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Lead book review

Learned necromancers and lascivious witches: magic and misogyny through the ages

We seem just as captivated by magic today as our Sumerian ancestors ever were, says Suzi Feay

7 October 2023

9:00 AM

7 October 2023

9:00 AM

Art of the Grimoire: An Illustrated History of Magic Books and Spells Owen Davies

Yale University Press, pp.256, 25

Curses, conjurations, magic circles, incantations, abracadabra, gobbledygook… Why would any serious historian want to write a history of magic books?

Owen Davies issues a robust defence: magic is as old as human history, while a study of grimoires is a study of the book itself and its changing format over time.

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