WITCH HUNTING AND WITCH TRIALS: THE INDICTMENTS FOR WITCHCRAFT FROM THE RECORDS OF 1373 ASSIZES HELD FOR THE HOME COURT A.D. 1559-1736
Book Details + Condition: Kegan Paul, Trench, Trubner & Co., Ltd. (London). First Edition, 1929. Scarce. Hardcover with dark green boards, gilt titling (etc) to spine. 345 pages, with Appendices and Index of Names. Illustrated throughout, including frontispiece of "A Witch and Her Imps", and a large foldout of indictments and convictions. A foundational and seminal text, collected and edited by C. L'Estrange Ewen, providing a comprehensive, objective compilation of primary legal records surrounding early modern English witchcraft and punishments. Contents include:
- Ancient Laws Against Witchcraft
- Growth of Witchcraft
- Punishments for Witchcraft
- Condition of Gaols
- Further Punishments
- Witnesses
- Confessions
- Coroners' Inquests
- Torture and Ill-Treatment
- Rise and Decline of Witchcraft Prosecution
- And much more.
From the massive occult collection of Dr. Alan Gauld (1932–2024), distinguished British psychologist, parapsychologist, and historian of psychical research based at the University of Nottingham. His library included significant works on mediumship, hypnotism, and the founders of psychical research, often marked with his ownership inscriptions or ex libris labels. He authored many respected works, including The Founders of Psychical Research (1968), Mediumship and Survival (1982), and A History of Hypnotism (1992). A very scarce first edition copy, with firm binding; light normal aging and shelf wear to boards; bumped spine ends and corners; some indentations to spine covering; toning to endpapers; black pen mark to lower text block; Gauld's ex libris and name to front endpapers; interior is otherwise clean and free of markings. One illustrated plate (p 112) is missing. All books are carefully packed, and shipped in boxes.
