With a selection of written and illustrated material, Owen Davies takes us on a history of grimoires- real and fictional throughout history. This book shows us the many fascinating forms these books have taken and exactly what these books held. At their most benign, these repositories of forbidden knowledge revealed how to make powerful talismans and protective amulets, and provided charms and conjurations for healing illness, finding love, and warding off evil. But other books promised the power to control innocent victims and to even call up the devil. Davies traces the history of this remarkably resilient and adaptable genre, from the ancient Middle East to modern America, offering a new perspective on the fundamental developments of western civilization over the past two thousand years. Grimoires shows the influence magic and magical writing has had on the cultures of the world, richly demonstrating the role they have played in the spread of Christianity, the growth of literacy, and the influence of western traditions from colonial times to the present.
Why we love it
This book approaches quite a complicated subject is a very easy- to read and colloquial manner. It does a great job of showing the origins and movements across the globe of many different manuscripts and grimoires- as well as the impact they has on different groups of people. It stretches from ancient pagan grimoires to the modern day, hitting on Books of Moses, Faustian Grimoires, Friar Bacon, St.Cyprian up to the influence of these tomes on Rastafarianism, Spiritualism and more. Each subject in this book is only lightly touched on due to the sheer enormity of it’s task- and every paragraph leaves you wanting to know more and research further! Truly a book of delightful rabbit holes to fall down!
400 pages, 27 black and white halftones, 17 black and white plates
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