{"title":"Occult \u0026 Magic","description":"\u003cp\u003eEsoteric traditions, ceremonial magic, divination, and mystical practices.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"gaffarel-jacques","title":"GAFFAREL, Jacques","description":"\u003cp\u003eA rare clandestine edition of an important and influential work on Oriental Talismans, Hebrew, Egyptian and Arabic Astrology, the Cabala and Star-writing, (the theory that the starts are arranged in the form of Hebrew letters, which can be read by those with the specific knowledge), with two beautiful folding celestial charts depicting the theory the constellations could be read as a book. Gaffarel was a follower of Pico de Mirandola and one of the chief exponents of Christain Kabbalism, and as such came into conflict with the Sorbonne and particularly with Mersenne who unambiguously rejected his work as impious and published  De Gaffarello Judicio  attacking him, though he recognized Gaffarel s profound knowledge of Kabbalah.  Jaques Gaffarel,.... was born in Provence in 1601, educated at the Universities of Valence and Paris where he received the degree of Doctor of canon law, became a priest and chaplain of Richelieu, and had a wide knowledge of Oriental languages - Hebrew, Arabic, Syrian and Persian. ... (This) is Gaffarels main work, the first appearance was in Paris 1629 and then it was repeatedly reprinted into the early 18th century and translated into Latin and English. It divides into three parts, of which the first defends orientals, especially Hebrews, from Christian charges, and the third deals with ancient Hebrew and oriental astrology. The second part, on the talismanic sculpture of the Persians, especially interests us for its close connection with natural magic..... He further contends that the astrology of the ancients was neither idolatry nor the cause of of idolatry, and accuses Scaliger and others of having misrepresented the astrology of the ancient Hebrews, Egyptians and Arabs. On August 1, 1629, the faculty of theology at Paris condemned Gaffarel's book as \"entirely to be disapproved\", and called its doctrine false, erroneous, scandalous, opposed to Holy Writ, contumelious towards the Church Fathers, and superstitious besides.  Thorndike. Gaffarel duly signed a retraction, but couched it in vague and general terms, stating that he was merely recording the opinions collected from the writings of the Arabs and Hebrews. The book enjoyed great success, Descartes and Sir Thomas Browne read it with interest and Pierre Gassendi defended it. Richelieu made Gaffarel his librarian and he travelled extensively, first to Italy, where he met Campanella, then to Greece and Asia in search of rare books. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A most appropriate provenance: Carl Aurivillius was professor of oriental languages at Uppsala, Swedish linguist, translator and orientalist [b. 1717, d.1786]. He wrote several dissertations of profound scholarship on subjects connected with biblical and Oriental literature, of which thirty were published by J. D. Michaelis. Aurivillius studied at Uppsala, then at Paris, Leiden and Halle, where he became friends with great contemporary Orientalists, such as Michaelis, Fourmont and Albert Schulten. He was part of Gustav III's Biblical Commission, and helped translate almost the entire Old Testament into Swedish. A very good, unsophisticated copy of this work, with the two folding plates in excellent condition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GAFFAREL, Jacques","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816067047759,"sku":"L1321","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_3451.jpg?v=1781795328"},{"product_id":"saulnier-jean","title":"SAULNIER, Jean","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare first and only edition of this curious astrological work which Saulnier describes in his prefatory epistle, his dedication to Mademoiselle Louise d'Anssienville, as an epitome in imitation of Livy and Valerius Maximus. The work is a description of the globe and heavens so as to better understand divination, in other words a description for the purposes of astrology in the guise of a cosmology.  Nous commencerons par le traict é de la Sphere, comme estant la plus necessaire, pour en apres entendre mieux le peu que nous dirons de ce qu avons promis  The work is divided into three chapters, the first and longest, entitled  Traicte de L Astrologie Naturelle  starts with a description of the size of the heavens and then describes the major constellations and the origins of their denomination. He then describes the  Cercles de la shpere  concentrating on the Zodiac and follows with a  Theorie des Planettes  and a description of the nature of the zodiac and planets. The second chapter is a description of the earth (including a list of the principal provinces of the New World) and its four elements fire, water, air and the earth. There is an interesting section on tides and the effects the moon has on the earth and a description of each of the parts of the world and its oceans. He also includes a section on the rising and falling of astrological signs. The last and most curious chapter is a description of  Time and the Calendar , and the division of time into days months and years. He finishes with a series of predictions for the weather for each year from 1619 to 1643 based on his description of the solar cycle, and gives a table of the calendar from which he makes these predictions. We have been unable to discover the owner of the monogram on both covers. A very good copy of this most interesting and rare work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"SAULNIER, Jean","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816068260175,"sku":"L1129","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Saulnier-L1129-2.jpg?v=1781795327"},{"product_id":"peucer-caspar","title":"PEUCER, Caspar","description":"\u003cp\u003eLast edition published before Peucer's death, with a new, lengthy preface by the author. Going through four previous Latin editions, and later translated to French, \"it seems to have been the most influential of his numerous writings which were concerned with the varied fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, natural history, and psychology\", (Thorndike VI p. 493). On the whole the work approves of divination in natural circumstances - reading dreams, for instance, or the stars, but agrees with the Bible in condemning certain branches of divination related to demons and witchcraft. Peucer's bias is unflinchingly Protestant, denying the possibility of Miracles, and he attributing the successfulness of relics and invocations of saints to demons rather than divinity. \"After discussing divination in general, he turns to oracles and theomancy, then to magic - which he thus incorrectly implies is a variety of divination, whereas the opposite is true - then to divination from entrails, to augury and aruspicina, to lot-casting under which he puts geomancy and divining from names and numbers and to dreams and their interpretation. Next he considers medical prognostications, meteorology and weather prediction, physiognomy and chiromancy, astrology, and last prodigies and portents\" (Thorndike VI p. 495). He is highly suspicious of Alchemy as a purely devilish art on the one hand, but on the other entirely approving of Astrology - which he himself put to practice and considered essential to the study of medicine. \u003cbr\u003e\n Kasper Peucer (1525 - 1602) was a prominent physician and scholar who studied with Melanchthon (and married his daughter) at the University of Wittenberg where he was appointed in turn professor of philosophy, mathematics, and medicine - his pupil John Garcaeus called Peucer the \"most celebrated professor of mathematics in this academy\". Peucer's religious views were influenced by his close relationship with Melanchthon, which deviated from the local Lutheranism in its Calvinist colourings, and when Melanchthon died in 1560 Peucer became a prominent religious authority. Although he climbed the academic ranks quickly, and gained appointment as physician to Augustus I, Elector of Saxony, his \"Crypto-Calvinist\" beliefs were his downfall. In 1574, letters discovered by his patron that expressed a desire to convert Augustus to Calvinism led to a twelve year imprisonment in Königstein Fortress, an experience he talks about at length in the introduction to the present work. After his release from prison in 1586, he became physician to the duke of Anhalf, where he remained until his death in 1602.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PEUCER, Caspar","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816069341519,"sku":"L1314","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Peucer-L1314-1.jpg?v=1781795325"},{"product_id":"danti-egnatio","title":"DANTI, Egnatio","description":"First edition of Egnatio Danti s translation of Proclus   Sfera  and his companion treatise on the use of the sphere, and second edition of Piccolomini s treatise on the proportions respectively of water and dry land of the Earth. According to Graesse there was a 1540 edition of the latter, but from Ziletti s dedication a Venetian senator, it is clear that the book was first published in 1558. Houzeau \u0026amp; Lancaster lists a  very rare  1571 first edition of Danti s translation and treatise, but it is probably confusing the latter with Danti s commentary upon the translation of Sacrobosco s  Tractatus de Spaera  made by his grandfather Pier Vincenzo Rainaldi (called  Dante  after the author of the  Divine Comedy ) and first published in 1571. Egnatio Danti (1536-86), referred to as  Cosmographer of the Grand Duke of Tuscany  on these title-pages, was an outstanding scientist who taught at Pisa and Bologna, drew maps for Cosimo de  Medici, designed a number of astronomical instruments (two of which were set up in Santa Maria Novella, Florence), brought about the reformation of the Gregorian calendar after having detected a 11-day error, wrote the first book to be published in Italy on the astrolabe (1569), and was appointed Papal Cosmographer and Mathematician by Gregory XIII (1580). His translation of Proclus   Sfera , dedicated to Isabella de  Medici, opens with a two-page life of Proclus and contains long and detailed annotations, often flanked by diagrams, for each of the fifteen chapters of the book. It ends with a five-page essay on how to study the stars without using scientific instruments. Proclus (412-485), illustrious Neo-Platonic philosopher from Constantinople, was also a fine astronomer who expounded the division of the celestial sphere with modern accuracy. Danti s treatise on the use of the sphere is divided into thirty short chapters dealing with, i.a., how to make a sphere, determine the various positions of the sun and stars and the corresponding times of day and night, and study the Zodiac.\r The proportions of water and dry land was a much debated topic of the time. Like Aristotle, Leonardo was convinced that the quantity of water exceeded that of the land, and that a great quantity of water was collected in caverns underneath the surface of the Earth. Piccolomini was one of the first scientists to maintain the opposite. In his fifteen-chapter essay he provides detailed explanations of why, from the antiquity, the amount of water on the Earth had been thought to exceed that of the land, followed by the exposition of his own revolutionary theory. Alessandro Piccolomini (1508-1578), a typical Renaissance polymath, wrote poems along with scientific, philosophical and legal works. An important scientific collection in a very attractive contemporary Spanish binding - a charming example of 'encuadernaci√≥n plateresca', most widespread in university town in the C16. Both the Danti and the Piccolomini are also of interest as early Americana.","brand":"DANTI, Egnatio","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816078287183,"sku":"L48","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L48-8.jpg?v=1781795322"},{"product_id":"valerianus-joannes-pierius","title":"VALERIANUS, Joannes Pierius","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe first book printed by Blado in his signature Italic (its one or two predecessors were in old fashioned Gothic) and the first edition of this uncommon cosmographical\/astrological text. Valerianus (1477-1558) from a poor noble family studied at Venice under Valla and Lascarius before being taken up by Pope Leo X and entrusted with the education of his nephews. He continued in the service of the Medici until the late 1530 s when he returned to study and write. This is Valerianus  first published work. Dedicated to Giulio de' Medici, the present work  on the meaning of storms , discusses both their scientific causes and their influence as portents on human affairs, including a particularly interesting account of the cosmography of the Etruscans, as well as Roman soothsayers whose purpose was to interpret thunder and lightning as omens. For example he tells the story of the lightning which struck the gates of Florence, interpreted as auguring the election of one of its citizens to the Pontificate. Valerianus also produced a popular and successful edition of the Sphaera of Sacrobosco. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Antonio Blado, official printer to the Papacy from 1535 to 1567, and one of the greatest printers of 16th century Italy, acquired in 1537 the celebrated Italic type of the calligrapher Lodovico Arrighi, used here by him 10 years earlier. It is one of the most elegant and famous typefaces of all time and interesting to compare with the Aldine developed in Venice at roughly the same time. Apart from its beauty it is clear, simple and easy to read. All 16th century printing on vellum is rare, and in the field of science, almost unknown. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Sir John Heyford Thorold (1773-1831) was a truly great collector. From 1828 until his death, he built up in an incredibly short time a beautiful collection of incunables and Aldines , deRicci p 160. Thence to the incomparable scientific library of Robert B. Honeyman (sale May 1981).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VALERIANUS, Joannes Pierius","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816090640719,"sku":"L1563","price":45000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L1563-2.jpg?v=1781795316"},{"product_id":"perrault-francois","title":"PERRAULT, Francois.","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this rare and most interesting work on demonology in general with a highly unusual second part recounting the author s personal experience of a haunting, or poltergeist, in which he and his household were subject to a series of unremitting attacks from an evil spirit; the work was written by Perrault (or Perreaud) in 1613 but not published until 1653, when he was already 81 years old. It was translated into English and German and reprinted several times. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  The Demonologie was not written as a free standing treatise. Its significance therefore derives from its being a preface to L Antidemon de Macon, a highly personal account of an extended haunting which Perreaud explains by referring to maleficent magic. After describing the poltergeist activity at length, he then informs the reader that some people thought the trouble lay with his wife s maid who was already suspected of being a witch and came from a suspect family. .. His favoured explanation, however, involves a third person altogether. The previous owner (of the house) had had to be dispossessed by judicial judgement in order to make way for the Perreauds, and naturally she was resentful ... Perreaud tells us she was discovered one day kneeling beneath the chimney calling upon the devil to do harm to him and his family. Perreaud s experience, then, reluctantly published so long after the event, provides us with a reminder of seventeenth-century Protestant attitudes towards preternatural phenomena. L Antidemon along with the prefatory Demonologie, supports traditional Protestant views on possession and witch-craft, for it acknowledges that Satan s power is real but limited and that his attacks are part of God s plan for humanity .. .. Perreaud s Demonologie, then, neatly summaries the principal lines taken by a Protestant divine when discussing magic, its manifestations in the created world and the way humans may cope with these. The Antidemon which follows gives a particular instance of a preternatural happening and an illustration of how a devout Calvinist family dealt with it. Most significantly, perhaps, while the Demonologie had reiterated orthodox teaching against Satan s tendency to work through illusion, Perreaud was in no doubt that his ghostly experiences had been real and had been caused by a deliberate operation of maleficent magic. Orthodoxy and experience, it seems, were not necessarily always in agreement.  P. G. Maxwell-Stuart.  Religion and Superstition in Reformation Europe.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A very good copy of this extremely rare work from the library of the noted neurologist and collector of early medical books and works on demonology and witchcraft, Dr. Maurice Villaret.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PERRAULT, Francois.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816114004303,"sku":"L1711","price":3500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L1711.jpg?v=1781795308"},{"product_id":"pontano-giovanni-gioviano","title":"PONTANO, Giovanni Gioviano","description":"First Aldine edition of the astrological writings of Johannes Jovianus Pontanus (Giovanni Gioviano Pontano, 1429-1503), humanist, diplomat, scholar and poet who became the driving force behind the Neapolitan Academy and its official leader after 1471, as well as Naples' Secretary of State. His was considered by contemporaries as good as, or superior to, his Classical models. Pontanus' career provides an excellent illustration of the power and prestige which might be attained by men of letters in fifteenth-century Italy.\r \r The present volume consists of Pontanos' scientific (or proto-scientific and astrological) works: a translation and commentary on the Centum Ptolemaei sententiae, and other, briefer treatises, including De luna and De rebus coelestibus.