Grimoires, A History of Magic Books. Owen Davies, OUP 2009. ‘…for many down the millennia and across the globe no books have been more feared than grimoires.’ Thus Owen Davies introduces his exhaustive history of Magic Books, a complex and extensive survey of what, once one begins to pursue it, seems an endless road. That…
Magical House Protection: the Archaeology of Counter-Witchcraft. Brian Hoggard, Berghahn, 2019. A solidly researched synthesis of the archaeological information to date. Brian Hoggard’s 2019 book presents a thorough and vastly increased collation of information on the specific area of magical house protection, a subject first introduced to the public as barely more than a single…
The Book of English Magic. Philip Carr-Gomm and Richard Heygate. Hodder, 2009. Fun and games for a wet weekend in lockdown (or any other time) I was slightly surprised when I first opened my copy of this book and found that it was written not by historians but by a psychotherapist (Carr-Gomm) and a man…
Dull, with intervals of brilliance: The Handbook of Folklore, Traditional Beliefs, Practices, Customs, Stories and Sayings. Charlotte Sophia Burne, London 1913. I have to admit to readers that, even in a sternly enforced lockdown, I found this book hard to get into. My usual practice on reviewing a book is to read it (or re-read:…
The Discoverie of Witchcraft, wherein the Lewde dealing of Witches and Witchmongers is notablie detected, in sixteen books … whereunto is added a Treatise upon the Nature and Substance of Spirits and Devils. Reginald Scot. William Brome, London, 1584. ‘How diverse great clarkes and good authors have been abused in this matter of spirits…
Medieval Life: Archaeology and the Life Course. Roberta Gilchrist, Boydell Press, Woodbridge 2012; paperback 2018. The aim of this book, as stated on its rear cover, is to explore how medieval life was actually lived, from birth to death and covering every aspect of the life course in between. It is, as Professor Gilchrist notes…
The Trotula Edited and Translated by Monica H. Green. University of Pennsylvania Press 2001 An accessible English Translation of the Medieval Compendium of Women’s Medicine. This modest paperback book represents the pared-back core of a much larger academic work by Professor Green, who in 2001 published a hardback Latin – English translation, with the texts…
Magic in Medieval Manuscripts, Sophie Page, 2004; expanded hardback edition by British Library 2017. Small but perfectly formed: this books is a little jewel to brighten the dark January evenings. This is not a manual of spells and charms, though a number are included, nor is it simply a picture book, though the illustrations are…
Begun in 1604 and published in 1611, the King James Version became the Authorised Version of the Bible, and has never been out of print. Rebecca Ireland looks at it in the context of the study of magic and folklore. This monumental work of translation and refinement of all the Biblical texts known to exist…
As part of our series looking at older books, Rebecca Ireland talks about Ella Mary Leather’s classic collection of Herefordshire folktales. If local informants can be believed witches were rife in Herefordshire in the 19th century; cows were cursed or cured; the evil eye was a constant threat, and simply offending a neighbour could lead…
Executing Magic in the Modern Era: Criminal Bodies and the Gallows in Popular Medicine takes an in-depth look at the fascination that the bodies of criminals and their means of execution have exercised over the human mind for many centuries. In the Roman era, the blood of gladiators was believed to have curative properties…