[ Grimoire ] ANONYMOUS.

Trésor Du Vieillard des Pyramides, Véritable Science des Talismans pour Conjurer les Esprits de Toute Nature, Leur Commander, en Obtenir tout ce que l'on veut et déjouer au Besoin leurs Maléfices. [avec] La Chouette Noire, Oiseaux Merveilleux, au Moyen Duquel on Découvre immanquablement tout ce que la Terre Renferme de Précieux.

[Lille]: [de Blocquel], ND [ 1850? ]. Hardcover. Small Octavo. vi + 7-72pp + 24 plates. Contemporary quarter leather with marbled boards. Spine decorated in gilt, raised bands, gilt titling to maroon leather spine label. Marbled endpapers and page edges, ribbon marker. Fold-out frontis-piece and folding decorated title page, 24 b&w plates. Text in French. A charming mid-nineteenth century edition of this grimoire which describes and illustrates a series of talismans attributed to an "old man of pyramids." Typically the grimoire is said to be of great antiquity, having been originally discovered in the "Great Mosque of Cairo" and to have gone through various hands in manuscript form etc. before reaching the present edition. This edition of was published by the well-known publishers of grimoires, Blocquel of Lille, a point that is often overlooked because the identification is made in note in the colophon where s "Imprimé pour le compte de l'editeur" is followed by "Blocquel a Lille," but in a script so fancy that it is all but illegible. "Trésor Du Vieillard des Pyramides" is clearly related to another work, "Le Génie et le vieillard des pyramides, histoire intéressante des sciences occultes," which is attributed to one Tobénériac, and was said to have first been published twenty years after the author's death, in 1672, but which seems to have first appeared around 1840 in an edition by de Blocquel. The two books are clearly contemporary, as there are references to the "Trésor Du Vieillard des Pyramides" in "Le Génie et le vieillard" and vice-versa, and both were published by de Blocquel. "Bibliotheca Esoterica" also lists an example of the two books being bound together in one volume. The similarity of title, dearth of publication details, and fact that editions of both were published by de Blocquel has led to the two sometimes being confused and conflated. The book contains an introductory note is attributed to the Van Meulsten Brothers of Brussels, which would seem to hint at, but does not necessarily establish, an earlier Belgian edition. Caillet appears to reference the de Blocquel edition of ca. 1840, and also lists a later printing (circa 1850) on coloured paper. The title translates roughly as "The treasure of the old man of the pyramids; the true science of talismans to invoke spirits of any kind, control them, get all that you want and thwart their evil spells. The black owl, marvelous bird by which we cannot fail to discover all that is precious in the world." An attractive and scarce volume. Light rubbing to boards which are a little chafed edges and points, upper corner of front endpaper clipped, first and last pages unevenly browned, contemporary owner's name on half title page, pages lightly browned, a few light creases. A small brown spot (at it's largest smaller than a cigarette-end), runs through the upper margin of the last half-a-dozen leaves). Still overall a lovely better than VG copy. Item #41172

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