\r \r The pseudo-Ptolemaic Centum Sententiae, or Centiloquy, is a collection of astrological aphorisms, once thought to have been the work of Claudius Ptolemaeus - from whose work it differs in many key respects. Seventeenth-century English scholars such as Joseph Moxon and William Lilly noted that some ascribed it to the mythical Hermes Trismegistus. More recent speculation has centred around the figure of Abu Ja'far Ahmad ibn Yusuf Ibn Daya (d. c.941), who wrote extensive glosses to the work, and translated it into Hebrew and Latin. While some of the sententiae demonstrate typical astrological vagueness (III: a person skilled in a particular field will have been born under the relevant star; VI, XI: the day and time for a particular activity should be chosen carefully, with reference to one's horoscope), others are extremely specific (XX: 'Do not pierce not with iron that part of the body which may be governed by the sign occupied by the Moon'; XXII: 'Do not either put on or lay aside any garment for the first time, when the Moon is located in Leo'). Pontanus' commentary is notable for its concern with proving the superiority of astrology over much contemporary 'science', and for the socio-psychological rather than theological nature of its speculations. It was immensely influential in contemporary and later astrological and prophetic writing: Nostradamus quotes with approval his first proposition 'Soli numine divino afflati praesagiunt \u0026amp; spiritu prophetico particularia' ('Only those inspired by the divine godhead can prophesy, and only those inspired by the spirit of prophecy can prophesy detailed events').","brand":"PONTANO, Giovanni Gioviano","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816117707087,"sku":"L593","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/frontcover_6d949577-4acb-4edf-a998-12eee4563161.png?v=1781795303"},{"product_id":"plutarch-and-camerarius-joachim","title":"PLUTARCH [and] CAMERARIUS, Joachim","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare edition of this translation by Adrien Turnebe of Plutarch s two works on the oracles,  De defectu oraculorum  and  De Figura El, consecrata delphis , prefaced with a lengthy and important essay by Camerarius. There is no Greek text to complement Turnebe s translation, but Camerarius includes Turnebe s annotations and explanations, drawn from other Greek authors, who discuss methods of divination, oracles and astrology. Camerarius  lengthy preface is important as he not only comments on Plutarch s text on oracles and prophecy but extends the discussion into contemporary concern over witches and witch-craft.  Joachim Camerarius was a Lutheran scholar of high reputation, who died in 1574. He seems to have had much interest in these matters (demonology and witchcraft). Graesse (p.14) gives as his a book  De Natura et Affectionibus Daemonorum  Libri II Lipsiae, 1576, though this is rather a translation of Plutarch s book of that name by Turnebus, with an introduction by Camerarius (Graesse, p. 46). ... Camerarius says he was led to consider the subject (of witchcraft) by a talk with Albinus, who related the horrible deeds of witches of which he had heard in a recent journey towards the Rhine.... Besides this were accounts by Albinus from many places of these unfortunate women punished with atrocious penalties. .. His essay (the preface) is largely devoted to classic times, but he has full faith in all that is attributed to witches and he says:  Tanta est enim exemplorum hujas generis copia ut ejus toti pluminarum chartarum libri compleri hi quidem possent sed enumerari illa non possent  Introd. to de Defectu Oraculorum..... Camerarius was consulted in 1571 by William IV of Hesse Cassel about some women arrested for jugglers tricks on a boy. Camerarius opposed the use of torture in such cases and also the water ordeal which Wilhelm was disposed to employ, as he was sure they would sink, and warned him against the cruelty of witch burning and the prosecutions by which the innocent were obliged to confess.  Henry Charles Lea.  Materials Toward a History of Witchcraft . Plutarch s two works on the Oracles and prophecy touch on a wide range of subjects including some astronomy, geometry and some interesting bits of information about Britain and the East. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Guillaume Baucynet was a doctor from Orleans who wrote a number of medical treatises, some of which were controversial, particularly his  Notationes in apologiam et censuram scholae medicorum Parisiensium  which defended, against the Faculte de Paris, spagyric methods, a form of alchemical practice involving the production of herbal remedies using alchemical procedures.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PLUTARCH [and] CAMERARIUS, Joachim","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816118001999,"sku":"L1418","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_00323.jpg?v=1781795302"},{"product_id":"partlicius-simeon-von-spitzberg","title":"PARTLICIUS Simeon, von Spitzberg","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn extremely rare prognostication based on Scripture various Christian authors, probably in its first edition. There were two issues in that year and no precedence has been ascribed, if indeed there is one. Astronomer and physician Simeon Partlitz or Partlicius (1588-1640) was an exile from Bohemia and a millenarist influenced by the Calvinist theology of Alsted and by Rosicrucianism. His prognostication is divided into three sections where he collects excerpts first from the Old and New Testament, then from the works of Martin Luther and other Lutheran theologians, and finally from earlier Christian scholars. All portend violent renewal for the world and for Germany, and an unpleasant reversal for Rome. He then attaches a 'Confutation' which expresses his anger that various astronomical and astrological works had been published under his name, without his knowledge, consent, or, implicitly, any chance of his being paid for them. He counsels against avarice, states that God will punish these wrong-doers, and notes that he doesn't even have the time to write anything of that sort, busy as he is with his medical practice. The final four pages of the pamphlet comprise a poem in German criticising the immorality of the rich and emphasising the futility of all wealth gathering, unless accompanied by moral repentance. VD 17 lists only four entries for printing in Alkmaar, Northern Holland, all of the present title, two in 1635, and two in 1637. One of the entries queries whether the imprint is fictitious. The paper is in fact typically German of the period.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PARTLICIUS Simeon, von Spitzberg","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816118493519,"sku":"L1283a","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0013.jpg?v=1781795302"},{"product_id":"lemnius-levin-translated-by-j-gohory","title":"LEMNIUS, Levin (translated by J. Gohory)","description":"\u003cp\u003eLemnius (1505-1568) studied medicine at Louvain under Dodoens, Gessner, and Vesalius and practised for over forty years in his home town of Zelande with great success. This work, translated by Jacques Gohory, was designed as much for the amusement of the reader as for his education, and contains a mass of information, partly real, partly fantastic, taken from ancient Greek, Hebrew, Arab, and Latin sources, and presented and commented on in rather haphazard fashion.  Bits of medical and natural lore are thrown together hit-or-miss,  but not without importance  since it was often cited by subsequent learned authors, and since the numerous editions and translations of it show that it was well suited to the tastes of the time.  (Thorndike). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Despite his interest in the occult and belief in the importance of the influence that the stars and moon exert on the person, Lemnius remained pragmatic, always insisting on the importance of treating the patient with what remedies were available rather than relying on astronomy. Of the many diverse and interesting subjects the book deals with, such as the effects of human saliva, or whether it is better to sleep with one s mouth open or closed, one most referred to is the subject of vines, wine and drunks. White wine should be drunk before red, vinegar is useful in times of plague, the wines of the Poitou make you quarrelsome whereas the wines of the Rhine make you amorous, and when inebriated, you must not sleep in the moon rays. Translations of books dealing with the occult sciences are rare (an English translation of this work did not appear until 1650).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LEMNIUS, Levin (translated by J. Gohory)","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816125473103,"sku":"L0","price":2450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8421.jpg?v=1781795278"},{"product_id":"stoffler-johannes-and-pitati-pietro","title":"ST√ñFFLER, Johannes and PITATI, Pietro","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn expanded and beautiful edition of the almanac by Johannes Stöffler. As with all books of this kind, it had a wide circulation, but complete copies are rare and sought after. The volume provides the positions of stars at regular intervals of date and time, through detailed tables of value. It includes five introductive treatises on astronomic rules and phenomena, along with the celestial calculations from 1551 up to 1555, all by Pietro Pitati. Stöffler (1452-1531) was a German mathematician, astronomer and priest. He invented some astronomical instruments and taught at the University of Tübingen. Embracing the timespan 1499-1551, his celestial calculations continued those by Regiomontanus (1436-1476) and exerted a paramount influence over contemporary astronomical and astrological knowledge. The sixteenth-century Italian scholar Pietro Pitati was a professor of astronomy in Verona. The book is dedicated to the city bishop and prominent cardinal Gian Matteo Giberti. Pitati s ephemerides published in Venice in 1542 are regarded as the earliest Italian publication of this genre. He kept publishing his calculation up to the year 1562. In his Compendium super annua solaris (1560), he put forward for the first time the idea of omitting the Julian leap day in three out of four centennial years, so to keep the calendar in line with the solar year. Rare.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ST√ñFFLER, Johannes and PITATI, Pietro","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816126619983,"sku":"L1860","price":4850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/titlepage_397e283d-7929-4ac0-881a-e92ef0e8e901.png?v=1781795275"},{"product_id":"molitor-ulricus","title":"MOLITOR, Ulricus","description":"\u003cp\u003eA beautiful copy of this exceptionally rare and important text, the first and most important illustrated work on witches and a work that has defined the image of witches to this day. The  De Lamiis,  was first published in 1489 with the same series of iconic woodcuts. It is one of the earliest printed works on witchcraft, and contains the first ever illustrations of witches. This, probably the first Basel edition, is beautifully printed in a fine gothic letter in thirty-two lines and very finely illustrated with seven stunning woodcuts depicting witches and their activities. The first depicts two witches around a large pot, one throwing in a cockerel the other preparing to throw in a snake, the resulting brew creating a storm. The other blocks represent a lycanthropic scene of a wizard mounted on a wolf, the devil disguised as a bourgeois man corrupting a woman, the ensorcellment of a man by a witch firing a spell, witches transformed into animals flying on brooms, and a group of three witches around a table. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The book is written in the form of a dialogue between the author and the dedicatee, the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, who doubts the existence of witches. At a time when complete theories about witchcraft were yet to be established, the author defended belief in the powers of the Devil and his ability to trick the human mind. The woodcut depicting three witches together, eating and drinking beneath a tree, is typical of the format of the work. The title on the previous page to this woodcut reads  An super lupum vel baculum unctum ad convivia veniant et mutuo comedant et bibant et sibi mutuo loquantur ac se invicem agnoscant.   Can [witches] come to feasts on a wolf or an anointed stick, eat drink, speak together and recognize one another?  The women are not doing anything other than eating but the image has become deeply anchored in the popular imagination, as it was used and referred to again and again in imagery and literature throughout the centuries, not least in Shakespeare s  Macbeth.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  The first tract on witches to be illustrated, 1489   94, was written by the lawyer Ulrich Molitor from Constance in 1484. He actually argues against the persecution of witches because he was sceptical of the value of confessions under torture. He did, however, believe that they were heretics and should be punished with death. In the illustrations, the witches are not characterised by any special dress or undress, implying that all women were capable of being witches. They look like ordinary housewives except in the  Flight to the witches  Sabbath, when they are changed into animal shapes. Although the text speaks of the witches  evil activities being a figment of their imagination, delusions inspired by the devil, the illustrations portray the effects of their malignant and harmful magical spells as real enough, e.g. a witch shooting at a man who tries to jump away, or witches making a brew, using a rooster and a serpent as ingredients, whilst hailstones come crashing down from the sky. Molitor certainly believed in the reality of their sexual intercourse with the devil.   Picturing women in late Medieval and Renaissance art  by Christa Grössinger. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  With the appearance of Ulrich Molitor s  On Witches  in 1488   89, the arguments of the Malleus were repeated in the literary format of a conversation among Molitor, Duke Sigismund of the Tyrol, and Sigismund s minister Conrad Schatz, with a suite of seven remarkable woodcuts that for the first time offered related pictorial images of witches  activities without any identifying physical or costume features attributed to witches   that is, some of the illustrations seem to depict ordinary women doing ordinary things.  Witchcraft in Europe, 400   1700. Alan Charles Kors, Edward Peters. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Several of the incunable editions of this book, including the first, have the date 10 January 1489 on the colophon. ISTC and GW date this edition to around 1495, though it is clearly earlier than Fairfax Murray (German, volume II, no. 289) also ascribed to Basel, Amerbach or Furter, which contains identical but broken versions of the same woodcuts, which Fairfax Murray dates to 1490. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Brunet cites this copy from the library of Reagh Mac-Carthy, the great Irish bibliophile (who found refuge in France, near Toulouse) in his sale of 1815 (I no. 1678). Justin  Reagh  Mac-Carthy himself bought some of the major collections of the C18th, such as the library of Giradot de Prefond, and founded one of the richest personal libraries ever assembled, which included over eight hundred volumes of works printed on vellum. He also seems to have profited from the na√Øvety of the Librarian of Albi, Jean-François Massol, who was proud to have  swapped  several precious medieval manuscripts with him for more  useful  works such as Buffons  8vo.  Histoire Naturelle.  The sale of his books at Paris in 1815 was one of the greatest of that century. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This copy then passed to the library of the Marquis of Germigny (sold 1939, no 13). In Mac-Carthy s sale the work is recorded as being bound with the  Tractatus Utilissimus artis memorative  by Matheoli Perusini (1498). This work was probably removed at some stage when the binding was restored. (As this work was only seven leaves, its removal did not affect the spine.) Its last owner was the great Scholar, author and bibliographer Guy Bechtel, author of the  Catalogue des Gothiques Francais 1476   1560.  We have found no record of the early sixteenth century owner,  Millot de Sombernon.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A lovely copy of a hugely important text with a very beautiful and most influential set of woodcuts, and most distinguished provenance.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MOLITOR, Ulricus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816132813135,"sku":"K29","price":95000.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8035.jpg?v=1781795255"},{"product_id":"tornamira-francisco-vicente-de","title":"TORNAMIRA, Francisco Vicente de","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare first edition of a wide-ranging astronomical, cosmographical and historical book, one of the first of its kind to be directly written in Spanish. Little is known of the life of Francisco Vicente de Tornamira (1534   1597), born in Tudela, Navarre. Chronographia was the most influential work of this prominent Spanish astronomer, illustrating in 162 chapters the creation of the universe, the various branches of philosophy, the movement of planets, the constellations and the Zodiac, the universal chronology realm by realm, a series of calendars, almanacs and weather forecasts. All the subjects were elucidated further with a large number of illustrations, including, most notably, a traditional depiction of the Armillary Sphere and other globes, the Astronomical Man and the Roman gods on their chariots representing the planets named after them. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A fervent supporter of Ptolemaic vision of the universe against the heliocentric theory, Tornamira comes up with convoluted explanations to bridge the gap between mathematical calculation and the traditional model of planetary movement. A most interesting part is devoted to the solar calendar and the recent reform introduced in 1582 by Pope Gregory XIII, discussing the exact days of the year in which Lent, Corpus Domini and Easter should be celebrated. Tornamira expanded on this topic in his subsequent work, the Spanish translation of the new Gregorian calendar (1591). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  On p. 40 there is a reference to the Magellan circumnavigation; on p. 497 a list of the midsummer s days of the New World; on p. 538-539 locations of New World cities.  