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[BASQUE COUNTRY - WITCH HUNTING] - LANCRE (Pierre, de). Tabl…
See original version (French)
61
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[BASQUE COUNTRY - WITCH HUNTING] - LANCRE (Pierre, de). Tabl…
See original version (French)
Estimate €2,000 - €3,000
Voluntary lot
Description
[BASQUE COUNTRY - WITCH HUNTING] - LANCRE (Pierre, de). Tableau de l'inconstance des mauvais anges et démons, où il est amplement traicté des Sorciers & de la Sorcelerie. A very useful and necessary book, not only for judges, but for all those who live under Christian laws.
Rare first edition of this important treatise on demonology, our copy enriched with an impressive engraved plate showing a witches' sabbath.
Paris, Nicolas Buon, 1612.
In-4, brown calf, spine ribbed and decorated with gilt fleurons with havana title-piece, boards decorated with a double fillet framed in cold, red speckled edges.
18 ff.n.ch. (title, dedication, two verses, privilege, warning, table), 571 pp. 13 ff.n.ch. (table, errata), one engraved folding plate. Handwritten bookplate on title page.
Joints cracked, headpieces loose and spine rubbed, stains to boards. Some brown spots.
Pierre de Rosteguy de Lancre (1553-1631) was placed in charge of the witch-hunts by Henry IV in 1609 and given unlimited powers. He began his mission in Bayonne at a time of year when sailors were travelling the Atlantic as far as Newfoundland, leaving women alone for several months. Seeing the devil everywhere, the magistrate had many women, children and priests interrogated, tortured and executed in these infamous trials. His stay lasted only four months, cut short by riots caused by sailors returning from fishing, which nevertheless led to the execution of around fifty people.
The result is this rare work in which the magistrate details how the sabbats were carried out, his method for detecting witches and carrying out their executions. This precious testimony includes numerous accounts of various hearings, reports and confessions, as well as observations on the customs of the Basques in the early 17th century. Our copy is enriched by the fold-out plate showing a Sabbat taken from the original edition of "L'Histoire des imaginations extravagantes de monsieur Oufle" by Abbé Bordelon (Amsterdam, Estienne Roger, 1710) and bound on page 526, replacing the original plate engraved by Jean le Grain which is, as is often the case, missing.
[Brunet III 809. Barbe 530a]
A fine copy of this rare witch-hunting manual, an important document recounting the dark hours of the Basque Country.
See original version (French)
Auto-translation. Refer to original language for legal validity.
About the sale
Prestige sale - Antiquarian and collectible books
Auction location
Auction time
06/15/2026 at 2:00 PM
Pictures credits: Contact the Auction House
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