Book Details + Condition: Black Letter Press (Turin). First edition from the publisher, and limited to 250 copies, of which this is #134. 600 pages. Hardcover bound in moss green cloth with gilt to cover and spine. In very good / near new condition: the book has been on a shelf, completely unread.
This limited edition of Della Porta's Natural Magick is based on the 1658 London edition, which in turn was a translation of the expanded Latin edition of 1589 in twenty books. It includes the suppressed chapter Lamiarum Unguenta / The Witches' Ointment in both English and the original Latin. Paul Summers Young has newly transcribed and edited the 1658 text, whose eccentricities make for a notoriously laborious read. Spelling and punctuation have been modernised while retaining the Early Modern character of the original; its flavour as a mid-17th century text has been preserved. Rational paragraphing makes it much easier to follow the author's line of thought, making difficult passages a much more enjoyable experience. This is greatly assisted by a new layout and typesetting.