Alden 585\/67.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"TORNAMIRA, Francisco Vicente de","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816133173583,"sku":"L2100","price":5250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/titlepage_58d321ef-f136-42e3-94ac-f02255bd5756.png?v=1781795254"},{"product_id":"visconti-zaccaria","title":"VISCONTI, Zaccaria","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare Venetian edition of this important and most influential work on Excorcism and remedies against evil spirits by the Milanese exorcist Visconti. Zaccaria Visconti, a professional exorcist from Milan, belonged to the order of SS. Barnaba e Ambrogio, a company of secular priests founded by Carlo Borromeo. He taught the art of exorcism (he is referred to on the title page as a professor of the art of exorcism and perhaps taught at the university of Pavia) and flourished between the late sixteenth and early seventeenth century. This most interesting treatise addresses all aspects of exorcism, provides the theological and theoretic framework for the practise of exorcism as well as a manual of instruction on techniques, prayers, formulae, rituals and all sorts of remedies to expel the Evil within. As pointed out in the initial dedication, Visconti hoped that his books would help reduce the number of cases of demonic possession recently recorded in the Milanese area. Visconti s work shared many similarities with other works on demons, and the art of exorcism, with other Franciscan exorcists, though his own work has much local reference particular to Italy, and more specifically to Milan. His work was printed, by Lazarus Zetzner, in Cologne, in a collection of the six major works of the Franciscan Exorcists in a single volume, Thesaurus exorcismorum ( The treasury of Exorcists ) in 1607, often described as the greatest compendium of exorcism manuals. These works shared many similarities and all were particularly preoccupied with witchcraft, often merging exorcism, counter-witchcraft and the demonstration of techniques on how to ward off demons or evil spirits. Visconti s work was therefore part of a body of work that was distilled into the shorter exorcism ritual prescribed in the Rituale Romanum (1612) the church s official guide for exorcisms in use down to the present day. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The map on the title page is most intriguing as, even though it is tilted to the north pole, it shows, in the southern hemisphere, two distinct and separate land masses, one in the place of Antarctica and the other in the place of Australia, with the Dutch East Indies clearly above. The Dutch had landed on the north coast of Australia in 1606 followed by Spanish and Portuguese sightings and a second landing by the Dutch in 1616. An interesting and surprisingly accurate depiction of  Terra Australis  on the eve of its recognition as the Australian continent.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VISCONTI, Zaccaria","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816137793871,"sku":"L2723","price":3950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2024-08-06-at-14.30.18.webp?v=1781795195"},{"product_id":"menghi-girolamo","title":"MENGHI, Girolamo","description":"\u003cp\u003eExcellent editions of two of the most important and influential works on exorcism of the sixteenth century by the most authoritative exorcist of Renaissance Italy, the Franciscan, Girolamo Menghi, later included in the authoritative collection on exorcisms the  Thesaurus exorcismorum . Menghi was born in Viadana in the province of Mantua. At the age of 20 he joined the Franciscans, rising to provincial superior in 1598. A theologian and exorcist, he practiced in Bologna, and was known as  the father of the exorcists  art . His best known work,  Flagellum Daemonum  was translated into Italian and published in 1576, as  Compendio dell arte essorcisica  so it would reach the widest audience possible.  In 1576 he (Menghi) published his Flagellum daemonum (the Daemon s Scourge), followed by Fustus daemonum (The Daemon s Bludgeon) in 1584. Both books were published in one volume from 1598 and soon became popular all over Europe. The texts consist of both a theoretical treatise and a hands on guide describing actual exorcisms. Fustis daemonum lists exorcisms that follow a strict formula: after an initial prayer, signs of the cross are made, followed by incantations, a reading from the Gospels, and repeated orations  Joseph P. Laycock  Spirit Possession around the World: Possession, Communion, and Demon.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Girolamo Menghi s Flagellum Daemonum .. was a collection of seven rites of exorcism with detailed instructions on the preparation of the priest and the victim and what sorts of gestures or paraphernalia the priest should employ. No magic wands are mentioned, but the priest could make the Sign of the Cross with great frequency and drape the victim with his stole. He could use his book of exorcism, holy water, fire, or images of the devil. Various herbs or minerals burnt in smudges could help drive out the devil. Various sacramentals had to be specially blest - in essence, purified to make sure they had no diabolic residue - and there are rites of blessing given in this manual as well  Jane Davidson,  Early Modern Supernatural: The Dark Side of European Culture, 1400-1700.  Menghi prefaces the Flagellum with a vehement defence of exorcism. Dedicating the work to Cardinal Gabriele Paleotto, Menghi advocates a much more aggressive promotion and publication of books of exorcisms. He states it is impossible to extirpate this plague unless the art of performing exorcisms is fully known and appreciated throughout the Catholic world.  Worried about the perceived chaos that characterised exorcismal activities in Italy and the unorthodox practices employed by many exorcists, Menghi set himself the goal of compiling all of the existing authorized rituals into a manual for the use of parish exorcists. His books instruct exorcists on how to diagnose a genuine diabolic possession, how to confront the demons, and how to cast out evil spirits, and they contain numerous exorcismal liturgies. This concrete and practical approach was due partly to the events of the recent past. A certain  aegritudo , a mysterious and deadly infection, was threatening innumerable victims, Menghi stated... [he] also intended to prove that demons possessed human beings and animals, and .. argued that  medicina celeste,  as it was practiced by ecclesiastical exorcists, was the only appropriate means to overcome diabolic power  Moshe Sluhovsky. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Menghi was well acquainted with demoniacal literature; the authors he quotes range from Avicenna to Michael Psellus, from Lull to Sprenger. Despite his contemporary fame his works were placed on the index of forbidden books by the Sant Uffizio in the C18th.  Girolamo Menghi articulated a philosophy of evil that reflected the social and religious culture of his time. .... He tried to arrange devils according to their function, spheres of action and bad habits - just as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite had arranged angels in his  Celestial Hierarchy  . Gaetano Paxia.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MENGHI, Girolamo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816137924943,"sku":"L2667","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_3821-e1502469348358.jpg?v=1781795195"},{"product_id":"thyraeus-petrus","title":"THYRAEUS, Petrus","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond, enlarged edition (the first appeared in 1594), of this demonological tract and handbook for exorcists. Petrus Thyraeus, born in Neuss (Rhineland), joined the Jesuits in 1561, and taught at Jesuit colleges first in Trier and then in Mainz. In 1590, he was appointed professor of theology at the University of Würzburg, and found a patron in Prince-Bishop Julius Echter von Mespelbrunn. He published a number of works on theology, visions and apparition, possessions and exorcism, and on traditional theological subjects such as the Eucharist and the role of the Catholic Church. Petrus Thyraeus concludes in this work that the visible, audible, and tangible phenomena associated with hauntings are hallucinations caused by demons or spirits. It inquires into the nature of demonic possession, its signs, how it occurs, whether witches, magicians, diviners, or heretics are possessed (usually not) whether the Church should be sought to exorcise them (he believed not); finally, he asks whether demons should be allowed to come out of a person if they so desire, and concludes that they should but only if such action is done to the glory of God. The Protestant Reformation and the Counter-Reformation of the sixteenth century gave occasion to re-examine many aspects of Catholic theology and practice, exorcism among them. As the Malleus malificarum of the fifteenth century was an attempt to establish a thorough and systematic definition of witchcraft in the fifteenth century, so in the sixteenth there was an effort to define possession and exorcism. The Daemoniaci is a fascinating example of these early efforts. It is said to be the first systematic attempt to define demonic possession and exorcism. Thyraeus lists a variety of demonic symptoms, like speaking in unknown languages and hungering for raw meat, but spends just as much time talking about what aren t symptoms: leading an immoral lifestyle, having an unpleasant temperament, sleeping during the day, etc. His stated goal in writing the Daemoniaci was to make sure that people received proper treatment for whatever ailed them. Those suffering from what he calls a demonic  obsession  ought to receive exorcism, but those suffering from any number of other spiritual or physical problems ought to seek care elsewhere. For Thyraeus, the latter still meant seeing a priest, as he considered doctors to be quacks. Cf. Jennifer Lowe.  Driving out the Devil: Demons, Witches, and Magic in the Rare Book Collection.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"THYRAEUS, Petrus","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138023247,"sku":"L2672","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_3791-e1502469778170.jpg?v=1781795195"},{"product_id":"le-loyer-pierre","title":"LE LOYER, Pierre","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare first edition of this highly influential and important work on ghosts, visions, demons, witches, and transformations by the the demonologist and poet Le Loyer (1550-1634). Using a number of ancient authors as sources, both religious and secular, Le Loyer details the causes of apparitions, the natures of spirits and demons, magicians and sorcerers, and how they communicate. Zachary Jones made a translation, the only early English version, that corresponded with the second French edition 1605. This work introduced the term  Spectre  into the English language. Le Loyer was a very considerable scholar, widely read in the medieval authors such as Lull and Nider and their later counterparts, Cardan, Lemnius and Sprenger. Whilst admitting that in many cases ghosts, apparitions, demons and prodigies were merely the result of a deranged imagination, hypersensitivity or natural occurrences, he insists that both good and bad spirits do appear to men in visible form. He discusses at length the question of the return of the souls of the dead, citing the opinions of Jewish cabalists and Moslems. Also considered in detail are the raising of demons, necromancy, the distinguishing of evil spirits from Angels, the souls of the dead, the use of charms and the practice of exorcism. He is contemptuous of Paraclesus and dismissive of alchemical medicine in general. In the first chapter Le Loyer attempts to define the nature of spirits   which the author calls  spectres    while also developing a scientific approach to this human phenomenon, which he distinguishes from the study of ghosts. In Le Loyer s opinion, there is a real difference between  on the one hand, an apparition that is the product of the human imagination (insane or not), which he calls a  fantasm  and, on the other hand, the apparition of a Spirit who, of its own accord takes shape in the human imagination as a spectre.  (Huot, p. 578).  Éliane Laberge.  Ghost stories by Pierre Le Loyer.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Before his treatise on ghosts appeared in 1586, Le Loyer was known as a playwright and poet .. he published a translation of Ovid s  Ars Amatoria  and three comedies..By the mid 1580 s Le Loyer was a writer of some repute. ..Now back in Angers the author chose to move away from poetry and devote his energies to a new project, a treatise on ghosts. The publication was evidently a costly and complex undertaking. George Nepveu, who had just been made maitre libraire-jure to the University of Angers, oversaw the publication which had to be financed at Le Loyer s own expense. .. the result - a quarto of over a thousand pages - was an object de luxe, marked out for the gentleman s library. .. The sheer number not to mention the range of Le Loyer s sources are indeed impressive. So extensive is his reading in the Church Fathers and medieval theology, despite his lack of formal training, that Serclier was led to descibe him as  un grand jusrisconsulte et theologian tout ensemble . Over and above his Patristic sources, which he shared with a number of other writers on ghosts, Le Loyer s inventio also included a number of hitherto unknown stories and examples Le Loyer s expertise as a linguist and a lawyer allowed him access to an unprecedented range of spectral narratives. His treatise is also notable for being the first work of French demonology to draw extensively upon - and subsequently influence - contemporary European cosmography.  Timothy Chesters.  Ghost Stories in Late Renaissance France: Walking by Night.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This first edition if particularly rare. A very good copy in its original vellum.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LE LOYER, Pierre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138088783,"sku":"L2664","price":6950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2024-08-06-at-11.56.38.png?v=1781795194"},{"product_id":"michaelis-sebastien","title":"MICHAËLIS, Sébastien","description":"\u003cp\u003eExtremely rare first edition of the major work on sorcery by the redoubtable Dominican witch-hunter and inquisitor Sebastien Michaelis. Michaelis was vice-inquisitor in Avignon during the 1580s and was involved in a number of witch trials: a series of cases in 1581 and 1582 led to eighteen women being convicted and burnt. In 1587 he published this work on demons. By 1610 he was prior of the Dominican community at Saint-Maxim near Aix-en-Provence where he was later involved in one of the most notorious witch trials, and case of demonic possession, in the History of France, that of the priest Louis Gaufridi, who was convicted of sorcery, tortured and burnt, on the evidence of a nun ‘possessed by the devil.’  The many publications and the notoriety surrounding the Gaufridi case lead to the translation of this work, the Pneumalogie, into English in 1613, where it was of great influence. Executions for witchcraft in France became rarer after 1610 as the Parlements of Paris and several provinces were de facto decriminalising witchcraft. However Michaelis was Grand Inquisitor in the papal territory of Avignon and so fell out of French jurisdiction. “Michaelis was something of an expert on witchcraft, since he had served as vice-inquisitor during a major out-break of witchhunting in the region of Avignon. In this series of trials in 1581 and 1582, at least fourteen witches were convicted and burnt. Jonathan L. Pearl. ‘The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620’\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eMichaelis’ work on witches is particularly interesting for its focus on women and sexuality; this and the fact that the work was written in the ‘vulgar’ vernacular caused some disquiet among the clergy in France. In this work he gives an example of a sentence passed at Avignon in 1582 as comprising, in a little space, the most execrable and abominable of the crimes of witches and Sorcerers, which includes their use of broomsticks, the murder and dismemberment of new born babies, copulating with devils, “then adding sin to sin you the men did copulate with Succubi and you the women did fornicate with Incubi.” …“Sebastien Michaelis, the leading French Dominican, wrote in his ‘Pneumalogie, ou discours des esprits’ of ‘la simplicite naturelle qui est en ce sexe’ and of the Devil’s awareness ‘que c’est un organe propre a attirer l’homme a sa volonté.’ But he also said that women were addicted to extremes of behaviour, good as well as bad, and then devoted the rest of his discussion to the examples of the latter not the former.” Brian P. Levack. ‘Gender and Witchcraft’.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eVery rare first edition of this most influential work on witches.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MICHAËLIS, Sébastien","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138187087,"sku":"L2669","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2913-e1504020643905.jpg?v=1781795194"},{"product_id":"daneau-lambert","title":"DANEAU, Lambert","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst collective edition of these works together in their first French translation; seperately published by Jacques Bourgeois in 1574 and 1575. Daneau s major work on witchcraft, Dialogus de veneficiis. was translated, first into French and then, in 1575, into English by Thomas Twyne as  A Dialogue of  Witches.   