[ Ghosts ] LAVATER, Lewes. Edited with Introduction & Appendix by J. Dover Wilson & May Yardley [ Presentation copy ].

Of Ghostes and Spirites Walking by Nyght, 1572 [ Of Ghosts and Spirits Walking by Night ].

Oxford: Oxford University Press / Shakespeare Association, 1929. First Edition Thus. Hardcover. Octavo. xlviii + 252pp. Navy cloth lettered in gilt on spine, gilt heraldic device on upper board. A reprint, with additional introduction and notes, of the first English edition (1572) of the book that is generally regarded as one of the most important demonological studies of ghosts and spirits of the period. The author, Ludovici Lavater (1527-1586) was the Chief Pastor of the Calvinist Church of Zürich, and according to Thorndike his book was originally published in German in 1569, and reissued in Latin that same year under the title "De Spectris Lemuribus et Magnis atque Insolitis Fragoribus, Variisque Praesagitionibus ..." In it Lavater presented a variety of historical and contemporary accounts of ghosts or lemures, arguing that these were often not, as commonly supposed, the shades or spirits of the restless dead, but rather angelic or demonic entitites, a part of some Divine or Satanic plan. Lavater's work was both popular and controversial, and as well as appearing in a number of Latin editions was translated into French in 1571 and English in 1572. The book had a profound effect on Elizabethan attitudes towards ghosts and demonology, with various authors citing its influence on some of Shakespeare's works, notably Hamlet for which it clearly served as a source. This presentation copy is inscribed by one of the editors, J. Dover Wilson, on the front free endpaper. Cloth lightly rubbed overall, spine slightly darkened, spine ends and upper corners a bit bruised and chafed, lower corner of upper board has been sharply bumped leaving a two inch crease to board, the cloth and the interior pastedown, page edges darkened, endpapers unevenly browned, a little light foxing to first and last few leaves, else internally bright and unmarked. Overall a solid, clean about VG copy (no dust jacket). Very scarce. Item #53502

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