DISQUISITIONUM MAGICARUM LIBRI SEX: Quibus continetur accurata curiosarum artium, et vanarum superstitionum confutatio utilis Theologis, Jurisconsultis, Medicis, Philologis.
Lugduni, Leiden, Netherlands: Joannem Pillehotte, 1612. Early printing. Hardcover. Folio - over 12 - 15" tall. Very good condition. Item #020577
[52], 468, [55] pages of text. Back of title page with old repair to mend a tear, and pages three preliminary pages with large repaired tears. Original full calf binding, moderately worn, partially rebacked to reattach the front board, with the original spine laid-down. Illustrated with an illustrated title page with vignettes of Moses and the Ten Plagues of Egypt. Conspicuous wormhole affecting the upper fore edge margin, accompanied by minor staining. The text is otherwise quite clean and is unmarked. Provenance: Previous owner's name neatly on the back of the title page: R. Jacqueline Navar (unidentified). First published in 1599, this work was written by the Dutch Jesuit theologian Martin Anton Delrio (1551-1608) from a counter-reformation viewpoint. This encyclopedic work discusses magic, alchemy, witchcraft, prophecy, and apparitions. It revived intolerance caused a century earlier by the sinister Malleus Maleficarum (1486) of Jakob Sprenger and Heinrich Kramer. It became the standard guide for priests and ecclesiastical judges, both Catholic and Protestant, throughout the 17th century, particularly during the height of the witch-hunts in France and the German states in the first decades of the seventeenth century. Bibliography: Robbins (1959), page 121; Palau 268274 (note); De Backer-Sommervogel II, 1899; Brunet II, 579; Graesse, Magica, 47; Caillet, 2967. Folio: Height = 14 3/8" (364mm).
Price: $3,975.00