Beschreibung:

MOLITORIS, Ulricus (fl. second half of 15th century). De lamiis et phitonicis mulieribus . [Reutlingen: Johann Otmar, not before 10 January 1489].
MOLITORIS, Ulricus (fl. second half of 15th century). De lamiis et phitonicis mulieribus . [Reutlingen: Johann Otmar, not before 10 January 1489]. Chancery 4 o (200 x 134 mm). Collation: a-b 8 c-d 6 . 28 leaves (includes final blank d6). 35 lines. Type 7:170G, 8:75G. 7 full-page woodcuts, including woodcut on title verso depicting a magister cum discipulis. (Internal marginal tear repaired on a8.) 19th-century tan morocco gilt with green inlaid border on sides, edges gilt, by L. Claessens (minor wear). Provenance : Henry Huth (bookplate) -- Acquired from Laurence C. Witten, II, 1974. Probably the FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE EARLIEST PRINTED WORKS ON WITCHCRAFT. Precedence between it and an undated Strassburg edition by Prüss has not been established; both editions contain a prefatory letter dated Constance, 10 January 1489. Ulrich Molitor was born in Germany around 1442, he studied in Basel before moving to the University of Pavia, and went on to become a professor of Law at the University of Constance. De Lamiis was first published in 1489 and was printed in at least five other editions before 1500. It is one of the earliest works published on witchcraft, and the first ever to be illustrated. The book is written in the form of a dialogue between the author and the dedicatee, the Archduke Sigismund of Austria, who doubts the existence of witches. Written at a time when theories concerning the heresy of witchcraft were yet to be firmly established, the author defends the belief in the powers of the Devil and his ability to deceive the human mind. The woodcuts, copied in later editions, were also used in Greyff's German edition of the work. HC *11536; BMC II, 587; Fairfax Murray German 297; Klebs 686.1; Polain(B) 2764; Schreiber 4785; Goff M-795. Fact and Fantasy 4.