Master printer and innovator Aldus Manutius produced some of the finest early books printed in Venice. His extraordinary collection, the Scriptores Astronomici Veteres, included four astronomical texts that date from the Hellenistic period through imperial Rome. This star-studded Leo is one of many constellations illustrating the Greek poet Aratus's Phaenomena, one of the few illustrated works produced by the Aldine Press (they're modeled on earlier woodcuts produced by another Venetian printer, Erhard Ratdolt for his star atlas in 1482). Leo has special resonance for Hogwarts students as the sign of both Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling herself: both were born on July 31, and the lion is the regal animal behind Harry's house. Hail, Gryffindor!
"What's your sign?" seems the obvious question for this embattled gent, who has a zodiac sign hanging from every conceivable limb. The figure can be found in the Fasciculus Medicinae, a popular late-fifteenth-century compendium of medical treatises from Greek and Arabic medical texts that was published in many editions (we have five). Ketham's "Zodiac Man" embodies the medieval and early Renaissance belief that parts of the body were governed by astrological signs. The planets gave order to the seemingly random courses of health and illness. Your Divination lessons may not connect the dots so specifically from sign to body part, but we've heard tales of Hogwarts professors warning of Mars for fear of burns and accidents, and Saturn, for a diminutive stature.
