Beschreibung:

The Displaying of Supposed Witchcraft: wherein is affirmed that there are many sorts of deceivers and impostors, and divers persons under a passive delusion of melancholy and fancy but that there is a corporeal league made betwixt the devil and the witch, or that he sucks on the witches body, has carnal copulation, or that witches are turned into cats, dogs, raise tempests or the like, is utterly denied and disproved... Author: Webster, John Place Published: London Publisher: Printed by J.M. Date Published: 1677 Description: [15], 346, [4] pp. (Folio) 35x22.8 cm (13¾x9"), period speckled calf, modern rebacking with raised bands, morocco lettering piece, all edges stained red. First Edition, large paper copy. Rare large paper copy of this treatise against the supposed supernatural powers of witches, with excellent provenance, from the library of Haskell F. Norman (bookplate: "H F Norman M D"). John Webster (1610-1682) was an English clergyman, physician and chemist with occult interests, a proponent of astrology and a skeptic about witchcraft. In this book, there is implication that deceptive techniques, such as sleight of hand, might be responsible for supposed supernatural occurrences, as in the title of Chap. XII, "If the Devil, or Witches have power to perform strange things, whether they do not bring them to pass by meer natural means, or otherwise..." Caillet 11366; MacPhail, Alchemy and the Occult, 133/ NLM/Krivatsy 12612; Norman Library 2191; ESTC R12517; Wing W1230. Condition: Slight rubbing to binding extremities; occasional spotting or creasing; overall near fine. Item#: 359897 Headline: Webster debunks witchcraft 1677, H.F. Norman copy