--- product_id: 115393269 title: "Grimoires: A History of Magic Books" price: "VT1789" currency: VUV in_stock: false reviews_count: 11 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/115393269-grimoires-a-history-of-magic-books store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # Grimoires: A History of Magic Books **Price:** VT1789 **Availability:** ❌ Out of Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Grimoires: A History of Magic Books - **How much does it cost?** VT1789 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Currently out of stock - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/115393269-grimoires-a-history-of-magic-books) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description desertcart.com: Grimoires: A History of Magic Books eBook : Davies, Owen, Davies, Owen: Books Review: Follow the Books! - I was surprised because "Grimoires", while it is a very good survey of magical books in the West from the Middle Ages to the present, actually is much more, the best one book study of esotericism in the West I have yet seen. And here's why. In "All the President's Men" the source Deep Throat says, "follow the money" because that's how all of the seemingly disparate secrets are connected. When it comes to astrology, alchemy, magic and esoteric knowledge in the West, it's follow the book, or rather the books! In the East there are traditions that have continued their oral and direct transmission of wisdom and technique until the present day. In the West oral transmission essentially ceased and the esoteric traditions of the West from the Middle Ages onward have been heavily literary, dependent to a great extent on learning from books. Therefore, when you trace the history of grimoires, books of magic, as Davies has done, you can see the importance of magic books. I was particularly taken by the incredible notoriety of DeLaurence, who I'd always taken as a plagiarist and publisher of pulp [Davies has a whole chapter called Pulp Magic!] In South America, in the Caribbean and especially in Jamaica, DeLaurence became notorious and the possession of his "Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses" the key to magical credibility. Amazingly enough I encountered this personally recently. I shipped a talisman to Jamaica recently and of course included my usual instruction booklet. The talisman was confiscated by Jamaican Customs! When I checked the Jamaican Customs regulations I found that there was no restriction on jewelry, but that magic books published by DeLaurence were specifically banned in Jamaica. What a synchronicity! Particularly since Davies mentions the Jamaican Customs regulations in his book. So we have everything, King Solomon, Greek Magical Papyri, Hermes Trismegistus, Picatrix, Ficino, Agrippa, Key of Solomon, 17th & 18th century Europe and America, Petit Albert, Red Dragon, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses, Freemasonry, Joseph Smith, Voudun, Santeria, Allen Kardac, Hoodoo, Paschal Beverly Randolph, the Golden Dawn, Crowely, Necronomicon, Anton Levey, Gardner and Wicca. All the disparate strands of Western esotericism, all connected by grimoires! I'm reading this and saying, "Why haven't I heard of this book before?" Well it was only published in 2009. Excellent, really excellent! This is exactly what an academic study is useful for, placing things in historical perspective. Definitely extremely useful and worth getting! Review: Engrossing yet scholarly account of American magical tradition - Grimoires: A History of Magic Books Writing in similar vein to his "Cunning Folk: Popular Magic in English History", Davies has penned an enjoyable yet scholarly account of the evolution of magical spellbooks from earliest times to the present day, opening up new territory in his exploration of their development and proliferation in the United States by following a murky thread of tradition, complex borrowings and multiple piratings. In this, Davies' book splendidly supplements the work in European fields first undertaken by E. M. Butler, and now more recently, by Kiekhefer, Fanger, Luck, Klaassen, Peterson, Mathiesen, and Hutton. Well illustrated with previously unpublished material such as Francis Barrett's handwritten title page of his manuscript for "The Magus", Davies' book should be of as much interest to the student of the occult as to the historian. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | ASIN | B00BKY6MZM | | Accessibility | Learn more | | Best Sellers Rank | #471,600 in Kindle Store ( See Top 100 in Kindle Store ) #180 in Alchemy #510 in Wicca & Witchcraft #658 in Occult Magic | | Customer Reviews | 4.6 4.6 out of 5 stars (299) | | Edition | 1st | | Enhanced typesetting | Enabled | | File size | 3.8 MB | | ISBN-13 | 978-0191509247 | | Language | English | | Page Flip | Enabled | | Print length | 380 pages | | Publication date | September 23, 2010 | | Publisher | OUP Oxford | | Screen Reader | Supported | | Word Wise | Enabled | | X-Ray | Enabled | ## Images ![Grimoires: A History of Magic Books - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/81jA-uOL0YL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Follow the Books! *by C***K on May 24, 2010* I was surprised because "Grimoires", while it is a very good survey of magical books in the West from the Middle Ages to the present, actually is much more, the best one book study of esotericism in the West I have yet seen. And here's why. In "All the President's Men" the source Deep Throat says, "follow the money" because that's how all of the seemingly disparate secrets are connected. When it comes to astrology, alchemy, magic and esoteric knowledge in the West, it's follow the book, or rather