's
method
In the article in
which the first edition of Nostradamus or the future
foretold is discussed, it has been written that Laver linked one
event to each of the quatrains he discussed. He linked a quatrain to an
event if the contents of a quatrain corresponded with the event,
preferably by concrete clues like names of persons or places or year
figures. It is not always clear which quatrains Laver himself linked to
certain events and which links he copied from comments by Century-scholars
like Bareste, D.D., Dr. de Fontbrune, Le Pelletier, Du Vignois en Ward.
Regarding Laver's method, it must be noted that there is not one
guarantee that such a method results in an explanation which corresponds
with the intentions of the compiler of the quatrains. Further, we can
only Hope that Laver, while examining past events, did not overlook one
or more events and that in the future there will not be events which
correspond in a better way with the contents of a quatrain which is
considered to be fulfilled, than the event which in the past has been
linked to that particular quatrain.
In the course of the years, Laver's method did not change. In the second
edition, he linked one event to each of the discussed quatrains, basing
himself upon preferably names of persons and places or year figures.
A comparison of the bibliographies of the first and the second edition
shows that for the second edition, Laver consulted three extra
publications on Nostradamus and the Centuries: Nostradamus (H.I.
Woolf, London, 1944); Nostradamus, ses prophéties 1948-2023 (E.
Ruir, Paris, 1947) and Nostradamus, sa famille, son secret (R.
Busquet, Paris, 1950). In the chapter To the end of the world, he
referred to a link by dr. De Fontbrune of quatrain 04-61 to marshal Pétain, published on July 22, 1950, in an article in Ici
Paris.
The fascinating thing about the second edition of Nostradamus or the future foretold
is that Laver included a number of suggestions, coming from people who
contacted him about Nostradamus and the Centuries. In most cases,
these suggestions are published in footnotes; in one or two cases, Laver
included a suggestion in his text. They enforce the comments which Laver
had given in the first edition. This rises the question if Laver in the
years between the first and the second edition also received suggestions
to change comments. In the prologue to the second edition, nothing is
written about the inclusion of suggestions. Without any change or
addition, this prologue was copied from the first edition.
World
War II
The first edition of Nostradamus or
the future foretold dates from 1942. The war was in full swing and
became a world-wide war. In June 1941, the German army invaded the
Soviet-Union. In December 1941, the Japanese Air Force bombed the
American Navy basis in Pearl Harbour. In chapter IX, Laver had written
that without an attempt to link quatrains to contemporary events and
events which would take place in the immediate future, a book like
Nostradamus or the future foretold would be incomplete.[2]
Such an attempt would be hindered by the vague contents of a number of
quatrains and by translation problems. Nevertheless, he discussed links
between 33 quatrains and events which happened in the first years of the
war, preceded this or would happen in the immediate future. Basing
himself upon the quatrains 02-89 and 05-78, Laver expected that Hitler
and Mussolini would not hold out for long. According to him, a revolt
against Mussolini was predicted in the quatrains 06-31, 06-68 and 08-47.
Laver did not make clear in which year the regimes of Hitler and
Mussolini would come to an end.[3]
Seven years after the end of World War II, the second edition of Nostradamus or the future foretold
was published. According to the colophon, the text of the first
edition was revised and brought up to date. In the second edition, World
War II was discussed in the same chapter as in the first
edition: chapter 9, entitled To the end of
the world.
In the second edition, large parts of the text of Laver's expectations
about the course of the war at the time of the first edition, returned
without any change. In other words: in the second edition, texts which
in the first edition dealt with the future, dealt with the past without
any change. At the time of the first edition for example, the question
was how long Hitler and Mussolini would hold. According to Laver, who
based himself upon quatrain 05-78, this would not be for long. Seven
years before the second edition, their power came to an end. Both
editions contain the same text about this:
| Laver-1942,
p.223 |
Laver-1952,
p.231 |
| The
two dictators will not hold out for long:
Les deux amis ne tiendront
longuement.... (V, 78)
but will be put down from their
seats, and the appointed time of the Man of Blood will be
accomplished:
Un jour seront demis les deux
grands maistres....
Au sanguinaire le nombre racompté. (II, 89) |
The
two dictators will not hold out for long:
Les deux amis ne tiendront
longuement.... (V, 78)
but will be put down from their
seats, and the appointed time of the Man of Blood will be
accomplished:
Un jour seront demis les deux
grands maistres....
