MATTHEW HOPKINS: WITCH FINDER GENERAL
Book Details + Condition: Frederick Muller Ltd (London). First Edition, 1976. Hardcover with dust jacket. 223 pages, with Notes, Bibliography, and Index. Illustrated. Author Richard Deacon was the first to offer a biography of this strange, elusive, and exceptionally cruel man. "Matthew Hopkins (c. 1620 – 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that title was never bestowed by Parliament. The son of a Puritan minister, Hopkins began his career as a witch-finder in March 1644 and lasted until his retirement in 1647. Hopkins and his colleague John Stearne sent more accused people to be hanged for witchcraft than all the other witch-hunters in England of the previous 160 years, and were solely responsible for the increase in witch trials during those years…. According to his book The Discovery of Witches, Hopkins began his career as a witch-finder after he overheard women discussing their meetings with the Devil in March 1644." [Wikipedia] Professionals who exposed witches could make a lot of money, as local magistrates paid the witch finder the equivalent of a month's wages.
From the massive occult collection of King Lawrence Parker - academic, dissertation author, and book collector extraordinaire. Firm binding; Parker's bookplate and info to inside front board and ffep; foxing to upper text block (which does not permeate to inside pages); interior is clean and free of markings. Dust jacket is in very good condition, and has been price-clipped.
