VAIRO Leonardo De fascino libri tres. In quibus omnes fascini species et causæ optima methodo describuntur… necnon contra præstigias, imposturas, illusionésque dæmonum, cautiones & amuleta præscribuntur…

Brunet, II, 925 ; Caillet, 10963 ; NLM, 4462 ; not in Wellcome.

First edition, very rare. An important treatise on witchcraft and demonology, one of the most curious to have been published in the sixteenth century: different types of charm, qualities and conditions of the charmer, people predisposed to bewitchments, remedies and counterpoisons, the role of demons in the knowledge of the future, and so on.

As indicated in the title, the book is divided into three parts. The first offers a kind of typology of demonic bewitchment. In the second, more critical part, the author sets out the limits of human power in matters of sorcery: demons are the agents of bewitchment and divination, with the human imagination playing a passive role in the process; one cannot bewitch by sight, voice or gesture, only demons can transport a body from one place to another, and no one can charm simply by observing celestial bodies. The third and final part sets out the Church’s doctrine on witchcraft and ends with a curious speech entitled “De veneno domino Leonardo Vairo… exhibito, Horatij Albini Enarratio”.

The author, the Italian theologian and philosopher Leonardo Vairo, born in Benevento in 1523 and died in 1603, was bishop of Pozzuoli from 1587. The French translation of his treatise was published by Nicolas Chesneau in 1583. A second Latin edition was printed in Venice by the Aldes in 1589. A good copy, with minor restorations to the binding; occasional stains,or waterstains in the corners of the last 10 quires.

Provenance: old ownership inscription on title crossed out.