Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

8vo (159 x 102 mm). Wood-engraved initials and head-pieces. (Light soiling or browning to title.) 18th century quarter mottled calf, smooth spine divided into 6 compartments, red morocco lettering piece in second, others tooled in gilt, all edges stained red (spine detached from front joint, extremities rubbed). Provenance: Robert de Billy (bookplate).

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. As prior of the Celestine Abbey in Paris and an ardent supporter of the Catholic League, Crespet saw the social and religious unrest of his era as the work of Satan and his “supporters,” the Protestant heretics. The first book consists of vivid discourses denouncing spells, possessions, magic, and sorcery; Crespet describes prodigies and “false miracles,” linking earthly misfortunes to demonic influence. He discusses incubus and succubus myths, transformations, and the witches’ sabbath in detail, tracing their origins to pre-Christian revels and burlesque medieval clergy traditions. Caillet 2689; Esoterica 940.