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LIMITED EDITION, 250 copies,1886. REPRINT OF THE FIRST EDITION OF 1584, EDITED BY BRINSLEY NICHOLSON, M.D. with explanatory notes, glossary, and introduction. This edition includes the additions of nine new chapters and the added second book from the edition of 1665. Small thick 4to, approximately 220 x 170 mm, 9 x 7 inches, facsimile title pages of the 1584, 1651 and 1665 editions, 21 text illustrations mostly small, title printed in red and black, decorated initials. Pages: [4], 1-xlviii, [1], 1- xxxviii, [2], 1-589, [2] - publisher's adverts, rebacked in quarter calf over original cloth covers, gilt rule between spine and cloth, gilt lettering to spine, gilt top edge, other edges untrimmed, new cream endapers. A few small nicks and a little browning to edges of pages due to being untrimmed, pale brown spot to lower margins of pages, 61-67, nowhere near text, tiny brown spot to spine, leather fault, otherwise a very good copy. This copy is the original edition of 1886 not to be confused with the modern reprint. The Discoverie of Witchcraft is a book published by the English gentleman Reginald Scot in 1584, intended as an expos� of witchcraft. It contains a small section intended to show how the public was fooled by charlatans, which is considered the first published material on illusionary or magic tricks (Wikipedia). See: Clarke and Blind The Bibliography of Conjuring, page 69; Trevor Hall, Old Conjuring Books, page 62; Sotheby and Co, 1974, Property of the late Roland Winder, page 32, Lot 170; R. Toole-Stott, Circus and Allied Arts, Volume 3, page 302, No.4. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.

Reginald Scot's 'The Discoverie of Witchcraft,' first published in 1584, is one of the earliest works in English to openly denounce witchcraft and magic as folklore and superstition. Through comprehensive chapters, Scot debunks the myths surrounding witchcraft practices and critiques the witch hunts and trials of his time.