Daemonologia : A Discourse on Witchcraft, As It Was Acted in the Family of Mr Edward Fairfax. of Fuyston, in the County of York, in the Year 1621

1st edition. 190pp. Occasional page decorations in text. Blue cloth covered boards with blind tooled decoration and gilt lettering (a few mild marks, lightly sunned spine). Internally neat, clean, bright and tight. A lovely, well-preserved copy. Edward Fairfax was one of the poets of the Elizabethan era and one of the greatest refiners of the English language, yet his Daemonologia wasn’t published in full to the general public until this edition in the late 19th century, although extracts had been previously published and some manuscript copies exist in libraries etc. it gives a minute and detailed account of the symptoms of witchcraft, and a philosophical discourse on the origins, constitution and decay of witchcraft in the context of 17th century understanding. In Fairfax’s typical, elegant prose, he relates his sincere but misguided conviction that his neighbours attacked his children with witchcraft, killing his daughter Anne. Also includes Fairfax’s Eclogues, also not previously published. Tall, slim volume.