Au sanguinaire le nombre racompté. (II, 89) |
On page 221, in his
discussion about the fatuity of comments by French Century-scholars
which dated from the years after World
War I, Laver rectified
the false statement on page 214 in the the first edition that Melanie
Calvat, the shepherdess of La Salette, lived in the twentieth century.
In the second edition, Laver did not mention which of his expectations
in 1942 about the course of the war were fulfilled and which not.
Quatrain 08-47, in the first edition linked to an expected conspiracy in
which Germans would be killed, did not return in the second edition. Apparently,
Laver left this quatrain out because he thought that such an event never
took place.
New in the second edition was the discussion of quatrain 04-61. Laver
copied the link of this quatrain to the deportation by the Germans on
April 6, 1944, of the French marshal Pétain, from an article by dr. De
Fontbrune, published on July 22, 1950 in Ici Paris.[4]
Another newly discussed quatrain was quatrain 09-16. In the second
edition, Laver took over the link of this quatrain to Franco and Rivera
from a certain W.G. Campbell, who had drawn his attention to this link.[5]
In two cases in chapter 9 in the second edition of Nostradamus
or the future foretold, Laver's comment differs from the comment in
the first edition. In the first edition, basing himself upon quatrain
06-68, Laver expected that the collapse of the Axis-powers would begin
with a revolt against Mussolini. In the second edition, he linked this
quatrain to the attempt of Badoglio to bring the war to an end and
Mussolini's violent reaction to it, as Laver described it.[6]
It is not clear why Laver did not link this quatrain to the dismiss of
Mussolini by the Great Fascist Council in the night of July 24 / 25
1943. This might be caused by the fact that he continued with the
discussion of quatrain 06-31 and linked this quatrain to the execution
of Count Galeazzo Ciano, one of the key figures in the government of
Mussolini, who, together with others, prepared his fall. In the second
edition, Laver inserted the fate of Ciano in the original text. In the
first edition, however, it was the Italian king who would order
executions.
Laver's
comment in 1942 and 1952 on quatrain 06-31
| Laver-1942,
p.224 |
Laver-1952,
p.232 |
| Then
the King of Italy will have his desire, by getting rid of
Mussolini.
Roy trouvera ce qu'il
désiroit tant,
Quand le Prelat sera reprins à tort,
Response au Duc le rendra mal content,
Qui dans Milan mettra plusieurs à mort. (VI,31)
The King will find what he so
much desired when the Prelate shall be wrongfully taken; the
response received by the Duce will anger him, and in Milan he
will put several to death. The second line may be linked with a
quatrain which created considerable interest in the years just
before the war because of its plain statement that the See of
Rome would be transferred elsewhere by the power of three
temporal rulers who were then supposed to be Hitler, Mussolini
and Franco [...] |
Then
the King of Italy will have his desire, by getting rid of
Mussolini.
Roy trouvera ce qu'il
désiroit tant,
Quand le Prelat sera reprins à tort,
Response au Duc le rendra mal content,
Qui dans Milan mettra plusieurs à mort. (VI,31)
The King will find what he so
much desired when the Prelate shall be wrongfully taken; the
response received by the Duce will anger him, and in Milan he
will put several to death. The
execution of Ciano and others may seem to be glanced at this.
The second line may be linked with a quatrain which created
considerable interest in the years just before the war because
of its plain statement that the See of Rome would be transferred
elsewhere by the power of three temporal rulers who were then
supposed to be Hitler, Mussolini and Franco [...] |
In the second edition of Nostradamus
or the future foretold, Laver sharpened a number of comments with
remarks, made by others. For example, he sharpened his comment on
quatrain 01-47, which he linked to the League of Nations, with a
translation suggestion from a certain James A.A. Porteous.[7]
His comment upon the Hister-quatrains (the quatrains 02-29, 04-68
and 05-29) was sharpened by the remark of a certain Vincent Pautin that
Nostradamus had written the word Hister with a long S, by which
the resemblance with the name Hitler was emphasized even more.[8]
In the first edition, in connection with quatrain 04-68, one of the Hister-quatrains,
linked to Hitler and Mussolini, Laver had written that he could not
explain the first line (En lieu
bien proche non esloigné de Venus / In a place not far removed from
Venus). In the second edition, this remark returned, but accompanied
by a footnote in which he referred to the suggestion of a certain W. Dawson Sadler
that Venus should be read as Venice and the words lieu bien proche
as a reference to the meeting of Hitler and Mussolini at the Brenner
Pass.[9]
In the second edition, Laver maintained most of his comments on
World War II. In connection with the course of the war, he discussed
the rise of Franco and Rivera and the deportation in August 1944 of
Pétain and he referred to Badoglio and the execution of Ciano. It is
not clear if he looked for quatrains, which contents might correspond
more or less with for example the Holocaust, the battles in
North-Africa, the course of the war in the Soviet-Union, the Allied
invasion on June 6, 1944 (D-Day) or the bombing in August 1945 by the
Americans of Hiroshima and Nagasaki with nuclear bombs.
