1589 : A Major Work of Demonology

Leonardo Vairo
Three Books of Charms, Spells & Sorceries.

In which all the species and causes of spells are described and explained with the Philosophers and Theologians. With the ways to fight the illusions of Demons , and the refutation of the causes behind the power of Witchcraft (*)

Actual title in latin :

De Fascino Libri Tres
In quibus omnes Fascini species, & causae optima Methodo descibintur, & ex Philosophorum ac Theologorum sententiis eleganter explicantur.
Nec non contra praestigias, imposturas, allusionesque daemonum, cautiones & amuleta praescribuntur: ac denique nugae, quae de iisdem narrari solent, dilucide consutantur.

Aldine edition - Of utmost rarity.

Venice, Alde, 1589. 8vo (16) , 375 , 42 , (3) pp

Full calf in good condition (17/18th Century), upper hinge weak. Marbled edges. Interior excellent, with at the end a catalogue of Aldines editions. Beautiful typography.

This major treatise of demonology knew only two editions in Latin and a translation in French. This second edition printed in 1589 is considered to be the best, as it came out of the most famous press of the 16th Century, that of the Aldes in Venice. The original was published in 1583 in Paris.

Vair was bishop of Pouzzoles. He defines fascination as the force behind magic, a "perniscious quality coming from the art of demons and caused by an explicit pact between men and those demons". He presents several amulets and other ways to fight the illusions of demons.

Caillet 1094 : " very rare treatise" - Guaita 1111 - Renouard p242 - Thorndike VI, 528 & 545 - Brunet V , 1029

(*) As translated from the title of the French edition, Paris , 1583