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This
work originally began in 1989 as a short history of chirology of
some three thousand words and was but merely a summary of the main
events in the development of chirology over the centuries. However,
historical studies have a habit of drawing you in and leaving you
unsatisfied until all stones have been turned! The second draft
multiplied to thirty thousand words and the third draft, in turn,
multiplied to some sixty thousand words. Some seven years after
finishing the research this, the fourth draft, was finally published
in April 2001.
And
yet, there are still many more nooks and crannies to be explored.
For although this work comprehensively covers the literature to
be found in academic institutions within the UK, notable gaps can
readily be seen with regard to the literature held within European
institutions and much more so with regard to the history of the
development of the art in countries such as India, China and the
Middle East. Despite these obvious shortfalls, it is some consolation
to consider that a historical overview such as this can never be
truly complete; it can only be a history of that which has been
written down and can therefore only be a history of those texts
which have survived the many centuries. Of that which has not been
preserved, we can know nothing.
This
work is therefore presented knowing that there is still yet more
to be written.
I
acknowledge a considerable indebtedness to the four men who have
gone before me in this endeavour, Edward Heron-Allen, Gino Sabbattini,
Fred Gettings and Andrew Fitzherbert. I owe a particular debt
of thanks to Fred Gettings whose work 'The Book of the Hand' of
1965 was the inspiration for my own researches into this subject.
Most of all I must thank my good friend and constant challenger
on matters historical over many, many years of correspondence,
Andrew Fitzherbert. It is to him that this work is dedicated.
And to all the frauds, imposters and would-be wizards, I thank
you also. For it is always true that one can never find the jewel
without having previously sifted through all the dross.
© All material
remains the copyright of Christopher Jones 1989-2007
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