Johannis Weiri. Opera Omnia. Aurorum Contenta Versa Pagina Exhibet. Edito Nova & Hactenus Desiderata. Accedunt Indices Rerum & Verborum Copiosissimi de Weyer, Johan. [1515-1588] - 1660

Amsterdam: Van Den Derge, 1660. First Edition. Hardcover. Near Fine/No Jacket. 4to. First Edition of Weyer's collected works. Bound in full contemporary vellum. Title lettered in black ink on spine. Containing five works: De Praestigiis Daemonum, and (with seperate title-pages) Liber Apologeticus, De Lamiis Liber, De Irae Morbo, and Weiri Medicarum Observationum....liber II. Leaf *4 is a FACSIMILE of the recto only (*4r). The author's portrait printed on the verso of the original leaf is lacking. Vellum somewhat soiled, some light brown staining on rear board. Textblock slightly sprung from boards. Light staining and smudges to leaves. Small perforation to title-page vignette. Bookplate of Clarence B. Farrar on front pastedown. Otherwise near fine. Important work by Johan Weyer [1515-1588], the personal physician to Duke William of Cleves, was one of the earliest activists against the persecution of witch hunts and witch trials. He studied under Cornelius Agrippa, and then on to Paris, where he received his degree in 1537, and was renowned as a diagnostician. In his major work on magic, De Praestigus, Weyer denounced torturous methods used by witch hunters to extract confessions under extreme duress, stating that the "prisoners suffer awful torture, until they would gladly exchange this most bitter existance for death..." These views lead Weyer to seek protection from the Duke. Weyer realized that accounts of sabbats and possession were products of mental illness. [Robbins: The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology, p. 538].