The Cambridge Book of Magic. A Tudor Necromancer's Manual.
Cambridge UK: Texts in Early Modern Magic, 2015. First Edition. Hardcover. Small quarto. xlii + 158pp. Navy cloth with gilt lettering to spine, b&w illustrations and sigils, appendix, endnotes, bibliography and index. This copy SIGNED by the translator, Francis Young on the title page. The publisher describes the text: "An edition of a hitherto unpublished sixteenth-century manuscript of necromancy (ritual magic), now in Cambridge University Library. Written in England between 1532 and 1558, the manuscript consists of 91 'experiments', most of them involving the conjuration of angels and demons, for purposes as diverse as knowing the future, inflicting bodily harm, and recovering stolen property. However, the author's interests went beyond spirit conjuration to include a variety of forms of natural magic. The treatise drew on astrological image magic and magico-medical texts, and the author had a particular fascination with the properties of plants and herbs. Gives an insight into the practice and thought of one sixteenth-century magician, who may have been acting on behalf of clients as well as working for his own benefit." Appears as new, thus a tight, bright Fine copy in mylar protected Fine dust jacket. Item #68658
ISBN: 9780992640422
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