THE MAGICAL AMULETS OF THE ANCIENT SAGES and BIBLIOTHECA NECROMANTICA.
UK: Troy Books, 2023. First Edition Thus (& 1st printing). Small octavo, original green cloth stamped in silver, decorated endpapers. 72 pp. A fine copy, without dust jacket, as issued. Item #314145
¶ Translated by Robert Nixon, OSB. The Magical Amulets of the Ancient Sages and Bibliotheca Necromantica by Trithemius includes his compilation on the properties of magical amulets and an astonishing insight into the occult literature in circulation in Europe in the late Middle Ages. Johannes Trithemius, 15th Century abbot of a Benedictine monsatery in Sponheim, Germany; friend and confidante of the Emperor, and the trusted advisor on occult and spiritual matters to most of the German nobility. His students included Agrippa and Paracelsus.
Trithemius was esteemed as the most learned man of his age, and wrote extensively on cryptography, alchemy, angelic magic, witchcraft, history, theology, and philosophy. An avid bibliophile, he collected thousands of volumes for his monastery’s library, taking a special interest in arcane, obscure, and infamous books. This volume presents, for the first time in English, his fascinating compilation of treatises on the properties of magical amulets. These offer systematic and detailed descriptions of the design, properties, and powers of hundreds of images fashioned from stones of various kind. Also included is his Bibliotheca Necromantica (taken from his Antipalus Maleficiorum, or Shield Against Witches). This tract comprehensively lists and describes the various occult, necromantic, and magical volumes which Trithemius either possessed or had read, and offers an astonishing insight into the underground occult literature in circulation in Europe in the late Middle Ages.
Price (CAD): $100.00