Lambert Daneau, a French Calvanist theologian and Minister, published a treatise on witches in 1574. The book took the form of a dialogue in which one speaker, Theophilus, responded to the occasionally skeptical questions presented to the other speaker, Anthony. The treatise establishes some of the main themes of the late sixteenth and seventeenth-century Protestant demonology. One of the most salient of those features was a heavy reliance on scripture. This biblicism is evident in Daneau s argument .. that to claim that witches were victims of melancholy was tantamount to the blasphemous denial of the biblical statement that the demoniacs whom Christ cured were also only melancholics and not possessed by demons. A second Protestant theme ..was that the increase in the number of witches was related to the prevalence of superstition and false religion that the Reformation was endeavouring to dispel. ..Calvinists claimed that the age of miracles had ended in biblical times and that magic performed by witches through the power of the devil consisted of nothing more than wonders. Daneau makes this point in his treatise and he also presents the argument  .. that the Devil, despite his great power, could only work within the laws of nature. One of the effects of this line of thought was to make the crime of witchcraft primarily a spiritual offence, consisting in the pact wth the Devil. This emphasis is clear in Daneau s treatise, and it was followed by most of the English demonologists of the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.   Brian P. Levack .  The Witchcraft Sourcebook.   Daneau states  The rise of witchcraft was due to the  terrible judgement of God against us  for  shamefully and obstinately  rejecting the true faith. There are four main reason why people choose to become  slaves to Satan : distrust in God, vanity, poverty and power. The most likely sort to fall under his sway are the  country men, ignorant and poor people,  as well as those who are proud of mind, or those in search of knowledge,  being desirous to know things to come and fortell them to others .. by which means many of the honourable and learned sort are seduced by Satan.   Lizanne Henderson.  Witchcraft and Folk Belief in the Age of Enlightenment   The second work is a most interesting treatise on games; specifically of cards and dice.  One of the first Protestants to write on ethical behaviour was a French Calvinist, Lambert Daneau. His books, many of which are translated into English, influenced many English Puritan writers. .. In Chapter 6 of the 1586 translation, Daneau specifies which types of games should be permitted for play among Christians. Games of pure chance, he says, should be forbidden while games of mixed chance and skill are allowable. In the latter situation his reasoning for allowance is that undesirable outcomes obtained through a chance event could be overcome by the industry or skill of the player. Games of pure chance are referred to as  alea  and are defined as those games that hang and depend (as it were) upon mere  chaunce of casting    Later in the text Daneau says that these practices  help the chaunce . These methods of cheating are obviously  skills  which can overcome undesirable outcomes; however Daneau excludes them from the allowable games of mixed chance and skill, referring to anyone who engages in such practices as  a leud fellowe and a cogging Verlot . Further on in his treatise (Ch. 9) Daneau provides some explicit reasons why he considered games of chance to be inappropriate for Christians. His first argument is that engaging in games of chance violates the third commandment not to take the name of God in vain. Daneau bases this conclusion on the assumption that God determines the outcome of a randomized event; to use randomizers for trifling matters such as gaming is to profane the majesty and power of God..  D. R. Bellhouse.  Probability in the Sixteenth and Seventeenth Centuries: An Analysis of Puritan Casuistry Author. .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DANEAU, Lambert","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138416463,"sku":"L2660","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2660-Daneau-1.jpg?v=1781795193"},{"product_id":"vairo-leonardo","title":"VAIRO, Leonardo","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition in French translation of this important work on diabolic possession, one of the major works on the subject of the the sixteenth century; it was published simultaneously by Chesneau in 1583 in Latin as  De fascino libri tres  and again in 1589 in Latin by the Aldine press. Vairo, born in Spain, became a Benedictine, and later Bishop of Pozzuoli near Naples. The work deals with the question of diabolic possession and fascination by witches, which the author attributes to the influence of devils. Vairo defines \"fascinum\" as \"a pernicious quality induced by art of demons because of tacit or express pact of men with the same demons\". He denies fascination by power of imagination, by strength or morbidity of vision, by touch and contact, and observation of stars. In his last chapter Vairo treats of safeguards and amulets against the impostures and illusions of demons. \u003cbr\u003e\n  Further early studies that associate fascination with witchcraft include   Leonardo Vairo s De fascino libris tres. In these accounts, fascination is used almost as a synonym fro malignant influences brought about by a silent pact with the devil and black magic and is closely connected to visual enchantment. The belief in the evil or bewitching eye (the oculus fascinus), which could enthral, immobilise and even kill simply by a glance.  Sibylle Baumbach  Literature and Fascination .The work is also of particular interest for its focus on the link between demonic corruption and  melancholy .  The delusory powers of melancholy so useful to demons, the demonologists were also often wont to point out, could also be extended to the deceptive demonic practise of aping divine miracles. Among the miracles especially notable for being aped by demons, as illustrated by the Neopolitan Benedictine Leonardo Vairo is the miraculous power to prophesy the future. For it was Vairo s aim, under the heading De Fascino, to reconcile extraordinary powers of prophetic insight in melancholics with their corresponding vulnerability to demonic corruption.  This attribution of demonic power extended for Vairo to such things as Poisons.  Poison was one of the great fears of the age. Its threat lay in the fact that its mode of operation was considered similar to that of magical spells and sorcery. For Leonardo Vairo.. veneficia were the same as Maleficia: not poisons so much as bewitchments, the horrible effects of which could be ascribed to demons.  David Gentilcore.  Healers and Healing in Early Modern Italy . \u003cbr\u003e\n A very good copy of this important demonological wrk.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VAIRO, Leonardo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138481999,"sku":"L2673","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_2840-e1501840948895.jpg?v=1781795193"},{"product_id":"crespet-pierre","title":"CRESPET, Pierre","description":"\u003cp\u003eExceptionally rare first edition of one of the most important and influential treatises on the devil, demons, witchcraft, spells and counter spells of the sixteenth century. The first book is composed of twenty discourses in which the author denounces with great precision (and not without a certain glee) the malefic spells of the devil, various copulations in the form of incubus and succubus, transformations, frightful prodigies, and false miracles – all the misfortunes of this world due to Satan. The second book, composed of six discourses, describes remedies for the devils malefic powers with the help of God and finally the victory of man. Other contemporary authors, like Jean Bodin, insisted on demonstrating the existence of the devil and witches while legitimising the hunting of the latter; others, like John Wier, seemingly more enlightened, tried to fight against this type of superstition. In this context, the work of Pierre Crespet, a Celestin monk, demonstrates a certain originality. His treatise “Two Books of the Hatred of Satan” remains orthodox in the way he perceives witches – his vision is close to that of Jean Bodin – but it is distinguished by the way in which he explains the causes of their appearance, and how their activities are determined on earth. In order to explain how witches have the power they have, such as the ability to cause hailstones and storms, the healing of sick men, to “prophetizer et predire choses à venir” he puts forward the argument that the weakness of man, inherent in his nature, is “une chose toute certaine, que les hommes n’ont pas moyen de leur propre vertu de faire telles choses, mais ils sont aydez par l’art et finesse des demons, qui entretiennent cette vertu de race en race”. He goes further and states that, in these terrestrial acts, the devil is not moved by the ambition of power, but by hatred that he transmits to witches which becomes the the driving force behind all their injurious acts.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eCrespet was undoubted heavily influenced by the bitter civil and religious wars that had been raging in France, and was an ardent supporter of the Catholic League. “Crespet was well known in his day as a league writer and Preacher in Paris. He was a fervent advocate of the league, from its first formation in 1576, and was prior of the Celestine abbey in Paris when he published his “Deux livres de la Hayne de Sathan.” For Crespet, all the troubles of his time were to be attributed to the Devil and his supporters, the Protestant heretics” Jonathan L. Pearl. “The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620.” “Also influential beyond the borders of France was .. Pierre Crespet’s tract (two books on the Hatred of Satan and Evil Spirits Against Mankind 1590). Crespet vigorously inveighed against Protestantism – which he considered a satanic heresy – much as Pierre de Lancre would do a few years later.” P. Levack. “The Oxford Handbook of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe and Colonial America.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAnother aspect of particular interest to Crespet’s work was his detailed discussion of the witches sabbath and its origins. “the demonologist Pierre Crespet located the witches’ dance in a tradition including the bacchanalian revel, early Christian transvestism and the masquerades of the Maschecroutte of contemporary Lyon. The inferior clergy of late medieval France celebrated Christmas and the New Year with burlesques which were readily attributable to God’s ape – singing in dissonances, braying like asses, making indecent grimaces and contortions, repeating prayers in gibberish, censing with puddings or smelly shoes and, above all, mocking the sermon and the mass with fatuous imitations.” Stuart Clark ‘Inversion, Misrule and the Meaning of Witchcraft.”\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eAn exceptionally rare and most interesting work on Witchcraft and demonology.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CRESPET, Pierre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816138514767,"sku":"L2659","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2659-Crespet-1.jpg?v=1781795192"},{"product_id":"de-vieri-francesco","title":"DE VIERI, Francesco","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition of this work on demons, familiar spirits, necromancers and other aspects of the occult by Francesco Vieri the Younger, called Verino (1524-1591). Born of a noble family, Verino taught at the University of Pisa, first holding a chair in Logic and later in Philosophy. He was a representative of Neoplatonism, who aimed at reconciling Paganism with Catholic theology, and a follower of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola. Most of his works were vernacular and include meditations on Plato s theology, Aristotelian meteorology and lectures on ethics, love and literature. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The Discorso was inspired by an event in the Benedictine monastery of Sant Anna in Pisa. In 1574 some nuns showed typical signs of demonic possession (speaking Latin, revealing secrets and mysteries of faith). Verino was asked to study their affliction and the effectiveness of the rites of exorcism applied. The work was composed for the Archbishop of Pisa, Jacopo Borbone, and received the approval of the local Inquisition. Preliminaries are the dedication to the Venetian aristocrat Bianca Cappello, an address from the printer and a list of sources, including the Fathers of the Church, Dante, Pythagoras, Hermes Trismegistus and the Platonic philosophers, such as Pico and Marsilio Ficino. Part 1 contains an introduction and provides an exhaustive explanation of the concept of  demon , merging Aristotelian, Platonic and Catholic arguments. Verino lists three meanings: the  demon  mentioned by Socrates, or the inner voice that guides men; the soul independent of the body and judged by God, and the spirit as a rational and immaterial substance, good or nasty, known as  angel . Verino states that the Platonic philosophers believe in the existence of the spirits, while the Aristotelian do not, as shown in the De anima (II). Part 2 mainly deals with the Platonic approach to this topic, according to which spirits have a mixed nature, half human and half divine. Part 3 describes the origin (original sin and divine punishment), nature and powers of spirits, according to the Bible, Augustin and Saint Jerome. A section particularly is dedicated to exorcism and the examination of the symptoms of possession (violence, plurilingualism and knowledge of events in the Bible). Part 4 focuses on reasons for and modes of possession. Verino maintains that spirits are jealous of men s happiness and want to make them suffer, as well as to demonstrate their power against God s will. They can hide in material objects and especially torment vulnerable individuals, such as virgins, pregnant women and sleep-walkers. They also are responsible for diabolic spells on human bodies, and inspire and help necromancers and witches.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DE VIERI, Francesco","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816140415311,"sku":"L2657e","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_5930.jpg?v=1781795183"},{"product_id":"michaelis-sebastien-1","title":"MICHA√ãLIS, S ébastien","description":"\u003cp\u003eExtremely rare first edition of the major work on sorcery by the redoubtable Dominican witch-hunter and inquisitor Sebastien Michaelis. Michaelis was vice-inquisitor in Avignon during the 1580s and was involved in a number of witch trials. In 1587 he published this work on demons. By 1610 he was prior of the Dominican community at Saint-Maxim near Aix-en-Provence where he was later involved in one of the most notorious witch trials, and case of demonic possession, in the History of France, that of the priest Louis Gaufridi, who was convicted of sorcery, tortured and burnt, on the evidence of a nun  possessed by the devil.   The many publications and the notoriety surrounding the Gaufridi case lead to the translation of this work, the Pneumalogie, into English in 1613, where it was of great influence. The first part of the book is divided into eight chapters discussing various aspects of witchcraft, sorcery, spirits, and possession, such as a chapter discussing if spirits have bodies, another on how evil spirits can possess people. The work then presents the case of a witch trail (in Latin) in which Michaelis was involved. He then provides eleven  Scholies  or sentences given against witches, which also includes much discussion on the nature of the devil.  The account of the Avignon witches featured the whole panoply of Continental diabolism, including devil-worship, the Sabbath, cannibalism of infants, copulation with incubi and succubi and the osculum obscenium in which witches pledged their allegiance to the devil by kissing a black goat on the anus. This Catholic work was sufficiently sensational to find a ready market in England.. . Francis Young  English Catholics and the Supernatural, 1553 1829.  Executions for witchcraft in France became rarer after 1610 as the Parlements of Paris and several provinces were de facto decriminalising witchcraft. However Michaelis was Grand Inquisitor in the papal territory of Avignon and so fell out of French jurisdiction.  Michaelis was something of an expert on witchcraft, since he had served as vice-inquisitor during a major out-break of witchhunting in the region of Avignon. In this series of trials in 1581 and 1582, at least fourteen witches were convicted and burnt. Jonathan L. Pearl.  The Crime of Crimes: Demonology and Politics in France, 1560-1620 . Michaelis  work on witches is particularly interesting for its focus on women and sexuality; this and the fact that the work was written in the  vulgar  vernacular caused some disquiet among the clergy in France. In this work he gives an example of a sentence passed at Avignon in 1582 as comprising, in a little space, the most execrable and abominable of the crimes of witches and Sorcerers, which includes their use of broomsticks, the murder and dismemberment of new born babies, copulating with devils,  then adding sin to sin you the men did copulate with Succubi and you the women did fornicate with Incubi.  .. Sebastien Michaelis, the leading French Dominican, wrote in his  Pneumalogie, ou discours des esprits  of  la simplicite naturelle qui est en ce sexe  and of the Devil s awareness  que c est un organe propre a attirer l homme a sa volont é.  But he also said that women were addicted to extremes of behaviour, good as well as bad, and then devoted the rest of his discussion to the examples of the latter not the former.  Brian P. Levack.  Gender and Witchcraft .  Very rare first edition of this most influential work on witches.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MICHA√ãLIS, S ébastien","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816141660495,"sku":"L2784","price":3750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2784-1.jpg?v=1781795175"},{"product_id":"maffei-francesco-scipione","title":"MAFFEI, Francesco Scipione","description":"\u003cp\u003eExcellent copy of the second edition of this influential treatise against C16 and C17 theories of witchcraft. After studying at the Jesuit college in Parma, Francesco Scipione Maffei (1675-1755) served as officer in the Bavarian army and later returned to Italy. His intellectual production encompassed plays, an illustrated history of Verona, essays on medieval palaeography (based on Jean Mabillon s ground-breaking theories), treatises on politics and religion. Maffei adhered to the  Enlightened Catholicism  upheld by Ludovico Antonio Muratori, whereby faith and ritual were reassessed with new attention to the sound principle of reason so dear to the European Enlightenment.  