PREFACE.

The first edition of this volume has been both praised and criticized by the public. It was admitted to be a valuable compendium original: "compendium"; a concise collection or summary of the curiosities of literature in general, and especially regarding the literature of magic. However, it was also claimed that the book was designed to foster superstition and thereby promote evil. This is a repetition of the charge previously made against the honorable Horst Georg Conrad Horst (1767–1832), a German theologian and scholar known for his "Magical Library.", the publisher of a library of magical texts.

In our enlightened age, an unprejudiced person will see in the publication of such a work only what the author claims: a contribution to the study of literature and culture of significant merit. Furthermore, for the believer, the release of a cheap edition will be more useful than the formerly expensive productions on sorcery, which were only circulated in summarized forms and sold at extortionate rates. What other practical value this edition may possess is not the primary question. Let us not, therefore, underrate this branch of popular literature. The authors wrote according to a system which was—or at least seemed—clear to them. Illustrious people in all ages and climates have not considered the labor required to fathom the mysteries of magic as labor spent in vain. Although they may have condemned the specific methods, they could not deny the possibility, or even the fact, that gifted men of inherent worth could accomplish such wonderful things.

In regard to the present edition, it can only be said that the so-called Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, which have attracted popular faith for several centuries, are presented here in accordance with an old manuscript (the most legible among many). They are given word for word, divested only of the spelling errors that the best interests of literature demand be corrected—yet with unerring fidelity. The publisher guarantees that not one syllable has been added.