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THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTOR
WEYER, Johann (1515-1588). De praestigiis daemonum, et incantationibus, ac ueneficijs, libri V. Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1563.
Details
WEYER, Johann (1515-1588). De praestigiis daemonum, et incantationibus, ac ueneficijs, libri V. Basel: Johannes Oporinus, 1563.
8o (169 x 106 mm). Italic type. (Old marginal repair on H1, some pale browning.) Contemporary blind-tooled pigskin over wooden boards, covers with portraits of the apostles stamped in blind (some rubbing). Provenance: early inscription on front free endpaper; D. Zach . Conr ab Uffenbach (bookplate); George Sticker (bookplate and blindstamp on free endpapers, signature dated 1890 on pastedown).
FIRST EDITION. "Weyer approched the subject of witchcraft from four different viewpoints: theological, philosophical, medical, and legal... The book contains more than sixty reports of cases of alleged witchcraft or of unusual mental phenomena observed directly by Weyer, related personally to him in oral or written form, or known to him in various ways. Contrary to the received opinion of his day, which held that witchcraft was evidence of demonic possesions, Weyer believed the basic cause of witchcraft to be disturbance of imagination, that faculty traditionally regarded as the interface between bodily and mental functions. He described most of those accused of witchcraft as poor, gullible old women who had fallen into this reckless credulity because of 'their being circumvented by fraud, constrained by force, compelled by fear, induced by error, and deceived by ignorance.' Weyer brought a serene, rational approach to the investigation of each case, establishing and confirming the facts, providing a firsthand assessment of the situation through description of the person's appearance, behavior, speech, ideation, and emotional traits, and following these with the formulation of a concrete and sensible plan of treatment, often based on what we would now describe as psychological principles... He was a great precursor of modern psychiatry." (Grolier Medicine 20). Adams W-144; Garrison-Morton 4916; NLM/Durling 4734; Norman 2209.
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FIRST EDITION. "Weyer approched the subject of witchcraft from four different viewpoints: theological, philosophical, medical, and legal... The book contains more than sixty reports of cases of alleged witchcraft or of unusual mental phenomena observed directly by Weyer, related personally to him in oral or written form, or known to him in various ways. Contrary to the received opinion of his day, which held that witchcraft was evidence of demonic possesions, Weyer believed the basic cause of witchcraft to be disturbance of imagination, that faculty traditionally regarded as the interface between bodily and mental functions. He described most of those accused of witchcraft as poor, gullible old women who had fallen into this reckless credulity because of 'their being circumvented by fraud, constrained by force, compelled by fear, induced by error, and deceived by ignorance.' Weyer brought a serene, rational approach to the investigation of each case, establishing and confirming the facts, providing a firsthand assessment of the situation through description of the person's appearance, behavior, speech, ideation, and emotional traits, and following these with the formulation of a concrete and sensible plan of treatment, often based on what we would now describe as psychological principles... He was a great precursor of modern psychiatry." (Grolier Medicine 20). Adams W-144; Garrison-Morton 4916; NLM/Durling 4734; Norman 2209.