Beschreibung:

WITCHCRAFT]. -- [FILMER. Robert]. An advertisement to the jury-men of England, touching withches. Together with a difference between an English and Hebrew witch . London: I.G. for Richard Royston, 1653. 4 o (179 x 137mm). 24pp. Modern half calf. FIRST EDITION. Filmer "sounded a moderate and progressive note...while he did not deny the existence of witchcraft" (Norman), and attacked and rebutted treatises by William Perkins (1608) and Martin del Rio (1598). Wing F-909; Norman 794. -- John FARRIAR (1761-1815). An essay towards a theory of apparitions . London: J. & J. Haddock for Cadell and Davies, 1813. 8 o (181 x 115mm). Half-title. Contemporary half calf (rebacked). FIRST EDITION. Offers a physio-pathological explanation for ghosts, apparaitions and other supernatural visitations, demonstrating that their cause lies in "a morbid disposition of the brain." Hunter & Macalpine, p.543; Norman 790. -- John GAULE (1604?-1687). Select cases of conscience touching witches and witchcrafts . London: W. Wilson for Richard Clutterbuck, 1646. 12 o . Contemporary unlettered sheep, early paper label, edges sprinkled red. A fine copy. A sensible, rationalizing essay, written during the witch-hunt phobia which seized eastern counties of England at this time, considering whether witches exist (Gaule answers in the affirmative), what types there are, how they may be known, whether a witch may repent and be saved, etc. Wing G-379; Norman 877. -- [John WAGSTAFFE (1633-1677)]. The question of witchcraft debated; or a discourse against their opinion that affirm witches . London: [no printer], 1669. 8 o (145 x 92mm). (Minor stains and browning). Contemporary unlettered sheep (slightly rubbed). A good copy. FIRST EDITION. A rationalistic attack on witch-hunters, affirming that witches' existence is proven "neither from Scripture, nor History, nor solid reason: for I do not value Platonick dreams, similitudes and fabling whimsies" (preface). Wing W-198; Norman 2172. -- Francis HUTCHINSON (1660-1739). An historical essay concerning witchcraft: with observations upon matters of fact , London: R. Knaplock and D. Midwinter, 1718. 8 o (192 x 122mm). Half title, last leaf with publisher's advertisement. Contemporary blind-panelled calf (rebacked, preserving original spine and spine label). FIRST EDITION. "Valuable for its analyses of famous witch trials...and for its first-hand accounts of the witch-terror by those who survived it" (Norman). Norman 1129. -- ADY, Thomas (fl.1655). A perfect discovery of witches . [London: R.I for H. Brome, 1661]. 4 o (178 x 131 mm). (Imprint cropped off title page, and some letters of title shaved). Third edition. A refutation of belief in witchcraft, arguing that current persecution of witches had no scriptural authority. Wing A-676; Norman 16. -- [Friedrich von SPEE (1591-1635)]. Cautio criminalis. Seu de processibus contra sagas liber. Das ist, peinliche Warschawung von Anstell und Fhrung dess Processes gegen die angegebene Zauberer, Hexen und Unholden. Frankfurt am Main: Anthoni Hummen, 1649. Third edition. A powerful indictment of the witchcraft mania; Spee had been confessor to many condemned as witches in Wrzburg in the 1620s and "exposed the slipshod and corrupt methods by which convictions were obtained...a vivid first-hand account of the tortures perpetrated upon the accused in order to obtain confessions" (Norman). Norman 1985. -- [ Bound with :] Johann Matthaeus MEYFARTH (1590-1642). Die hochwichtige Hexen-Errinerung. Leipzig: Johann Simon Ficken and Johann Policarp Seybolden, 1666. Later edition. A Protestant denunciation of the witchcraft mania, assailing the judges who profited from convicting witches. Norman 1505. Together 2 vols. in 1, 4 o (193 x 155mm). Contemporary calf gilt, gilt-ruled spine, speckled edges. -- Balthasar BEKKER (1634-1698). Die bezauberte Welt . Amsterdam: Daniel von Dahlen, 1693 (altered to 1698 in manuscript). 4 o (221 x 168mm). Wooodcut portrait on title. Contemporary sheep (boards wo