Arte magica dileguata  criticised traditional notions of witchcraft and magic calling wizards  tricksters , magic  a chimera  and witches  Sabbaths  laughable matter to all who are not stolid . With the help of ancient and more recent authorities, Maffei debunked the deep wisdom and knowledge assigned to witches and occult  sciences  and any positive correlation between supernatural spirits and human signs, acts or words. Even he had been supposed a wizard whilst experimenting with electricity, later discovering that lightning originates on earth and not in the sky. How could Christians, Maffei wonders, ever believe that God would wilfully allow the Devil to damage, hurt and even kill humans by means of magic? The work sparked heated debates in the form of 14 pamphlets theories which Maffei summarised and discredited in  Arte magica annichilata  in 1754.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MAFFEI, Francesco Scipione","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816142348623,"sku":"L2783b","price":1750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2783b.jpg?v=1781795171"},{"product_id":"della-porta-giovan-battista","title":"DELLA PORTA, Giovan Battista.","description":"\u003cp\u003eGood copy of the second vernacular edition of this handsomely illustrated, veiled defence of astrology. A scholar of natural sciences, the Neapolitan Giovan Battista della Porta (1535-1615) published extensively on subjects including agriculture, cryptography, meteorology and chemistry, and was at the centre of a wide scholarly network including Galileo. For his interest in  judicial  astrology not strictly concerned with heretical, occult questions, but with natural science, medicine and meteorology he founded the Academia Secretorum Naturae. Due to his theorisation of magic as an instrument for the understanding of natural phenomenology, he was investigated by the Inquisition in the mid-1580s.  Della celeste fisionomia , first published in Latin in 1603 and in the vernacular in 1614, was a fake attack against the  imaginary  discipline of astrology which the author had apparently repudiated after being warned by the Church. Through theories drawn from ancient and medieval authorities and under the pretence of dismissing the discipline in its entirety, della Porta rejected only the foundations of traditional astrology. He provided instead a different astrological theory according to which earthly bodies were dependent on the nature and mixing of their constitutive four humours in relation to planets and not simply on the domination of planets tout court. He illustrated the influence of the humours on human temperament and physical state e.g., the  unhappy  Saturnine (phlegmatic) constitution caused a melancholic disposition and illnesses including epilepsy, leprosy and kidney infections. Only if grounded in this theory could astrological prognostication based on the analysis of appearance and disposition be correct. Most interesting is his connection between human and animal physiognomy in the zodiac with Aries causing a hairy appearance and Taurus a broad forehead and the way in which predictions could proceed from physical traits like moles, build and height.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DELLA PORTA, Giovan Battista.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816143659343,"sku":"L2840","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2840.jpg?v=1781795170"},{"product_id":"virdung-von-hassfurt-johannes","title":"VIRDUNG VON HASSFURT, Johannes.","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn important collection of works on astrological medicine united in this edition for the first time by the Italian scholar Giovanni Paolo Gallucci (1538-1621), including: the treatise in 4 books by Johann Virdung (ca.1465-ca.1535), published in 1532; the  Iatromathematica  attributed to Hermes Trismegistus; the  Prognostica  by Imbrasius of Ephesus (pseudo Galen); and  De triplici vita  in 3 books ( De vita sana ,  De vita longa ,  De vita coelitus comparanda ), with an early treatise on the plague ( Epidemiarum antidotus ), both by the Florentine philosopher Marsilio Ficino (1422-1499), and the  Introductio ad astrologiam  by Gallucci himself. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Gallucci was a translator and cartographer. After completing his education in Padua, he moved to Venice. His interests ranged from astronomy to medicine and literature. He was one of the founders of the second Venetian Academy and wrote several works on astronomy, such as the important star atlas  Theatrum mundi, et temporis  (1588). Virdung was an influential physician and astrologer from Hasfurt. He studied in Leipzig and Krakow where he attended the lectures of Albertus de Brudzewo and Johannes von Glogau. In 1492 Virdung moved to Heidelberg where taught medicine, mathematics and astronomy and entered the service of the Electoral Palatine court, producing yearly prognostications regarding the ruling planets, the interpretation of eclipses and natural disasters, as well as social events (Joachimite prophecies). Virdung s bibliography includes at least 80 astrological works in German and Latin. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n After a dedicatory letter by Gallucci to the Bishop of Mantua, Sisto Vicedomini, explaining the relationship between disease and the influence of the stars over human bodies, the volume opens with Virdung s 4 books, each introduced by a short summary. Book 1 focuses on the basics of astrology (zodiac, stars, planets and other celestial bodies, such as the Moon), according to principles by Galen, Ptolemy (Opus Quadripartitum) and Cardan. Book 2 and 3 concern the classification of diseases and their remedies (drugs  ingredients; laxative and phlebotomy; bandages, embrocation and balms to relieve pain; poultice for the head and the stomach, infusions). They particularly deal with the definition of vomit and faeces as movements of the body to expel poison and humours, as well as with the issue of the periods of major danger for the health, for instance the moon phases. Book 4 discusses symptoms and features of the body which reveal specific diseases depending on the position of the stars, such as face appearance and the colour of urine. There follows the  Iatromathematica , supposedly by the Egyptian philosopher Hermes Trismegistus, a treatise in Latin translation which refers to medical astrology as a discipline subordinating clinical observation and therapeutic praxis to the scrutiny of the stars; the  Prognostica  or  De decubitu  in 13 chapters, an anonymous work on prognosis bringing together materials from the Galenic  Crises , as well as from the iatromathematical tradition. The second part of the volume contains Ficino s  De triplice vita , preceded by Gallucci s address to the reader. One of Ficino s later works, inspired by Galen, Plato and the Arab  Picatrix , and divided into three parts:  De vita sana , dedicated to Lorenzo the Magnificent, aiming at helping scholars achieve a healthy life through suitable diet and habits;  De vita longa , dedicated to the noble Florentine Filippo Valori, on eternal happiness, providing similar advice to the elderly;  De vita coelitus comparanda , prescribing gold and gems (talismans) as powerful health remedies. Last, a short astrological treatise by Gallucci dealing with celestial phenomena and related calculations, zodiac and planets, connection between stars and Fortune, and their influences on the bodies.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VIRDUNG VON HASSFURT, Johannes.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816144249167,"sku":"L2353","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2024-08-06-at-14.33.54.webp?v=1781794953"},{"product_id":"le-normant-jean","title":"LE NORMANT, Jean","description":"\u003cp\u003eFirst edition, published simultaneously at Paris by Nicolas Buon, and a French translation in two volumes, entitled  Histoire Veritable et Memorable de ce qui c est pass é sous l exorcisme de trois filles possed ées es pa√Øs de Flandre  also published by Olivier de Varennes. The latin edition is even rarer than the French, itself very rare. Extremely interesting accounts of the diabolic possession and exorcisms of the Nuns of the Monastery of St. Brigitte in Lille in 1613, conducted by the Dominican inquisitor Sebatien Micha√´lis and recounted by his disciple Le Normant. Michaelis was vice-inquisitor in Avignon during the 1580s and was involved in a number of witch trials: a series of cases in 1581 and 1582 led to eighteen women being convicted and burnt. In 1587 he published a work on demons, the  Pneumalogie ou discours des esprits . By 1610 he was prior of the Dominican community at Saint-Maxim near Aix-en-Provence where he was later involved in one of the most notorious witch trials, and cases of demonic possession, in the history of France, that of the priest Louis Gaufridi, who was convicted of sorcery, tortured and burnt, on the evidence of a nun  possessed by the devil.  The present work is even more extravagant in the details it gives than Michaelis  account of the Louis Gaufridi possessions of nuns in Aix. It bears extraordinary and most detailed witness to the immense pressure, both moral and physical, the nuns were subjected to when they were pressed to confess that they were in fact witches. Le Normant finds it  admirable  when the nun , Marie de Sains, having been denounced by three other nuns possessed by demons, ends up confessing to being a magician and witch herself, after months of imprisonment and  mortifications . Le Normant gives, naively, tremendous insight into the process involved in extracting these confessions, and in the  demonic  possessions that occurred. The questioning by the inquisitors reveals extraordinary accounts of sexual transactions with the devil which are all carefully recorded and categorised. These orgiastic rituals or sabbaths, follow a strict timetable. Thus on Sundays the devil takes his traditional form, with serpent feet, red tails claws and horns. Marie de Sains states in her confession that  quelle prenoit plus de plaisir lors qu elle avoit cohibitation avec le diable en forme de diable, que quand il abusoit d elle en forme humaine, ou d autre creature . On Mondays and Tuesdays these sabbaths were  ordinary , though the Thursday was consecrated to sodomy.  soit hommes, soit femmes commettent le p éch é de la chair, hors du vaisseau naturel: et que l on se polluait pours lors en plusieurs sortes et manieres de tout estranges et abominables, la femme avec la femme, l homme avec l homme.  Saturdays were reserved for bestiality where the devils took the form of many animals. When the nun Didyme, who had confessed to extraordinary horrors, retracts her confession at the end of the second work she states  Et je m esbahis ou j ay peu prendre de telles inventions: ce qui me donne a croire que c est le diable qui me les a souffl ées en l aureille.   One has to wonder if the devil she was referring to was not, explicitly, the inquisitors themselves. Cf. Marianne Closson  L imaginaire d émoniaque en France (1550-1650): genèse de la litt érature .    When Le Normant came to defend his  Histoire Veritable  against criticism from the academics of the Sorbonne, he too had to satisfy doubts about the propriety of listening to Demons. And, like Michaelis, he replied by stressing the overwhelming authority of properly conducted exorcisms and by examining what was revealed both for its intrinsic plausibility and for the way that might (in these two episodes at least) be externally corroborated by reference to the eschatological truths. Contemporaries did, therefore, express scepticism on this point (and increasingly came to do so) but these two Catholic authors cannot be said to have been unduly discomfited by there arguments  Stuart Clark.  Thinking with Demons: The Idea of Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe.   Extremely rare.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LE NORMANT, Jean","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816145690959,"sku":"L2848","price":2450.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2848.jpg?v=1781794945"},{"product_id":"peucer-kaspar","title":"PEUCER, Kaspar","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond edition in French of Peucer s encyclopaedic work on divination;  it seems to have been the most influential of his numerous writings which were concerned with the varied fields of medicine, astronomy, mathematics, natural history, and psychology , (Thorndike VI p. 493). On the whole the work approves of divination in natural circumstances   reading dreams, for instance, or the stars, but agrees with the Bible in condemning certain branches of divination related to demons and witchcraft. Peucer s bias is unflinchingly Protestant, denying the possibility of Miracles, and he attributed the successfulness of relics and invocations of saints to demons rather than divinity.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n After discussing divination in general, he turns to oracles and theomancy, then to magic, which he thus incorrectly implies is a variety of divination, whereas the opposite is true, then to divination from entrails, to augury and aruspicina, to lot-casting under which he puts geomancy and divining from names and numbers and to dreams and their interpretation. Next he considers medical prognostications, meteorology and weather prediction, physiognomy and chiromancy, astrology, and last prodigies and portents  (Thorndike VI p. 495). He is highly suspicious of Alchemy as a purely devilish art on the one hand, but on the other entirely approving of Astrology, which he himself put to practice and considered essential to the study of medicine. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Kasper Peucer (1525   1602) was a prominent physician and scholar who studied with Melanchthon (and married his daughter) at the University of Wittenberg where he was appointed in turn professor of philosophy, mathematics, and medicine. His pupil, John Garcaeus, called Peucer the  most celebrated professor of mathematics in this academy . Peucer s religious views were influenced by his close relationship with Melanchthon, which deviated from the local Lutheranism in its Calvinist colourings, and when Melanchthon died in 1560 Peucer became a prominent religious authority. Although he climbed the academic ranks quickly, and gained appointment as physician to Augustus I, Elector of Saxony, his  Crypto-Calvinist  beliefs were his downfall. In 1574, letters discovered by his patron that expressed a desire to convert Augustus to Calvinism led to a twelve year imprisonment in Königstein Fortress. After his release from prison in 1586, he became physician to the duke of Anhalf, where he remained until his death in 1602.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PEUCER, Kaspar","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816152801615,"sku":"L2851","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Screenshot-2024-08-06-at-12.28.35.webp?v=1781794933"},{"product_id":"le-loyer-pierre-1","title":"LE LOYER, Pierre","description":"\u003cp\u003eSecond edition of this highly influential and important work on ghosts, visions, demons, witches, and transformations by the the demonologist and poet Le Loyer (1550-1634). Using a number of ancient authors as sources, both religious and secular, Le Loyer details the causes of apparitions, the natures of spirits and demons, magicians and sorcerers, and how they communicate. Zachary Jones made a translation, the only early English version, from this second edition and his work introduced the term  Spectre  into the English language. This second edition slightly changes the form of the work, dividing the text into eight parts, from four in the first. Le Loyer was a very considerable scholar, widely read in the medieval authors such as Lull and Nider and their later counterparts, Cardan, Lemnius and Sprenger. Whilst admitting that in many cases ghosts, apparitions, demons and prodigies were merely the result of a deranged imagination, hypersensitivity or natural occurrences, he insists that both good and bad spirits do appear to men in visible form. He discusses at length the question of the return of the souls of the dead, citing the opinions of Jewish cabalists and Moslems. Also considered in detail are the raising of demons, necromancy, the distinguishing of evil spirits from Angels, the souls of the dead, the use of charms and the practice of exorcism. He is contemptuous of Paraclesus and dismissive of alchemical medicine in general. In the first chapter Le Loyer attempts to define the nature of spirits   which the author calls  spectres    while also developing a scientific approach to this human phenomenon, which he distinguishes from the study of ghosts. In Le Loyer s opinion, there is a real difference between  on the one hand, an apparition that is the product of the human imagination (insane or not), which he calls a  fantasm  and, on the other hand, the apparition of a Spirit who, of its own accord takes shape in the human imagination as a spectre.  (Huot, p. 578).  Éliane Laberge.  Ghost stories by Pierre Le Loyer.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Before his treatise on ghosts appeared in 1586, Le Loyer was known as a playwright and poet .. he published a translation of Ovid s  Ars Amatoria  and three comedies..By the mid 1580 s Le Loyer was a writer of some repute. ..Now back in Angers the author chose to move away from poetry and devote his energies to a new project, a treatise on ghosts. The publication was evidently a costly and complex undertaking.  the result   a quarto of over a thousand pages   was an object de luxe, marked out for the gentleman s library. .. The sheer number not to mention the range of Le Loyer s sources are indeed impressive. So extensive is his reading in the Church Fathers and medieval theology, despite his lack of formal training, that Serclier was led to describe him as  un grand jusrisconsulte et theologian tout ensemble . Over and above his Patristic sources, which he shared with a number of other writers on ghosts, Le Loyer s inventio also included a number of hitherto unknown stories and examples Le Loyer s expertise as a linguist and a lawyer allowed him access to an unprecedented range of spectral narratives. His treatise is also notable for being the first work of French demonology to draw extensively upon   and subsequently influence   contemporary European cosmography.  Timothy Chesters.  Ghost Stories in Late Renaissance France: Walking by Night.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n A handsome copy of this monumental and most influential work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LE LOYER, Pierre","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816153293135,"sku":"L2847","price":5750.