Discoverie of Witchcraft 1651 Occult Reginald Scot RARE Magic Demons Satan Devil Grimoire Legerdemain Start Price USD 7,500.00 Current Price USD 7,500.00 Time Left - Bid Count 0 Buy It Now Price - Reserve Price - Start Time Thursday, October 02, 2008 End Time Thursday, October 09, 2008 Location www.blackmagickbooks.com See more about 'Discoverie of Witchcraft 1651 Occult Reginald Scot RARE' Description   Scot’s Discovery of Witchcraft: Proving the common opinions of Witches contracting with Divels, Spirits, or Familiars; and their power to kill, torment, and consume the bodies of men, women, an children, or other creatures by diseases or otherwise; their flying in the Air, Ec. To be but imaginary, Erroneous conceptions and novelties; Wherein Also, the lewd unchristian practices of Witchmongers, upon aged, melancholy, ignorant, and superstitious people in extorting confessions, by inhumane terrors and tortures is notable detected. Also, The knavery and confederacy of Conjurors. The impious blasphemy of Enchanters, The imposture of Soothsayers, and Infidelity of Atheists. The delusion of Pythonists, Figure-crafters, Astrologers, and vanity of Dreamers. The fruitless beggarly art of Alchemistry. The horrible act of Poisoning and all the tricks and conveyances of juggling and Legerdemain are fully deciphered. Which many other things opened that have long lain hidden: through very necessary to be known for the undeceiving Judges, Justices, and Juries, and for the preservation of poor, ages, deformed, ignorant people; frequently taken, arraigned, condemned and executed for Witches, when according to a right understanding, and a good conscience, Physics, Good, and necessaries should be administered to them. Whereunto is added, a treatise upon the nature and suvbstanc4e of Spirits and Divels &c. all written and puslibhs4ed in Anno 1584. by Reginald Scot, Esquire. Printed by R.C. and are to be sold by Giles Calvert, dwelling at the Black Spread-Eagle at the West-end of Pauls. 1651. Small Quarto (140mm x 185mm) pp. [Title Page], [i-xxv], 1-22, (23 misnumbered as 21), 24, (25-32 skipped in numeration), 33-55, (56 misnumbered as 45), 57-88, (89 misnumbered as 86), 90-91, (93 misnumbered as 62), 93-95, (96 misnumbered as 99), 97-111, (112 misnumbered as 113), 113-200, (numbering jumps back 4 pages for remainder of book), 197-201, (202 misnumbered as 285), 203-248 , [Plate, Plate], [Plate, Plate], 249, (250 misnumbered as 25), 251-296, (297-298 skipped in numeration), 299-401, [Contents, I-XVIII] Buckram Library binding. Spine faded. See photos. Missing original fly leafs. Edges trimmed close with no loss to text. No foxing. Small burn hole in margin of 277 not affecting pages on either side. 2 incorrect page numbers crossed out and renumbered in pencil. Light underlining in pencil on a small handful of pages. Corner tear on p.237 affecting last word - still legible. Small corner missing p. 244. Faint library stamp on spine. No other markings. Fine Antiquarian condition. Editions of this book come up for sale only once in a decade. An unbelievable asset to any Library of Black Magick or Witchcraft. Priced to sell quick. Reginald ScotReginald Scott (c1538 - 1599) was an Englishman from the southeast region of Kent, who played a major role in the rebuilding of Dover Harbor in 1583, the most important engineering feat of the Elizabethan period. He also wrote the first practical treatise on hop culture in English. Scot is most recognized, however, for his radical analysis of Elizabethan period Witchcraft first published in 1584. A born skeptic in the age of myth makers, Scott lived at approximately the same time that John Dee was conducting his magical experiments. He maintained that there were no witches in contemporary England and that all those executed for witchcraft were innocent. Scott asserted that none of the terms translated as "witch" in the Bible had such meaning in the original languages, thereby undermining the claim that there was a biblical sanction for the execution of witches. For this reason, Scot is also a significant figure in the history of biblical criticism. He explained away instances of demon possession in the New Testament by disease and mental illness and the story in the Bible concerning the Witch of Endor who allegedly channeled the spirit of Samuel for King Saul, he attributed to simple ventriloquism. Scott spent years trying to find anyone who would offer instruction in witchcraft without success. When he learned of a conjurer whose sentence of death had been remitted by the queen and who professed penitence for his crimes, he opened a correspondence and obtained from the man the clear statement that his magical abilities were nothing more than stage trickery. Reginald Scott contended that when curses or spells were followed by unpleasant events, the link between the two was entirely coincidental. For example when old women begging for food or other assistance would curse their neighbors for being turned away empty handed; if something bad then happened—the death of a child, perhaps—the old woman would be wrongfully taken to be a witch. As far as Scott was concerned, those who confessed to being witches were either deluded or the victims of