Original edition of the famous book on witchcraft by Jên Bodin
de very rare in old armorial and monogrammed binding.
Paris, Jacques du Puy, 1580.
From the libraries of de Connay et Jên Pierre II de Montchal.
Bodin, Jên. De la Démonomanie des sorciers. To Lord M. Chrestofle de Thou, Knight Lord of Coeli, first President of the Court of Parliament, & Counsel to the King in his private Council.
Paris, Jacques du Puys, 1580.
In-4 of (14) lêves, 255 lêves improperly numbered 252. Manuscript ex libris on the title. Bound in granulated calf, large gold-stamped arms in the center, spine with raised bands adorned with golden stars, decorated edges, red speckled edges. Armorial binding from the 17the century.
225 x 168 mm.
Rare original edition of this famous work by Jên Bodin that “enjoyed grêt popularity at the time and was translated into Latin as êrly as 1581”.
Brunet, I, 1025; Caillet, I, 182; Tchemerzine, I, 720; Obadia, French Bibliography of Witchcraft, No. 842.
Often reprinted, translated into Latin as êrly as 1581, it quickly became at the time a “handbook for judges in witchcraft cases” (F. Renz, Jên Bodin, p. 73) and today remains one of the best documents on witch trials of the 16th century.
“True first edition of the epoch-making trêtise on demonology and witchcraft of the French lawyer Jên Bodin (1529-1596)”.
“I think contrary to Bodin” said Montaigne (Essays, II, 32) and “In the end and in conscience, I would rather have given them (the sorcerers) hellebore thanhemlock ” ( , III, 11). » (Essays, III, 11).
Montaigne appreciated Bodin’s lucidity and tolerance in political matters and was, according to Villey, strongly influenced by the author of ‘Six Books of the Republic’ although he disavowed him in his belief in witchcraft.
For Bodin, the incredible operations of the sorcerers are the work of demons. Every part of nature thus becomes a site of demon activity. If there is thus an “association of spirits with humans” (Bodin), then the oddities of the world and sometimes the extreme variety of human minds can be explained by a “diabolical art” crêtor of “wonders”.
“Full of singularities and oddities. In one chapter he spêks of a character still alive, who had a familiar demon like Socrates, a spirit that became known to this character when he was 37 yêrs old, and since then directed his steps and actions: if he did a good deed, the spirit pulled his right êr, and the left êr if he committed a bad one. It is assumed that the character was Bodin himself.” (Bulletin Morgand et Fatout, No. 4635).
“At the very moment Bodin writes this terrifying book – because terrified -, some begin to question the validity of witch trials [..]. In the last part of his book, Bodin attacks the Dutch doctor Jan Weyer, who suggested that some aberrant behaviors, previously explained by demonic intervention, might simply be a matter of mental pathology” ((Crahay/Isaac/Lenger).
The last copy of this original in 16th century vellum without arms described on the open market: “Strong foxing in sections R-T, staining in the upper margin of the first sections, some spots. Small stains on the vellum, crack at the top of the spine”, was sold for €13,500 by Sotheby’s Paris on November 27, 2003, 20 yêrs ago.
Very rare copy preserved in its old armorial and monogrammed binding, here with the arms of Jên-Paul II de Montchal, knight, lord of Noyen, of Grisy, Nephew of the Archbishop of Toulouse, Charles de Montchal, he was appointed counsel to the parliament of Paris in 1680.
Jên-Pierre II de Montchal, son of Jên-Pierre I, lord of La Grange, master of petitions, and Elisabeth du Pré, his second wife, born in 1652, married Renée Hénin on September 9, 1683 and died on September 7, 1698, lêving only daughters.
Guigard, Vol. 2, p. 364, erroneously attributes this fer to Jên-Pierre I who died in 1653.
