A TREATISE ON MAGIC, OR, ON THE INTERCOURSE BETWEEN SPIRITS AND MEN

Contemporary marbled boards backed with sheepskin, smooth spine divided into panels by single gilt rules. Front free endpaper with bookplate of the Ricky Jay Collection. Front pastedown with neat early owner's signature, pencilled initials "M. A." in a juvenile hand, adjacent to a rudimentary pencil sketch of two people; rear pastedown with pencilled signature of Sally E[?]. Original errata slip pasted onto bottom half of final page (the slip defective at lower left corner). Sabin 67364; Shaw & Shoemaker 21169. ◆Sheepskin a bit rubbed, marbled paper boards somewhat chafed, stained, and quite worn at corners, endpaper a bit spotted, torn, or (at back) missing, other minor defects, but the unsophisticated original insubstantial binding still solid. Title page and front flyleaves with light dampstain to gutter and tail margin, a little foxing and faint browning, other imperfections, but the volume still generally clean and surprisingly fresh despite its cheap paper.

Written by a Lutheran minister in upstate New York, this entertaining treatise gives a brief history of the supernatural from ancient times to the present day, and seeks to educate the audience about the dangers and follies of harboring magical beliefs, noting that "witchcraft can never take root unless it be supported by credulity." According to the author's preface, Frederick Henry Quitman (1760-1832) was motivated to write this work after a neighbor's home was besieged by supposed "supernatural" occurrences that included thrown stones and theft. Even though Quitman, a staunch skeptic, endeavored to attribute the activity to mischievous entities of the human variety, the damage had been done: "Scarcely had the rumour about the forementioned witchcraft a little subsided, when we heard the report of the appearance of apparitions in several quarters of the town. And it is really to be feared, that during this dull winter, all the corners of [the town], for want of other employment, will be infested with demons." The Annotations at the end of the book contain many amusing definitions and descriptions of such things as talismans, popular magic, gothic novels, and ventriloquists.

Our copy was owned by the eminent magician, actor, writer, scholar, and sleight of hand artist Ricky Jay (1946-2018). In their catalogue, Sotheby's notes that "Ricky Jay's accomplishments were as varied as are the formats and subjects of the material in his celebrated Collection . . . . [He] is one of the very select company of persons who assembled a collection of the very first rank in a field in which he was not only a world-renowned practitioner, but also a scholar of considerable note." Our 1810 printing--the only early edition of this work--is rare on the market, with RBH recording just four copies at auction in more than 60 years..