These illustrations from a range of books show how the hand can be used to embed a range of different types of information - linguistic, conceptual, musical.

ROW 01 01 Anianus edition of Compotus, Paris 1530 / 02. / 03 an edition of Comptus Lyons 1489, calendar hand/ 04 Petit compost en Francoys / 05. from the T'Ung Shu an ancient Chinese almanac. The hand is marked with the hours of the day and from the markings can be divined the best date for a decision or when an event will happen. It is also possible to tell if a tic in the eyelid is lucky or not.

ROW 02 01. / 02. /03. Jehan Tabourot, Compot et Manuel Calendrier par lequel toutes personnes peuvent facilement apprendre et scavoir les Cours du Soleil & de la Lune, Jean Richer, Paris, 1588. The twelve months of the year fastened to joints of the fingers./ 04 Petrus Tartaretus, Lyons 1500, a book on logic

ROW 03 01. / 02.

DOVER'S Hands miscellany

see also Marcus Adams studies of Babies' Hands (very odd this and including the Princess Elizabeth's chubby pud).

see also Hands, original screen

see also SIMPLE TASKS

Schatzbehalter der wahren Reichtumer des Heils, woodcuts by Michael Wolgemut , double page spread, saints encoded on fingers 1491

Matteo Coferati. Il Contore addotrinato ovvero reole del canto corale, Florence 1682

Bartolomeo Cocles,Physiognomiae, Strasburg 1536

Juan Andres,Sumario Breve... Valencia 1515, practical mathematics

John Bulwer, Chirologia... 1644, gestures for actors

Dalle Grotte, In Cantore Ecclesiastica... Padua 1698 ecclesiastical music

Coferati, IIl cantore addotrinato... Florence 1683

Requeno y Vives, Scoperta Requeno... Parma 1797, theatre and ballet

Joseph Moxon, Mechanik Exercises,London, 1683 setting type

Richard Saunders, Physiognomie 1653

Abraham Bosse, Manual of Engraving, Paris 1645

The Hand as a Clock

from Panigarola's treatise Venice 1603

William Lilley on judging Nativities 1547

The Hand as Sun Dial, almanack 1652

from John of Salisbury, Dyalogus...c1499

from John of Salisbury, Dyalogus...c1499