Fortune Honour & Death

“Fortune, Honour & Death” takes you on a darkly fascinating voyage into the centuries-old practice of palm reading.

Lost for over 200 years, this richly illustrated and interactive how-to guide to palmistry has been brought back to life by artist David Bircham, whose father discovered the dusty original manuscript under a staircase in the family’s house in Ware, an English village 30 miles north of London.

Through this unique window on life – and death – in the 18th century, learn how to interpret the lines and marks of a hand to predict one’s fate. Death in all its ghastly and depraved manners is foretold – whether by “manslayer, burning, drowning in brewing vessels, smothering by nurse, broken necks, hanging, imprisonment, loss of eyes, or shipwreck, etc.”

One also learns of the lines and marks that divine great riches and honour, such as those coming through “familiarity with princes, riches in old age, and honour by women’s means, etc.”