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8522.jpg?v=1781794925"},{"product_id":"raimondo-annibale","title":"RAIMONDO, Annibale","description":" Good copy of the FIRST EDITION of this successful work on numerology. Annibale Raimondo (1505-91) was a physician from Verona and the author of several pamphlets on astrology, prognostics and the Gregorian calendrical reform. His  Opera  addressed the only too human wish to know future events, providing a method of interpretation integrating traditional ones like astrology, chiromancy or necromancy. It is the  science  of  nomandia  an astrological system whereby the letters of names and nouns are given numerical values which help foresee events or discover the content or identity of  cose occulte , that is, literally, unknown items or people. Names should be written in the  Latin nominative  and  with the true orthography and without barbarism , to ensure a standardized spelling for equal results, whilst calculations should follow Raimondi s instructions and take into account the influx of planets according to a  philosophical wheel  with numbers, letters and zodiac signs engraved in the introduction. The initial part of the work features a long list of questions its readers might want to see addressed. These include the traditional desire to know whether future events will bring good or bad fortune, one s offspring will be male or female or the coming year will see famine, war or peace, but also intriguing requests like ways of telling the content of an unopened letter, the appearance of a thief who acted unseen, whether a prisoner will manage to escape or a physician be unable to heal one s illness because he is  ignorant , a  fugitive  or a  foreigner . The rest is devoted to combinations of numbers and zodiac signs providing specific answers to the initial question, with excursions into physiognomics. The  Opera  was added to the  Index Librorum Prohibitorum  in 1559 as an  item de geomantia et de chiromantia  methodologies almost completely absent in the work and only present in the subtitle, where Raimondi is described as  Astrologo, Geomante, Chiromante \u0026amp; Fisionomo . ","brand":"RAIMONDO, Annibale","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816155062607,"sku":"L2853","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L2853.jpg?v=1781794918"},{"product_id":"menghi-girolamo-1","title":"MENGHI, Girolamo","description":"\u003cp\u003eExcellent editions of two of the most important and influential works on exorcism of the sixteenth century by the most authoritative exorcist of Renaissance Italy, the Franciscan, Girolamo Menghi. Both these works were later included in the authoritative collection on exorcisms the  Thesaurus exorcismorum . Menghi was born in Viadana in the province of Mantua. At the age of 20 he joined the Fransciscan order, rising to the level of provincial superior in 1598. A theologian and exorcist, he practised in Bologna, and was known as  the father of the exorcists  art . His best known work,  Flagellum Daemonum  was translated into Italian and published in 1576, as  Compendio dell arte essorcisica  so it would reach the widest audience possible. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Girolamo Menghi s Flagellum Daemonum (the Devil s Scourge), (was) originally published in Venice in 1576. This was a collection of seven rites of exorcism with detailed instructions on the preparation of the priest and the victim and what sorts of gestures or paraphernalia the priest should employ. No magic wands are mentioned, but the priest could make the Sign of the Cross with great frequency and drape the victim with his stole. He could use his book of exorcism, holy water, fire, or images of the devil. Various herbs or minerals burnt in smudges could help drive out the devil. Various sacramentals had to be specially blest - in essence, purified to make sure they had no diabolic residue - and there are rites of blessing given in this manual as well  Jane Davidson,  Early Modern Supernatural: The Dark Side of European Culture, 1400-1700.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Girolamo Menghi prefaces the Flagellum with a vehement defence of exorcism. Dedicating the work to Cardian Gabriele Paleotto, Menghi advocates a much more aggressive promotion and publication of books of exorcisms. He states it is impossible to extirpate this plague unless the art of performing exorcisms is fully known and appreciated throughout the Catholic world. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n  Worried about the perceived chaos that characterized exorcismal activities in Italy and the unorthodox practices employed by many exorcists, Menghi set himself the goal of compiling all of the existing authorized rituals into a manual for the use of parish exorcists. His books instruct exorcists on how to diagnose a genuine diabolic possession, how to confront the demons, and how to cast out evil spirits, and they contain numerous exorcismal liturgies. This concrete and practical approach was due partly to the events of the recent past. A certain  aegritudo , a mysterious and deadly infection, was threatening innumerable victims, Menghi stated... [he] also intended to prove that demons possessed human beings and animals, and .. argued that  medicina celeste,  as it was practised by ecclesiastical exorcists, was the only appropriate means to overcome diabolic power  Moshe Sluhovsky. Menghi was well acquainted with demoniacal literature; the authors he quotes range from Avicenna to Michael Psellus, from Lull to Sprenger. Despite his contemporary fame his works were placed on the index of forbidden books by the Sant Uffizio in the C18th.  Girolamo Menghi articulated a philosophy of evil that reflected the social and religious culture of his time. .... He tried to arrange devils according to their function, spheres of action and bad habits - just as Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite had arranged angels in his  Celestial Hierarchy  . Gaetano Paxia. Very good copies of these rare and influential works.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"MENGHI, Girolamo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816155652431,"sku":"L1399","price":4950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/L1399-Menghi.jpg?v=1781794914"},{"product_id":"albrecht-lorenz","title":"ALBRECHT, Lorenz","description":"\u003cp\u003eA remarkably clean copy of this German astrological almanac a rare survival of C16 ephemera. A former Lutheran preacher, Lorenz Albrecht (1540-1606) was the author of German and Latin religious works and re-converted to the Catholic faith in 1567.  Evangelisch Prognosticon  testifies to his disillusionment with the Protestant Reformation  the Gospel of Luther  and his intent to oppose this heresy through the popular genre of the almanac, imitating Johannes Nas s  Practica Practicarum . As usual in astrological almanacs, it discusses planets, constellations, zodiacal signs and the seasons and their influx on humans with references to ancient authorities like Pliny and Manilius; but the tone is grim and planets are seen as harbingers of vices. The ominous statement by which the seat of the devil is at the centre of the earth and heresy is at the centre of the universe shows how Albrecht s almanac presented the influence of the cosmos as something that Catholics should resist through will and spiritual exercise so as not to succumb to the Protestant heresy.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ALBRECHT, Lorenz","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816155816271,"sku":"L2915","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/titlepage-1_3248c45c-1777-4f47-b490-5a18443dd348.png?v=1781794913"},{"product_id":"doglioni-giovanni-nicolo-1","title":"DOGLIONI, Giovanni Nicol√≤","description":"\u003cp\u003eScarce copy of this important didactic almanac including the prediction of weather conditions, planetary influence and a perpetual calendar  one of the earliest if not the earliest almanack according to the Gregorian Calendar unknown to Poggendorff  ( Bibliotheca Chemico-Mathematica  1076). Giovanni Nicol√≤ Doglioni (1548-1629) was a Venetian notary appointed to several public offices in the city, and the author of works on chronology, cosmography and the calculation of time.  L anno  contextualised for a broader audience the reform of the Julian calendar introduced by Gregory XIII in 1582 a revision which led to major scholarly debates on  gnomonica  or the computation of the portions of the solar day. The first section of the work discusses the four elements that constitute the world, the subdivisions of the earth into continents, countries and provinces, the meteorological phenomena resulting from the mixture of the elements as well as a table tracing the movements of the planets. In the second section Doglioni explains the subdivisions of time according to conventional units. The fundamental unit the day can be natural (following the planetary course of the sun in relation to the earth as a whole) or artificial (according to the specific place in which the onlooker is situated). This distinction is used as the basis to explain the correct construction of sundials on buildings. There follows an examination of the subdivision of historical time the discipline of chronology so dear to the medieval and Renaissance periods and the meaning of  century ,  age ,  age of man  and  age of the world , with a perpetual calendar and a long table recording universal dates and events from the creation to the year 5545 [1586AD]. Later owners annotated the perpetual calendar counting the days for the years 1646, 1668 and 1709. The last section provides perpetual calendars to identify Feasts of the Saints and moveable liturgical feasts. It was reprinted as  L anno riformato  in 1599 and its tables accordingly updated. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Giovanni Battista Lambruschini S.J. (1755-1827) was professor at the Jesuit seminary in Genoa, a great opponent of the French Revolution and the centre of a Jesuit circle including the renowned philologist Cardinal Angelo Mai.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DOGLIONI, Giovanni Nicol√≤","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816156078415,"sku":"L2885","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/titlepage_e03e142e-f040-46f2-84c1-4d818e74ac66.png?v=1781794912"},{"product_id":"albumasar-ab-ma-shar","title":"ALBUMASAR [AB? MA?SHAR]","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery good, wide-margined copy of the third edition of this important and handsomely illustrated astrological work. Albumasar (or Ab_ Ma_shar, 787-886) was a Persian philosopher and astrologer at the Abbasid court in Baghdad. His reputation in the Islamic world grew thanks to his introductory manuals for astrologers like  Kit_b al-nukat , first translated into Latin in the C12 and first printed as  Flores astrologiae  in Venice and Augsburg in 1488. Albumasar s eclectic theories were influenced by Aristotelianism as understood not through translations from the Greek but through the mediation of the Sabei of Harran (Bezza I, 96), an obscure religious sect inspired by Judaism and Hermeticism. Addressing the reader with a very informal  you ,  Flores astrologiae  teaches how to calculate the horoscope of a year, month or day starting from the position of the sun, moon and planets at the beginning of the timespan under scrutiny. The influence of each planet in different zodiac signs is explained at length, whether they might bring prosperity or paucity, war or peace, plague, earthquakes or floods. Albumasar also lists the fixed stars to be used to calculate horoscopes of people and events. The handsome woodcuts functioned as learning aids; for instance, the zodiac signs are repeated to remark on combinations of signs and planets. In medieval Europe, whether in ms. or print, his influential works were considered eminent instances of the judicial astronomy condemned by the Church (Cantamessa I, 142). A remarkably fresh witness to the fundamental importance of astrology in the culture of medieval and early modern Europe.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"ALBUMASAR [AB? MA?SHAR]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816161747279,"sku":"L3086","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20190409_164656.jpg?v=1781794894"},{"product_id":"pontano-giovanni","title":"PONTANO, Giovanni","description":"\u003cp\u003eHandsome clean copy of the second edition of this most influential astrological work. Giovanni Pontano (or Giovanni Gioviano, 1426-1503) was a poet, humanist and diplomat who, after studying at Perugia, moved to Naples. There he became an influential figure at the Accademia Antoniana (later Pontaniana) and the court of Aragon; he has been celebrated as the intellectual who introduced the Renaissance to Naples. His work spanned philosophy, natural science, astrology and poetry, and in 1512 his  opera omnia  in six parts of which  De rebus coelestibus  was the sixth was published by the Giunti in Florence. This is the second Giunti edition of the collected works and the fourth of  De rebus  as a separate work. Written in the course of twenty years, it was begun in 1475 just after Pico della Mirandola published his attack on judicial astrology. Pontanus sought to distance himself from the latter to pursue instead a kind of astrology which could benefit man, so that, through this knowledge,  astrologers could assess the nature of human beings, hence their inclinations and eventually the ultimate unfolding of their lives  (Cantamessa III, 6256). Presenting a cosmos based on Ptolemaic doctrines, the first section is a study of the nature,  houses , qualities and  fines  (degrees) which govern the interactions between planets and signs; this is mandatory knowledge for the real astronomer who should seek to identify the complexities of human nature. The second part analyses the  mapping  of the age and life of man onto the celestial system and changes in the qualities of planets according to their position. Parts three to eight focus on the effects of planetary interactions on individuals born under specific conjunctures. The last few sections are mostly devoted to medical conditions (e.g., sterility, skin illnesses, limping, epilepsy, kidney stones, baldness, nervous and mental issues). Despite his attempt to detach himself from judicial astrology, following the credo of Neo-Platonists like Pico and their scepticism against astral causation, Pontano remained greatly attracted to astrology and alchemy as appears from his  Letter on the Philosophical Fire . He was in time celebrated as a protagonist of the hermetic scene in Naples hence the intriguing Masonic provenance of this copy, from the library of the Supreme Council 33, one of two main governing bodies of the Scottish Rite Freemasonry in the USA.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PONTANO, Giovanni","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816162468175,"sku":"L3109","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20190409_175207.jpg?v=1781794892"},{"product_id":"ryd-valerius-with-stoffler-johann","title":"RYD, Valerius [with] STÖFFLER, Johann","description":"\u003cp\u003eHandsomely bound, finely illustrated historico-astrological sammelband. Valerius Ryd (Valerius Anshelm, 1475-1546\/7) was a Swiss historian and the official chronicler of the city of Bern an appointment he received thanks to the fame achieved with his  Catalogus . Written c.1510 and widely circulated in ms., it is a history of the world  ab homine condito  (from the Creation) to the early C16, handsomely illustrated with biblical and historical scenes, heraldic shields, portraits of princes and genealogical trees in the style of the Nuremberg Chronicle. Ryd relied on the tradition of  universal historiography  dating back to Eusebius s  Chronicon  (4th century), which rooted the history of the world in the genealogies of Genesis from Adam and Eve. The pivotal ancestor was Noah, whose three sons populated the world anew after the Flood Japhet in Europe, Shem in Asia and Cham in Africa. Expanded by the Renaissance scholar Annius of Viterbo, this view of history embraced ancient and present civilisations within an immense genealogical network filling the gaps between Genesis and history with mythical figures like Hercules, the Amazons and Gomer, and it identified the passing of history with the (often artificial) linear progression of royal lines. The genealogies of the Four Kingdoms of Daniel the empires of Babylon, Persia, Greece and Rome are followed by those of European princes and the succession of the Popes. A beautifully crafted instance of the early modern chronicle tradition. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Johann Stöffler (1452-1531) was a German astrologer, astronomer and priest who taught at Tubingen one of his students was Philip Melanchthon and produced globes and clocks for notables including the Bishop of Konstanz. This sammelband features his most important, posthumous  Commentarius  to Pseudo-Proclus s  Sphaera  a major text on cosmography for Renaissance astronomers attributed to a Neoplatonic Greek mathematician. However,  Commentarius  presents Latin excerpts mostly from another ancient astronomical manual, Geminus s  Isagoge , discussing the structure of the earth, the trajectory of the sun, the zodiac and constellations.  Catalogus  is renowned for its cartographically detailed references to the New World. For instance, in a paragraph on oceanic navigation Stöffler mentioned Vespucci s discoveries and in another commenting on lands beyond the  terra cognita  delineated by Ptolemy he mentioned new cartographic additions like  the western province of America near and partially under the Tropic of Capricorn . He certainly consulted Martin Waldseemüller s world map of 1507, the first to call the new continent  America , and the only one to include, like his full passage, references to the Abbey of All Saints founded by Columbus as well as mention of smaller islands like St Marich and the Primeras.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"RYD, Valerius [with] STÖFFLER, Johann","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816162926927,"sku":"K146","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/20190404_163757.jpg?v=1781794889"},{"product_id":"planis-campy-david-de","title":"PLANIS CAMPY, David de.","description":"\u003cp\u003eVery rare first edition of this most interesting medical work based on astrology and alchemy, beautifully printed with a fine engraved portrait of the author and hermetic title, with an additional beautifully engraved alchemical title.  