Great Britain: John Rodker 1928-1930.

(Church and Witchcraft Series: Malleus Maleficarum; Compendium Maleficarum; Examen of Witches Drawn from various trials; Demonolatry; Discoverie of Witchcraft) Five volume, numbered, limited edition set, published between 1928 to 1930. Small 8vo to 4to in size. Uniformally and finely bound in 3/4 black leather over handmarbled paper with raised bands, gilt ruling and gilt decoration to the spines. Silk ribbon markers are bound with each volume. In addition to being a poet and writer, John Rodker was an avid lover of knowledge and the book arts. Throughout his life, he opperated several small presses which published the works of some of the 20th century's most cutting edge authors including James Joyce and T.S. Eliot. The Church and Witchcraft series which he published is distinguished as four of the five volumes are the first english translations of some of the most influential texts concerning witchcraft and the witch trails. The Malleus Maleficarum (Witch's Hammer) and Compendium Maleficarum (A Compendium of Witches) were essentially the handbooks of the Spanish Inquisition for centuries. The Examen of Witches was lauded as one of the most authoritative and extensive collections of the witch trails in France during the time of it's publication and after. Offering a balance to the texts of strict persecution, Rodker finished the series with Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft which was originally published in 1589, England, as a response to the tide of hysteria that was sweeping England. In this work Scot takes a very academic approach to the practice of witchcraft, documenting the various practices, outlining various tricks of mere stage magic, while also contesting many of the witch trails that had occured and had in turned condemned innocent people. The volumes were printed on handmade Dutch paper and individually numbered. It is rare to find this series gathered together as a complete set. fn/--.

ISBN: none.

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