1579 : The most complete work on demonology ever published.

Johannes Wierus

Histoires , Disputes et Discours des Illusions et Impostures des Diables,
des Magiciens infâmes, Sorcieres et Empoisonneurs, des Ensorcelez et Demoniaques et de la Guerison d'iceux. Item de la punition que méritent les Magiciens, les empoisonneurs, et les sorcieres. Le tout compris en six livres par Iean Wier, Medecin du Duc de Cleves.

French Edition Of utmost rarity.

1579 . Jaques Chouet . 32pp + 875 pp + (36 pp) index

17th Century full vellum in perfect condition. Gilt edges. Interior complete and in perfect condition.. Marginal loss of text in the last 4 index leaves.

Provenance : George Newton Conklin

Extremely rare french edition of Wier's Praestigiis Daemonum. The second of only two in french, it is the only one to be complete of all the text and to have the two dialogues of Thomas Erastus on the powers of witches.

Unlike most works on witchcraft that were written by inquisitors or witch hunters, here is a book written by a genuine occultist and defender of witches, Johannes Wierus, the very disciple of Heinrich Cornelius Agrippa, the greatest magician of the Renaissance. With a deep insight in the real nature of the Devil, having himself managed to fathom the hellish hierarchy, Wierus condemned the superstitions contained in the Malleus Maleficarum, establishing a clear boundary between true Sorcery and the mere illusions of mentally ill women. As the first book ever to defend witches it was almost immediately sentenced to fire by the inquisition, only a few copies remain.
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Original Latin title :

De praestigiis daemonum, et incantationibus ac veneficiis, livri V.

Also Contains :

"Deux Dialogues de Thomas Erastus professeur en Medecine a Heidelberg, touchant le pouvoir des Sorcieres et la Punition qu'elles méritent."