torture. What his contemporaries, such as Jean Bodin (La Demonomanie des Sorciers) had taken to be evidence for witchcraft, Scott was prepared to dismiss as mere fable and fiction. His views were a remarkable triumph of erudition for an obscure country gentleman with little formal education. And his polemic method has become the paradigm of skepticism, echoed today in the writings of James Randi, Richard Dawkins and others. The Discoverie of WitchcraftScott's objective in writing The Discoverie of Witchcraft was to refute the Demonomanie of Jean Bodin (1580) and to go well beyond the arguments of the most radical author on witchcraft known to him, Johann Wier, whose De Praestigiis Daemonum or "On the Illusion of Demons" (1566) had been attacked by Bodin. In his ridicule of the "witch mongers" of the Inquisition, Scot reproduced from a magical manuscript detailed procedures for conjuring up demons, presumably with the idea that his readers could demonstrate for themselves that such techniques were ineffective. In his lists of magical texts he mentions Ars Paulina, Ars Almadel, Ars Notoria, Honorius, Sepher Raziel, and others. He also reprints Johann Wier’ Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (1563), which corresponds closely to book one of the Lemegeton or Goetia. Reginald Scot exploded the supposed infallibility of eyewitnesses by describing the tricks of conjurors. To this end he dedicated Chapter 13 to the first significant account of how to perform such stage magician’s tricks. This chapter was later republished with minor editing as The Art of Juggling (1612) and became the basis for manuals on prestidigitation which continued to appear into the twentieth century. Scot was very careful to never to confirm dogmatically that witches did not exist, instead saying that "witchcraft is in truth a counseling art, wherein the name of God is abused, profaned, and blasphemed, and his power attributed to a vile creature. In estimation of the vulgar people, it is a supernatural work, contrived between a corporal old woman, and a spiritual devil. The manner thereof is so secret, mystical, and strange, that to this day there hath never been any credible witness thereof." Response By ContemporariesScott is the indispensable reference point for all writers on witchcraft in English. Shakespeare was evidently familiar with the book; Gabriel Harvey and Thomas Nashe refer to him; he was attacked at length by James VI of Scotland in his Daemonology (1597) and referred to by almost all the Tudor and early Stuart authors on witchcraft. He was attacked at length by James VI of Scotland in his Daemonology (1597) and referred to by almost all the Tudor and early Stuart authors on witchcraft (Henry Holland in 1590, George Gifford in 1593, John Deacon and John Walker in 1601, William Perkins in 1608, John Cotta in 1616, and Richard Bernard in 1627). Thomas Ady's Candle in the Dark (1655) and John Webster's Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft (1677) were the first works to defend Scott's uncompromising skepticism directly, and he was still an indispensable reference point for Francis Hutchinson in his Historical Essay Concerning Witchcraft (1718). Scott also had a significant influence on Samuel Harsnett, later archbishop of York, and, through him, on two important witchcraft cases, in which the supposed victims were Mary Glover (1602) and Anne Gunter (1604). Both cases encouraged skepticism regarding claims of bewitchment. Ady thus seems justified in his claim that Scott made "great impressions on the magistracy and clergy". Scot's book so infuriated King James VI of Scotland (1566–1625) that he himself wrote a treatise on the reality of demon worship and the power of witches entitled Demonologie to refute The Discoverie of Witchcraft. In the preface to his Demonologie James announced his intention to prove "that such devilish arts have been and are," and "what exact trial and severe punishment they merit." In the 1690, Puritan Cotton Mather, of Salem Witch Trials fame, attempted to prove that Scot was wrong and that the power of witchcraft was indeed real with the publication of his work, Wonders of the Invisible World. Discourse on Divels [Devils] and SpiritsThe Discourse on Divels and Spirits was appended to the Discoverie, and should be considered part of it, but bizarrely it is left out of many twentieth century reprints of this book. (Note: The more common 3rd edition of 1665 contains a spurious second discourse, which differs from the original.) In this second treatise, Scot sets out more fully his theories about divine and demonic spirits, demonstrating a skeptical approach and a conception of spiritual agency that was decades ahead of its time. The only other known edition of this book is currently listed for $21,244. Thanks for Looking. Good Luck Bidding. SERIOUS BIDDERS ONLY! Do not bid if you have previous negative feedback for not paying. Do not bid if you have excessive negative feedback. Do not bid if you have 0 feedback without emailing first for approval. We reserve the right to cancel any bid for any reason. We only accept PayPal payments from members with Verified Addresses. 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