London: John Rodker, 1929. Hardcover. Quarto. This copy has been rebound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. In full crimson Morocco with a mottled effect, with five rased bands and the title along with four gilt designs on the spine. All edges are gilt. Beautiful marbled endpapers. The book is printed by Richard Clay & Sons Ltd. This edition is limited to 1275 this being number 475. Illustrated with numerous woodcuts. Book is in fine condition.

This extraordinary document, considered one of the most important manuals ever compiled on witchcraft, offers striking insight into the early seventeenth-century mind and society’s attempts to cope with the evils it saw manifested in sorcery.

A collection of writings by the Ambrosian monk Francesco Maria Guazzo, the Compendium comprehensively and penetratingly describes the entire practice and profession of witchcraft. First published in 1608, the commentaries came at an appropriate time. Contemporary accounts noted that witchcraft and sorcery had “spread in all directions,” leaving “no country, town, village, or district, no class of society” free from the practice. This probing work, by a distinguished writer and scholar who perceived the devil as an evil force seeking to destroy men’s bodies and souls, was an attempt to help man live piously and devoutly, thus guarding against such seductions and manipulations.Here is an encyclopedic tract of incalculable worth to the historians and student of the occult and anyone intrigued by necromantic lore, sabbats, sorceries, and trafficking with demons.

The work is extensive and divided into three books. The first one is dedicated to explaining what magic consists of and what types of magic exist. It also describes various practices of witchcraft, such as pacts with Satan, witches’ sabbaths, and sexual encounters with incubi and succubi demons. The same volume includes Guazzo’s classification of demons.

The second book is devoted to the diverse powers of witches, such as love spells, the creation of poisons and potions, and the ability to cause and cure diseases.

The third and final book explains the various ways in which witchcraft can be cured or removed. It also explains the difference between possession and bewitchment, and details how to recognize a person possessed by a demon.