Joseph Bizouard - Des rapports de l'homme avec le démon. Essai historique et philosophique - 1863-1864

BIZOUARD (Joseph). Reports of the man in relation to the demon. Historical and philosophical essay. Paris, Gaume frères et J. Duprey, editors, 4 Rue Cassette, 4, 1863-1864.

6 volumes in-8: (4)-XXIV-576; (4)-542; (4)-628; (4)-628; (4)-704 and (4)-894 pages. 13x21 cm.

Vast history of demonology by Joseph Bizouard, lawyer, which traces, from Antiquity to the nineteenth century, the beliefs and facts attributed to the intervention of the demon: oracles and ancient prodigies, sorcery and trials of the Middle Ages and Modern Times, possessions, convulsions, then animal magnetism, sleepwalking, talking boards and spiritism. The work, divided into thirty books spread over six volumes, ends with an examination of the doctrines of nineteenth-century philosophers on God and on the soul. Written from a Catholic perspective, it is part of the same movement as the works of the Marquis de Mirville and of Chevalier Gougenot des Mousseaux, and remains a mine of references on the history of the supernatural.

Volumes in wrappers, covers printed on chamois paper, title in a bordered frame; publisher’s catalog on the back of the covers. Copy protected under crystal paper.

Condition: covers soiled and browned, some small losses and tears at the edges; light damp stain at the head of the title and the first leaves of volume I; scattered foxing; pencil annotation on the title of volume I.