THE TRIAL OF THE LANCASTER WITCHES (1612)
Book Details + Condition: Peter Davies (London). First Edition thus, 1929. (Please see our other listing on Black Cat Caboodle for the modern facsimile edition). Very scarce hardcover with tan boards, and gilt to spine. 188 pages. Contents include the complete text of Thomas Potts’ "Wonderfull discovererie of witches in the Countie of Lancaster" (1613), a report by the court clerk on the 1612 arraignment and trial of the 19 Lancaster (Lancashire) witches. Also included is an Introduction by G.B. Harrison. The book remains one of the most authentic documents in the whole literature of witchcraft. From the modern edition's dust jacket: "One of the more important of witchcraft trials held under English Law was that of the Lancaster Witches for it examined the activities of a coven and provides some of the earliest evidence of the full witch-cult practice in England.... Of the nineteen souls tried at Lancaster Castle on Monday, 17th August, 1612, eleven were found guilty and the remainder acquitted. Of the eleven, ten were condemned to death and were executed the next day while the eleventh was sentenced to the pillory and one year of imprisonment."
From the massive occult collection of King Lawrence Parker - academic, dissertation author, and book collector extraordinaire. A scarce edition with firm binding; bumped corners; fading to boards; Parker's bookplate and info to front endpapers; interior is clean and free of markings.