Discussed
quatrains about World War II and events which preceded
this war (Laver-1952,
p.221-233)
08-28
01-47
03-54
09-16
10-98
01-34
04-80
09-90
05-94
02-50
03-07
03-99
02-24
04-68
05-29
08-33
08-31
09-80
04-51
02-40
03-82
04-48
05-08
04-15
03-71
05-51
06-07
03-97
05-78
02-89
04-61
06-68
06-31
08-99 |
Inflation
in Europe in the twenties
The League of Nations
Rise of Franco; Spanish Civil War
Franco and Rivera
Corruption in France, resulting in the capitulation of France in
1940
Prior to the war, Hitler undermines France
The Germans pass the Maginot-line
Hitler's politics to "protect" countries
1940: German invasion in the Netherlands, Belgium and the north
of France
1940: capitulation of Belgium
Air raids on French troops who draw themselves back to Paris
France is split, Paris no longer represents France
Hister: Hitler's politics of expansion
Hister: Tripartite-pact, air raids on Malta and Genoa
Hister: first meeting between Hitler and Mussolini
First meeting between Hitler and Mussolini
First meeting between Hitler and Mussolini
Mussolini persecutes his former associates after he came into
power
Mussolini persecutes his former associates after he came into
power
The use of the torpedo
The use of the airplane
The use of the airplane
The use of bombs
The use of submarines
The German-British blockade turns out to be favourable for
England
The "Small Entente"
Norway, the Balkans and England are troubled by Hitler and
Mussolini
Hitler's Drang nach Osten
Hitler and Mussolini will not hold out for long
Hitler and Mussolini will not hold out for long
1944: arrest by the Germans of marshal Pétain
Mussolini's violent reaction to Badoglio's attempt to bring the
war to an end
Fall of Mussolini; execution of Ciano and others
Before 1939: the Holy See must be evacuated because of Franco,
Hitler and Mussolini |
|
 The
third edition of Nostradamus or
the future foretold
[10]
In 1973, George Mann publishers in Maidstone, Kent,
published the third edition of Nostradamus or the future foretold.
Two years later, Laver would die in a fire.
In the literature study upon which the discussion of Laver's
books about Nostradamus and the Centuries is based, a
copy of a limp edition, dating from 1981, of the third edition
has been used. This limp edition was also published by George
Mann in Maidstone, Kent. According to bibliographic data in the
third edition of Nostradamus
or the future foretold, the text of this edition was revised
once more.
In the third edition, like in the other editions, World War II and events which preceded it, were discussed in
chapter 9, entitled To the end
of the world. A comparison between the text of chapter 9, as
far as in this text World War II is discussed and events
prior to it, with the text in the second edition, shows that the
text in the third edition remained unchanged.
|
De Meern, the
Netherlands, May 11, 2007
T.W.M. van Berkel
Notes
-
Van
Berkel:
- Nostradamus or the
future foretold (J. Laver, London, 1942)
- Information on J. Laver.
[text]
-
Laver-1942, p.214. [text]
-
Laver-1942, p.223. [text]
-
Laver-1942, p.231. [text]
-
Laver-1952, p.223. [text]
-
Laver-1942, p.223; Laver-1952, p.232. [text]
-
Laver-1952, p.222. [text]
-
Laver-1952, p.225. [text]
-
Laver-1942, p.218-219; Laver-1952, p.226-227. [text]
-
It looks as if the third
edition is a reprint of the second edition, without any changes. [text]
|
