MALLEUS MALEFICARUM - THE WITCHES HAMMER BY JAKOB SPRENGER AND HEINRICH INSTITORIS (HEINRICH KRAMER); TRANSLATED INTO GERMAN FOR THE FIRST TIME AND INTRODUCED BY J.W.R. SCHMIDT [MALLEUS MALEFICARUM - DER HEXENHAMMER VON JACKOB SPRENGER UND HEINRICH INSTITORIS; ZUM ERSTEN MALE INS DEUTSCHE IIBERTRAGEN UND EINGELEITET VON J.W.R. SCHMIDT]
Book Details + Condition: Hermann Barsdorf Publisher (Berlin). Second Edition, 1920. Very scarce. First German translation of the famous witchcraft work, originally written in Latin in 1486. Complete three-volume hardcover set, which has been rebound in dark red cloth, with gilt to spine and floral endpapers. Pagination: 216pp; 273pp; 228pp - with Index. This is the first 20th-century translation of the well known occult treatise "Malleus Maleficarum". "Dominican friars Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger were charged by Pope Innocent VIII, with the Bull of 1484, which had essentially ratified the Church's powers in dealing with witchcraft, heresy and other crimes. Their goal was to investigate witchcraft, and they traveled throughout Germany gathering local lore and legend for the MALLEUS MALEFICARUM (The Witches’ Hammer). First published in 1486, the work provides detailed instructions for identifying, trying, torturing and executing witches. It also presents lurid tales of shape-shifters, incubi and succubi, and mortals in league with Satan. It is long considered the authority on the subject, and served to sustain two centuries of witch-hunting hysteria in Europe. The work is divided into three parts: the first two deal with the reality of witches as established by the Bible, as well as its nature and horrors and the manner of dealing with it, while the third lays down practical rules for procedure whether the trial be conducted in an ecclesiastical or a secular court. It was sensational in the stigma it attached to witchcraft as a worse crime than heresy - and in its notable animus against the female sex." [Wikipedia]
From the massive occult collection of King Lawrence Parker - academic, dissertation author, and book collector extraordinaire. Volumes have been rebound in dark red cloth, with gilt to spine and floral endpapers. For all volumes: firm binding; slight discoloration to rear boards; Parker's bookplate to inside front board, along with a bookbinder's sticker; toned pages; interior is clean and free of markings.