An author who deserves greater attention than he has received is David de Planis Campy (1589-ca.1644), who produced ten works on medical chemistry and traditional alchemy. He was a councillor and Chirurgien ordinaire to Louis XIII, and his works were collected and published in a folio volume in 1646. He wrote that alchemy is a science that teaches the means of separating the elements of each mixed body produced by nature and of separating the pure from the impure. A. G. Debus,  The French Paracelsians . Planis Campy wrote on phlebotomy, musket wounds, the plague, and mineral and chemical remedies. He made several references to Dee s Monas in his works. The engraved title page flatteringly presents King Louis XIII as the  French Hercules . At the foot of the pedestal on the left there is a round diagram representing the principles of  the Great Work  with the Hebrew word  Yah , at the centre, which corresponds to the divine, heavenly principle. On the opposite side are the sun, moon and mercury, within a mountain or the philosophers stone. The portrait of the author is also very fine. The circular French inscription gives his name and states that here, in 1627, he is in his 38th year and is surgeon to the French King. It refers to him as  L Edelphe  a follower of the theories of Paracelsus, also indicated by references to the microcosm and macrocosm in the book placed in front of him. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The present work has the subtitle  the seven illness held, until now, to be incurable, and now treatable with the art of chemical medicine , the hydra of the title having seven heads. The work is thus divided into seven chapters each dealing with one of these illnesses. They are in order; Leprosy,  Podagre  or Gout, Hydropsie, Epilepsy, Cancer,  Noli me-tanger é  or hidden cancer, and  Escrouelles  another form of malign cancer. Each chapter gives a definition of the illness followed by its causes, various forms of the illness, its signs, and prognostics followed by various chemical cures devised by the author. As such it give tremendous insight into the new forms of  chemical  treatments that moved away from traditional Galenic medicine.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PLANIS CAMPY, David de.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816163844431,"sku":"L3183","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_8436.jpg?v=1781794886"},{"product_id":"du-chesne-joseph","title":"DU CHESNE, Joseph","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare first edition of the posthumous translation into French of Du Chesne s  Tetras gravissimorum totius capitis affectuum , first printed in 1606. A French physician and follower of Paracelsus, Du Chesne is mostly remembered for his important, if transitional, alchemical theories and for first introducing Paracelsus s antimonial remedies to France. This extensive work consists of discussions of Epilepsy, Vertigo, Apoplexy and Paralysis. Duchesne was born around 1544 in Armagnac and studied at Montpellier, and then at Basle, where he received a medical diploma in 1573. During the 1570s at Lyon, he married Anne Trie the granddaughter of Guillaume Bud é, and became a Calvinist. He went into medical practice and became physician to Francis, Duke of Anjou. He left Lyon in 1580 for Kassel in Hesse, and moved on to Geneva, where in 1584 he received citizenship. Duchesne was elected to the Council of Two Hundred in 1587, and undertook diplomatic missions to Bern, Basle, Schaffhausen and Zurich in the years 1589 to 1596. In 1598, following the Edict of Nantes, Duchesne returned to France and became physician-in-Ordinary attending Henry IV of France. In 1601 Nicolas Br√ªlart de Sillery gave him a mission as envoy to the Swiss cantons. In 1604 he went to the court of Maurice of Hesse-Cassel where he gave scientific demonstrations in a laboratory specially set up for him.  This rare book of neurology has an alchemical background, especially through the preparation and formulation of drugs, taken from the hermetic practice. The last part of the volume deals specifically with this subject:  La signature interne du Vitriol ,  Antimony ,  Gold and Silver ,  Bright Silver or Mercury . Du Chesne treatment for  epilepsy derives from the doctrine of the Galenic School but includes theories of the Spagyric School  o√π il est enseign é que la vraie anatomie des maladies se doit apprendre par la lumière de la nature du Grand Monde, dont l homme est l image . For Du Chesne, as for Paracelsus, the life of man is inseparable from that of the universe, where reign the   principes hypostatiques exprim és par le triangle alchimique: soufre, mercure et sel . His book ends with a curious chapter on  the vinification of gold  and how to make gold drinkable. He writes  le très chrestien roy de France [Henri IV] favorise la chimie: Sa Majest é a donn é permission de bastir un laboratoire avec toutes sortes de fourneaux pour pr éparer des remèdes spagyriques , and he gives a very complete and most interesting description of this chemical laboratory.  A most interesting and rare work; Ustc locates six copies only in libraries.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"DU CHESNE, Joseph","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816164598095,"sku":"L3186","price":1950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_20190718_155858.jpg?v=1781794877"},{"product_id":"girolamo-flavio","title":"GIROLAMO, Flavio.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of this scarce alchemical text, obscure and understudied, but full of gems. Little is known of Flavio Girolamo, except that he wrote this in order to demonstrate that  the chemical art is very true  and that  it is possible to obtain gold thanks to the philosopher s stone . The work celebrates the traditional qualities and nature of the philosophers  stone capable of turning base metals into gold the four Aristotelian elements, the Paracelsian fifth, and the shape of gold. In order to succeed in his enterprise, the mystical alchemist should  remain solitary and silent  and in so doing may contract melancholy, which would affect his observations and study. In fact,  external success in the alchemical laboratory  also depends on a  corresponding purificatory transmutation within the soul of the operator , a  purgative process  ridding the body of the melancholic humour (Brann,  The Debate , 279). The work is full of references to the biblical figures associated with alchemy (e.g., Abraham and Noah as astrologers and philosophers), classical deities and figures, and related ancient history (e.g., astrologers in Alexandria had to pay a special tax). The work also portrays the practicalities of an alchemist s life. The reader is allowed to take a glimpse into the everyday work of an alchemist. The  chemical rooms  of the laboratory are portrayed in all their lively aspects  cluttered, full of mechanical things, smoky and pokey . The alchemist has  no delicate nostrils  and, though abhorring the smells that accompany his experiments, he will withstand them considering the  glorious end  of this labour. In the section on  good chemical smells , Girolamo devotes a paragraph to the  smell of money  or  profit , following Juvenal s anecdote:  as Titus complained to his father, Vespasian, of another Urine Tax [for the disposition thereof from public toilets to the city s sewers], Vespasian picked up one of the coins earned from that tax and put it under his nose, as if to say  now tell me if this smell offends you .  A scarce, obscure and engaging alchemical text.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"GIROLAMO, Flavio.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816165122383,"sku":"L3198","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_20190718_145922.jpg?v=1781794876"},{"product_id":"plattes-gabriel","title":"PLATTES, Gabriel","description":"\u003cp\u003eRare first edition of this most interesting work on mining and the discovery of minerals with a large section section on the arts of dyeing and fixing colours. It gives directions for  finding  metals and minerals, for  melting, refining and essaying them , and not only how to test gold but how to make it. Unfortunately, this was at greater cost than its value and of so little benefit to its discoverer that Plattes is  said to have dropped down dead in the London streets for want of food  (Lowndes). The Discovery also included some  interesting notices of the gold and silver mines in Peru, New England, Virginia, the Bermudas, and other parts of America . Sabin.  Very little is known about Gabriel Plattes; he was probably born at the beginning of the century. There is little evidence regarding Plattes  career in the period preceding his association with the Hartlib Circle. He seems to have been William Engelbert s assistant, to whom he dedicated his first two books:  A Discovery of Subterraneall Treasure , .. and  A Discovery of Infinite Treasure, hidden since the World s Beginning  both of them published in 1639. These two books were designed to be complementary .. The  scientific  and technological sections were interspersed with remarks about ethical and economic issues, pointing to a religious obligation which Plattes believed that people like him had to nourish in themselves and to disseminate it to the widest public in order to contribute to the improvement of the estate of the nation. These first two books published by Plattes were famous and highly appreciated in England and abroad, Marin Mersenne even expressing his intention to translate Plattes  books in French. The main aim of the books was to construct solidarity as both the instrument and the goal of a program of amelioration. Gabriel Plattes  name was associated with two of the most active personalities that worked in London at that time: the mathematician John Pell and the agricultural improver Richard Weston.Webster claimed that it was due to the association with John Pell, a promoter of Baconian experimental science, that Plattes changed his style and became more of an adept of the  experimental  way.  Oana Matei.  Husbanding Creation and the Technology of Amelioration in the Workes of Gabriel Plattes.  \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Plattes makes references to the lodestone and discusses the new plantations in New England, Virginia, Bermudas, and the mines in Peru but it is perhaps scientifically most interesting as the first English work to describe the process of separating silver and gold by nitric acid. There are chapters on the origins of mountains and minerals, the smelting and refining of lead, tin, iron, copper, and silver. An entire chapter is dedicated to gold also describing a means  of detecting counterfeit gold, with the following chapter on its alchemical production.The final chapter is most interesting for its discussion of making dyes from vegetable sources and giving various recipes for fixing colours. Plattes is said to have died in extreme poverty He left his unpublished papers to his friend Samuel Hartlib, who later published the utopian work the  Description of the Famous Kingdome of Macaria , which, though is often attributed to Samuel Hartlib, under whose name it was published, is now recognised as Plattes work.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PLATTES, Gabriel","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57816168005967,"sku":"L3274b","price":9500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-18-copy_07172d02-14df-487c-a817-b240ab6b5e9e.jpg?v=1781794862"},{"product_id":"cicogna-strozzi","title":"CICOGNA, Strozzi.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy, with edges fresh from the press, of the scarce second Latin edition of this occultum  a very curious and uncommon work  (Caillet I, 2373). Strozzi Cicogna (1568-1605) studied law at Padua; a late humanist, he devoted himself to poetry and philosophy, achieving lasting fame with  Il Palagio degl incanti , published in 1605. It was translated into Latin by Gaspare Ens in 1606; the 1607 Latin edition is an exact reprint of the first. It is a treatise on daemonology a winning combination of ancient and Scholastic theories on god, the nature and origin of the world, with a Renaissance interest towards pagan, Christian, Hermetic and Cabalistic ideas, and a wealth of learned and popular anecdotes. Some of these Cicogna had heard from the archpriest of Barbarano, near his hometown Vicenza, who recounted supernatural events which had happened to him ( Storia popolare d Italia , VII, 163). This  dense and almost unknown treatise  contains  the most systematic taxonomy of the demonic presences inhabiting the creation  and is  the most comprehensive and original treatise on angelic beings ever written in early modern Europe  (Maggi,  Company of Demons , 17). Book II is devoted to the nature of angels with comparative theories drawn from the classical and Hebrew tradition. Book III discusses the hierarchies and types of demons (aerial, earthly, aquatic, etc.), and Book IV studies the foundations of demonic magic and the demons  interactions with human beings. Although the work was approved by the Inquisition in 1605 as  delightful for the vague and varied narrative  and constantly  safe doctrine  it was included in the Index in 1623. Robert Burton drew heavily from Cicogna s work for his  Anatomy of Melancholy ; one of Cicogna s anecdotes inspired a poem by the English Gothic novelist Matthew Gregory Lewis.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"CICOGNA, Strozzi.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820342452559,"sku":"L2602","price":3500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_0994.jpg?v=1781794837"},{"product_id":"pistorius-johann-heilbronner-jacob","title":"PISTORIUS, Johann. HEILBRONNER, Jacob","description":"\u003cp\u003eThe scarce first edition of this demonological-medical controversy on the Practical Kabbalah, between two important German theologians, one Catholic, the other Protestant. The German Johann Pistorius (1546-1608) was physician to Margrave Karl II of Baden-Durlach; in 1588, he converted from Lutheranism to Calvinism and later Catholicism. This edition features excerpt from  De arte cabalistica  (Basel, 1587), on the Jewish mystic tradition and esotericism, which Pistorius wrote the year before his Catholic conversion, inspired by Reuchlin s of 1517. In  De operatione , the focus is on Practical Kabbalah, or the part concerning  white magic : ways of making amulets and talismans, and the nature of angels and demons. In particular, it discusses Pistorius s key observations on its use for treating illnesses. Each excerpt by Pistorius is followed by a  glossa  devised to confute it, by the Lutheran theologian Jacob Heilbronner (1548-1618). Heilbronner begins with an introduction on the figure of the  magi , often confused with astronomers or astrologers, but truly people  who entertain commerce with demons . He even associates Pistorius with them:  a magus   is very rapacious for money and honours, vices which everyone knows are shared by the obnoxious Pistorius . Heilbronner considered Pistorius s theories on the cabbalistic treatment of illnesses as black magic. The most important issue he sought to confute was the mystic power, especially the healing power, of words from the Scriptures, in the form, for instance, of charms used to treat people, even of the plague. Heilbronner s criticism often extends to Practical Kabbalah as a whole a  corruption of the Holy Scriptures, when from letters, numbers, figure, anagrams, conjunctions, spaces and similar details one draws allegorical meanings and mysteries .\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PISTORIUS, Johann. HEILBRONNER, Jacob","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820344156495,"sku":"L2607","price":2950.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_8282-scaled.jpg?v=1781794825"},{"product_id":"pereira-benito","title":"PEREIRA, Benito","description":"\u003cp\u003eScarce edition of this fascinating and successful treatise on magic, dreams and divination, and superstition, first printed in 1591. Benito Pereyra, SJ (1530-1610) was a major Spanish theologian, philosopher and exegete, and an influential professor at the Collegium Romanum. Inspired by his lectures, his numerous works, on subjects including psychology and mathematics, played an important role in the formation of the principles of  Jesuit science . His metaphysics and psychology in particular had  a significant impact on Protestant Germany and Holland  (Lamanna,  Benet Perera , 273). Based on ancient and modern sources, including Ficino, it groups together texts Pereyra had published as part of previous works: a chapter on alchemy from  De principiis , and two on dreams and astrology from his commentaries to the  Book of Daniel  and  Genesis  (Bulm,  Benedictus , 293). Pereyra begins the first book by distinguishing natural magic, based on the concealed and evident properties of things, from magic devoid of reason and truth, false and damaging, connected with demons, fraud and  maleficia , a danger to society. He proceeds with a study of demonic powers, with the assistance of magicians, the nature of miracles, as well as astrology, the kabbalah, necromancy and alchemy, with a conclusion on the origins of magic. The famous psychologist C.G. Jung devoted a long footnote in his  Psychology and Religion  to Pereyra s  excellent tract  about dreams, the second part of  De Magia . Pereyra identifies four causes of dreams bodily affections, emotional commotions of the mind, the power of demons, and true divine presence considering the functions of reason and will. Inspired by Pico s  Adversus astrologiam , the third part, on judicial astrology and divination, includes chapters on the vanity of oracles, demonic prophecies, the impossible mediation between Christian and astrological truth, astrologers  predictions (with mention of comets). For its attention to the powers and nature of demons, it has been considered  not only a treatise of witchcraft and magic, but also a manual of exorcism  (Bib. Esot. 3605). \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Louis Alexandre Adolphe Gitton Duplessis (1800-1888) was a French lawyer, politician and bibliophile, whose collection was purchased en bloc by the architect Jules Édouard Potier de la Morandi√®re, after his death.