Reginald Scot; the second book of the Discourse and the opening chapters of Book XV added anonymously in 1665 · 1665

The Discovery of Witchcraft

Reginald Scot, a Kentish gentleman, published The Discoverie of Witchcraft in 1584 to show that the witches condemned in English courts were mostly poor, melancholic old women, and that their supposed pacts, flights and transformations were delusion, fraud or popish fable. To expose the conjurors he printed their charms, spirit catalogues and experiments, and even explained the tricks of jugglers, so the book became an unlikely source of magical lore. This is the third edition of 1665, which keeps Scot's sixteen books and his Discourse of Devils and Spirits but adds an anonymous second book to the Discourse and new chapters on circles and conjuration at the start of Book XV. Spelling follows the 1665 printing as transcribed by EEBO-TCP.