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Solomonic Magic & the Grimoires
Grimoires
A History of Magic Books
- First published2009
- TraditionSolomonic Magic
- Shelf122 books
Owen Davies' history of magic books traces the grimoire from ancient and medieval manuscripts to printed works, cheap chapbooks and modern occult publishing. He considers how grimoires were produced, censored and used across Europe and in colonial contexts including the Americas and the Caribbean. Wide-ranging and well researched, it is an excellent general history for readers interested in the social life of magical texts.
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Liber XXVIII
An edition or study of
- Key of SolomonCore text probably 14th–15th century; most manuscripts 16th–18th century
- Fourth Book of Occult Philosophyfirst printed 1559; English translation 1655
- The Key of Knowledge (British Library Add. MS 36674)Mid to late 16th century
- The Clavicle of Solomon, Revealed by Ptolomy the Grecian (Sloane MS 3847)Copied 1572
- Arbatel: Of the Magic of the AncientsBasel, 1575; English translation 1655
- Pseudomonarchia Daemonum (Johann Weyer)1577 (appendix to the fifth edition of De praestigiis daemonum)
- The Book of Oberon (Folger MS V.b.26)c. 1577–1583
- Reginald Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft (magical texts)London, 1584; enlarged edition 1665
- The Book of Abramelinset in 1458; probably composed c. 1595–1610; first printed 1725; Mathers’ English 1898
- The Secrets of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis de Secretis)Circulating by the early 17th century; Warsaw copy c. 1600–1700
- Clavicula Salomonis filii David (Duveen 388 printing)c. 1650
- The Lemegeton, or Lesser Key of SolomonCompiled mid-17th century from older sources; main manuscripts c. 1640s–1713
- The Goetia (Lemegeton, Book One)Mid-17th century, drawing on 16th-century spirit catalogues
- Theurgia-Goetia (Lemegeton, Book Two)Mid-17th century compilation; source c. 1500
- Ars Paulina (Lemegeton, Book Three)Mid-17th century English version of an older Latin Pauline art
- The Necromantic Rings of SolomonEarly modern Italian manuscript; translation 2017
- Zecorbeni, or the Key of Solomon (Bodleian MS Aubrey 24)Copied 1674
- Theosophia PneumaticaPrinted Wesel, 1686; reprinted in Scheible's Das Kloster, 1840s
- Grimoire for Conjurations (Grimoire pour les conjurations)Late 17th or early 18th century
- Egyptian Secrets of Albertus MagnusGerman, 18th century (claims a Cologne edition of 1725); Pennsylvania German edition 1869; English c. 1900
- The Veritable Clavicles of Solomon (Lansdowne MS 1203)Lansdowne copy probably mid-18th century; related BnF copy dated 1634
- Doctor Faust’s Fourfold Harrowing of Hellclaims Rome 1501 (2nd ed. 1680); probably 18th century; printed by Scheible 1847
- Clavicules of King Solomon by Armadel, Book IV (Lansdowne MS 1202)Probably mid-18th century (French hand)
- Clavicules of King Solomon by Armadel, Book III (Lansdowne MS 1202)Mid-18th century
- The Twelve Rings (Douze Anneaux, Lansdowne MS 1202)18th-century copy of an older ring treatise
- Verus Jesuitarum LibellusImprint 'Paris 1508' (spurious); probably 18th century; reprinted by Scheible 1840s
- The Grimoire of Pope HonoriusEarliest editions bear the false imprint 'Rome 1670'; probably 18th century; reprinted to the 19th
- Le Petit AlbertPrinted from the early 18th century; archive edition 'Lyon 1782'
- Romanus-Büchlein18th century; earliest dated printing cited 1788
- Sibly's Illustration of the Occult Sciences, Part IVFirst issued in parts from 1784; many later editions
- The Art of Drawing Spirits into Crystalspublished 1801 (in Barrett’s The Magus); source text probably 17th–18th century
- Le Grand GrimoireProbably early 19th century, despite claimed dates of 1421 and 1522
- Grimorium VerumImprint '1517', actually c. 1817; Italian editions 1868 and 1880
- The Sixth and Seventh Books of MosesPublished by Johann Scheible, Stuttgart, 1849; English translation New York, 1880
- The Key of Solomon the King (Mathers edition)Published London, 1889
- The Magical PsalterWeb compilation 2005; Psalms of ancient date
- The Magic Wand: Sources and LoreWeb study (ongoing)
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