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PEREIRA, Benito","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820345893199,"sku":"L2606","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/IMG_8464-scaled.jpg?v=1781794815"},{"product_id":"vairo-leonardo-1","title":"VAIRO, Leonardo","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of the first Aldine edition of this remarkable work on witchcraft by Leonardo Vairo (1523-1603), Benedictine monk and bishop of Pozzuoli. Not too long after printing, this copy entered the library of the Friars  Observant at San Paolo in Monte, near Bologna. This is the second edition, originally published in 1583. It is entirely devoted to  fascinum  ( fascination  or  charm ), a  pernicious quality summoned through intense imagination, sight, touch, voice, together or separately, as well as the observation of the sky, or inflicted through hate or love . With the help of authorities like Aristotle, Plutarch and Heliodorus, Vairo addresses the nature of fascination caused by external action (moral) or inherent qualities (natural). The work seeks to set apart the natural from the supernatural whilst discussing subjects like monstrous births, werewolves, the sabbath, the nature of daemonic powers, basilisks, the faculty of divination pertaining to some animals, supernatural prophecy and daemonic possession which may more frequently affect melancholic people.  De fascino  was still mentioned in C18 theological debates on witchcraft and the supernatural. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n This edition concludes with the interesting priced catalogue of the  libri di stampa d Aldo  available for purchase in 1589. On the Aldines listed in this copy, an early annotator marked Bodin s  Trattato della Demonomania , probably as a desideratum.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"VAIRO, Leonardo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820345991503,"sku":"L2612","price":2500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9271.jpg?v=1781794814"},{"product_id":"d-anania-giovanni-lorenzo","title":"D ANANIA, Giovanni Lorenzo","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of the second Aldine edition of this important work on demonology, first published in 1581. Giovanni Lorenzo d Anania (1545-1609) was an Italian theologian and geographer, also the author of a famous  Cosmografia  (1576). Anania believed that witchcraft had been particularly active in his age and  De natura daemonum  provided a thorough study of the ways in which daemons were responsible. It theorises the existence and nature of subterranean and aerial malevolent spirits (from movement to voice) and studies how they affect human life as the cause of sundry physical and social ills: e.g., incurable diseases, earthquakes, false images generated through astrology and necromancy, and some poetic  fables . Fascinating are his remarks on exorcisms, a few of which he apparently witnessed, and miracles derived from saints  relics; these could be used to scare demons away (though not always successfully) and help treat serious illnesses. Despite Anania s Catholicism, the whole work is pervaded by mild Protestant leanings which surface, for instance, in his belief that demons encouraged people not to use their own vernaculars during mass as well as in his often ambivalent opinion on the a nature of relics (Thorndike VI, 528).\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"D ANANIA, Giovanni Lorenzo","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820346089807,"sku":"L2600","price":3250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9250.jpg?v=1781794814"},{"product_id":"le-paulmier-pierre","title":"LE PAULMIER, Pierre.","description":"\u003cp\u003eA very good copy of the second edition of this fascinating chemical and medical work  tr√®s rare  (Caillet). Pierre Le Paulmier (Palmerius, b.1568) was nephew of Julien, physician to Charles IX. After studying at Paris and qualifying in 1596, he worked as a physician at the H‚àö¬•pital H‚àö¬•tel-Dieu. In 1603, he was summoned to the Faculty of Medicine to defend himself for proposing that apothecaries should be taught Paracelsian spagyric chemistry, the separation and re-assembling of the fundamental elements of bodies (Kahn, 360). First published in 1608,  Lapis philosophicus  worsened his ambivalent reputation as a supporter of the Faculty s Hippocratic and Galenic doctrines and an advocate of chemical medicines, according to Paracelsianism. Whilst believing that health depended on the harmony of the micro- and macrocosm, Paracelsus upheld that physicians should have sound knowledge of chemistry and the natural sciences, pioneering the use of chemical substances and minerals for treating illnesses. Through an attack on his disciple Libavius,  Lapis  sought to compromise between the ancient tradition and Paracelsianism, by celebrating the first whilst preserving the valuable parts of the second ( true alchemy , or chemistry) which, he argued, Libavius and Paracelsus had nevertheless misunderstood. It begins with an account of Paracelsus s ideas, and reasons to reject them, Libavius s Paracelsianism in relation to the  Greek tradition, the nature and chemistry of medicaments, chemical elements,  the necessity of alchemy , and the characteristics of  metalla . The work  attempted to square the use of metallic drugs such as hydrargyrum, stibium and aurum potabile with Galenic orthodoxy.   [this] served as the foundation for a justification   of chemical distillates. A book that purported to be an attack on Paracelsus and   Libavius as poisoners rather than physicians was in fact a defence of the search for celestial essences in sublunary phenomena  (Brockliss, 76). The final section is a case-study on a woman aged 45 with elephantiasis (fibrosis of the skin) who was treated unsuccessfully by Libavius and successfully by physicians of the French School, with the  alchemy of the ancient . A fascinating, important work in the history of chemistry.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LE PAULMIER, Pierre.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820348973391,"sku":"L3431","price":2250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-8-copy.jpg?v=1781794802"},{"product_id":"rantzovius-henricus","title":"RANTZOVIUS, Henricus.","description":"\u003cp\u003eScarce first edition of this fascinating astrological work. Heinrich Rantzau (1526-98) was a German astrologer acquainted with Brahe, and Governor of Schleswig-Holstein.  Catalogus  is  a handbook of contemporary knowledge concerning the astrological aspects of politics  ( History , 153). The first section lists princes, kings, emperors and great men ancient, biblical, medieval and contemporary who favoured and used the art of astrology, e.g., Berosus, Democritus, Caesar, Charlemagne, the Turkish emperor Mehmed II, Frederick II, King of Naples (for promoting the translation of astrological texts from Arabic into Latin), and Pope Paul III. This is followed by a list of  mirabiles praedictiones  by astrologers, which allegedly came true: e.g., the death of Aeschylus, Hippocrates s prediction of the plague, the prophecy to Agrippina that her son Nero would kill her, and the prophecy Gauricus made to Henry of Navarre, with the inclusion of lesser known figures, like the physician-astrologer Moibanus, who predicted his wife s death. The following section is a disquisition of climacteric years, hebdomatic (7 years) or enneatic (9 years) periods into which human life can be subdivided. They mark turning points, beginning from year 7; the most dangerous being the 63rd year, i.e., the conjuncture of the hebdomatic and enneatic.   Rantzovius interprets through the climacteric theory the death years of biblical, ancient and more recent figures, including kings (e.g., Henry VIII), aristocrats, popes and great personalities like Erasmus, Agricola, Copernicus, Petrarch, Savonarola, the painter Lucas Cranach, Saxo-Ferrato, Durer, Johann Hess, Thomas Linacre, Sebastian Munster, Luther, Philippe de Comines, and Hieronymus Frobenius  typographus Basiliensis . An illustration, after a horoscope by Conrad Dasypodius, foresees Rantzovius s sudden death after the age of 50.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"RANTZOVIUS, Henricus.","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820349792591,"sku":"L3525","price":1850.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-10_f441e651-da12-469b-8114-5636c937eaa4.jpg?v=1781794799"},{"product_id":"agrippa-cornelius","title":"AGRIPPA, Cornelius","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn attractive, unsophisticated copy, in an unusual, contemporary Netherlandish binding, of this extremely influential philosophical work, praised by the likes of Montaigne and Descartes. Due to the controversial reputation of its author, several early editions have few recorded copies and a complex bibliographical history, i.e., from the first of 1530 (possibly a  ghost ) to 1539, with most bearing neither imprint nor (frequently) a date. According to D. Cl ément s  Biblioth√®que curieuse  (1750),  this edition is very similar to that printed in Cologne. The pages are unnumbered.   It has no suppressed passages. There is one difference: the title is decorated with the bust of Cornelius Agrippa, absent in all preceding six editions  (I, n.86). This is one of his earliest and most reliable portraits. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Agrippa (1486-1535) was a major German polymath, physician, soldier (who travelled extensively in Europe) and official historian to Charles V; he was especially renowned for his  occulta  and ideas on the cabala (Bodin called him  the greatest magician of his age ), which led to clashes with the Inquisition, despite his recantation. Agrippa s ambivalence towards occultism, religion and epistemology caused a mixed reception of  De incertitudine  a harsh critique of all sciences and arts, and Renaissance epistemology in general which Agrippa subsequently defended in print. Each of the 102 chapters summarises wittily, only to berate, a discipline or art, from the elements of the trivium and quadrivium to optics, acting, painting, architecture, politics, natural philosophy, commerce, agriculture, surgery, anatomy, prostitution, veterinary medicine, law and cooking. There are fascinating sections on judicial astrology ( an art bringing no certainty, which can be turned into anything, according to opinion ), physiognomy (which  infers nonsense  from horoscopes based on physical appearance), magic (including necromancy), heraldry (by which  heralds dressed in military uniform astrologise, philosophise and theologise with foolish knowledge ), the inquisition (with a violent attack against the Dominicans  trials of heretics from his native Cologne), and alchemy ( which can be defined as an art, or sham, or persecution of nature ). The conclusion is an  encomium of the ass , i.e., ignorance, which is preferable to this useless knowledge. Despite the serious attacks of great minds like Bodin and Thevet,  De incertitudine  is a deeply ironic work, an aspect of Agrippa s work much praised, for instance, by Philip Sidney.  Like the works in similar vein of Erasmus, Rabelais and many others, [it] is a literary paradox and at the same time a work of polemic  (Bowen, 259), spanning the abuses of the Church and  false  science. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The contemporary annotator of this copy, probably the F. Hassek of the concealed inscription and monogram, highlighted passages against astrology, black magic, references to Agrippa s work on occult philosophy, theories of the soul, pimps, the  arts of women  and cookery. He was knowledgeable as he identified a mistake, where Agrippa used  Kirannides  to mean the name of the author, not the title of his book. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The unusual, contemporary Netherlandish binding, panel-stamped and signed by the obscure K.O., is not listed in Fogelmark s  Flemish and Related Panel-Stamped Bindings  or major bookbinding bibliographies. The stylised imperial escutcheon with the double-headed eagle and the columns with Charles V s motto  Plus Ultra  are reminiscent of BL c46b21. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Only three copies recorded in the US.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"AGRIPPA, Cornelius","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820352184655,"sku":"L3053","price":4250.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-9-1_b28b4333-d0de-49a1-93d9-afdb8438502c.jpg?v=1781793817"},{"product_id":"paracelsus-theophrastus-with-sendivogius-michael","title":"PARACELSUS, Theophrastus [with] [SENDIVOGIUS, Michael]","description":"\u003cp\u003eAn interesting sammelband of scarce German Paracelsiana. The Swiss Theophrastus von Hohenheim (1493\/4-1541) used the pseudonym Paracelsus for most of his successful career as an alchemist, philosopher and physician. He was very influential in the development of empirical observation and the use of chemistry (embracing toxicology) in medical practice, though associated with Hermetic and occult philosophies. After his death, many spurious alchemical texts were attributed to him for marketing purposes and printed individually or in collections, as here. Hence their complex bibliographical history and his increasing reputation as a magician. ‘De lapide’ gathers three treatises connected with the philosopher’s stone, with references to the false ‘metalworkers’ or ‘cacomedici’, i.e., physicians and alchemists who err in theory and practice. ‘De lapide medicinali’ is concerned with the medical properties of the philosopher’s stone as ‘the perfect balm’, its nature (‘Electrum’), preparation and use. ‘Tinctura physicarum’ and ‘Tinctura planetarum’ include references to the Tabula Smaragdina, reputed to contain the Hermetic secrets of the prima materia, and discuss metal transmutations, the alchemy of the body and the retention of planetary influence. The second work—‘Schreiben’—comprises two treatises. ‘Liber vexationum’ discusses bodily ailments and treatments based on transmutation, including the therapeutic properties of sulphur and mercury, as well as gems. ‘Thesaurus alchemistarum’ includes, among many, a hair-raising transmutation involving corrosive aqua fortis, and very explosive saltpetre and ammonium salts. The third work is attributed to the Polish alchemist and pioneer chemist Sendivogius (Michał Sedziwój, 1566-1636). It focuses on the philosopher’s stone, its properties and making.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\n\u003cp\u003eThe early annotators of this copy were two German alchemists. The C16 one devised a system associating specific ink colours with alchemical signs for metals, better to understand his own underlining, according to a ‘legenda’ he wrote at the beginning of ‘Liber vexationum’. Though not always consistent, yellow was for gold and red for mercury. He was also interested in the medical virtues of gems. The C17 annotator copied a few obscure alchemical poems—a much-used didactic genre in early modern Germany—one by the Lutheran theologian and mystic Johann Arndt (1555-1621). He glossed passages on the philosopher’s stone and Electrum with quotations from ‘Rosarium Philosophorum’ and Arnaldus de Villa Nova, highlighted lines on spagyric chemistry and ‘vulgar’ (base) metals, and glossed Hermes Trismegistus as ‘father of the wise’. He was also interested in astrological questions, and underlined passages in ‘Tinctura Planetarum’. He drew a diagram summarising the four elements, the basic chemical elements and the resulting tincture.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"PARACELSUS, Theophrastus [with] [SENDIVOGIUS, Michael]","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820353331535,"sku":"L3509","price":7500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/Untitled-49.jpg?v=1781793815"},{"product_id":"leopold-of-austria-1","title":"LEOPOLD of Austria","description":"\u003cp\u003eBeautifully printed and finely illustrated second edition of this important and influential astronomy, by the 13th-century astronomer, Leopold of Austria, first printed by Ratdolt, in 1489. Primarily a work of astrology based on the writings of Albumasar, the sixth book concerns meteorology both from a theoretical and a practical point of view, and includes folkloric methods of weather prediction and general descriptions of winds, thunder etc. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n Although virtually nothing is known of the author, the work was influential in the late Middle Ages, being cited by the great astronomer, Pierre d Ailly, and admired by Regiomontanus, who proposed to edit it. This edition retains the dedication to Udalricus de Frundsberg, bishop of Trient, by Erhard Ratdolt, printer of the first. In the introduction Leopold states that he cannot take credit for the work as there was more than one author and he was just a  fidelis illorum observator et diligens compilator.  He states his goal is to describe the motion of the stars, and to focus particularly on describing their effect. He describes astronomy as a necessary starting point and foundation for the study of astrology. \u003cbr\u003e\n  \u003cbr\u003e\n The Compilatio is divided into ten treatises: the first and second on the spheres and their motion. There is a dissertation on the comets at the end of the fifth book, beginning with a short discussion of Aristotle s theories, which recounts the opinion of John of Damascus (676   c. 749), who asserts, in his  De Fide Orthodoxa,  that these celestial bodies announce the death of a King, and that they do not belong to the stars created in the beginning, but are formed and dissolved by God s will. He then gives a list of the nine comets and their latin names, ending with the meanings derived from their presence in each Zodiacal sign. These are a transcription of Albumasar s  De magnis Conjunctionibus.  A very good copy of this beautifully illustrated and rare edition.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"LEOPOLD of Austria","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":57820384166223,"sku":"L2159b","price":4500.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/files\/DSC_9403.jpg?v=1781793812"}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1016\/2425\/0703\/collections\/Screenshot_2026-06-18_at_6.28.08_PM.png?v=1781803704","url":"https:\/\/www.sokol.co.uk\/collections\/occult-magic.oembed","provider":"Sokol Books Ltd","version":"1.0","type":"link"}