the books! In the East there are traditions that have continued their oral and direct transmission of wisdom and technique until the present day. In the West oral transmission essentially ceased and the esoteric traditions of the West from the Middle Ages onward have been heavily literary, dependent to a great extent on learning from books. Therefore, when you trace the history of grimoires, books of magic, as Davies has done, you can see the importance of magic books. I was particularly taken by the incredible notoriety of DeLaurence, who I'd always taken as a plagiarist and publisher of pulp [Davies has a whole chapter called Pulp Magic!] In South America, in the Caribbean and especially in Jamaica, DeLaurence became notorious and the possession of his "Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses" the key to magical credibility. Amazingly enough I encountered this personally recently. I shipped a talisman to Jamaica recently and of course included my usual instruction booklet. The talisman was confiscated by Jamaican Customs! When I checked the Jamaican Customs regulations I found that there was no restriction on jewelry, but that magic books published by DeLaurence were specifically banned in Jamaica. What a synchronicity! Particularly since Davies mentions the Jamaican Customs regulations in his book. So we have everything, King Solomon, Greek Magical Papyri, Hermes Trismegistus, Picatrix, Ficino, Agrippa, Key of Solomon, 17th & 18th century Europe and America, Petit Albert, Red Dragon, 6th, 7th, 8th, 9th and 10th Books of Moses, Freemasonry, Joseph Smith, Voudun, Santeria, Allen Kardac, Hoodoo, Paschal Beverly Randolph, the Golden Dawn, Crowely, Necronomicon, Anton Levey, Gardner and Wicca. All the disparate strands of Western esotericism, all connected by grimoires! I'm reading this and saying, "Why haven't I heard of this book before?" Well it was only published in 2009. Excellent, really excellent! This is exactly what an academic study is useful for, placing things in historical perspective. Definitely extremely useful and worth getting! ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Engrossing yet scholarly account of American magical tradition *by C***E on April 29, 2009* Grimoires: A History of Magic Books Writing in similar vein to his "Cunning Folk: Popular Magic in English History", Davies has penned an enjoyable yet scholarly account of the evolution of magical spellbooks from earliest times to the present day, opening up new territory in his exploration of their development and proliferation in the United States by following a murky thread of tradition, complex borrowings and multiple piratings. In this, Davies' book splendidly supplements the work in European fields first undertaken by E. M. Butler, and now more recently, by Kiekhefer, Fanger, Luck, Klaassen, Peterson, Mathiesen, and Hutton. Well illustrated with previously unpublished material such as Francis Barrett's handwritten title page of his manuscript for "The Magus", Davies' book should be of as much interest to the student of the occult as to the historian. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐ Interesting... Comprehensive *by S***R on April 5, 2011* Sometimes, I'm forced to tip my hat to the Algorithm that determines the Amazon.com recommendations. I am, frankly, impressed that this book was recommended to me. First of all, I loved it. Second of all, it was published in the US in 2010, and I've noticed that the Amazon Recommendation Algorithm works better for older books. In a world where Harry Potter has his own Florida theme park and Americans talk to Astrologers over the phone for 1.99 a minute, the continued relevance of Magic is beyond doubt. One of the surprises of this book is the narrow band within which Magic operated, historically speaking. For example, a major focus of interest in regards to Grimories was their use to locate treasure. Davies has a fascinating chapter in the middle of the book about the relationship between contemporary Magical practice and the divinations of Joseph Smith, founder of the Mormon Church. Magic Books existed before the printing press was invented, it's a tradition that stretches clear back to antiquity and many of the historically grounded Magic Books of Europe owe some influence to Egypt, Israel or Baghdad. Like many other emblems of literate culture, the tradition of Magic Book was sustained through the pre-printing press era by Church Officials and Monks, which is certainly evidence of a freedom of thought that one typically WOULD not associate with a Monastery circa 500 AD. The Printing Press made the distribution of Magic Books easier, but it remained a very esoteric phenomenon until the late 18th/early 19th century till a host of related conditions: Discovery of "folk culture" by intellectuals, grown of Esoteric Societies among the lower and Middle classes (Freemasonry, etc.), growth of English language literacy among Colonial societies; brought the magic book into what we call "the Modern Era." Certainly, Magic loses a bit of its charm after the Industrial revolution, though whether that is due to the Industrial Revolution itself OR whether the Industrial Revolution is itself a manifestation of the same shift in outlook that caused Magic to lose its status as an emblem of free thinking intellectualism. Contemporary Magic devotees fall into two main groups: People who are into it because they practice Wiccanism or some offshoot, and Harry Potter/Fantasy fans. These are large, powerful Audiences, but they bear little resemblance to the Audiences described for most of Grimories. I would have liked a chapter on "Mass Media and Magic" but it's a small point that doesn't mar an otherwise splendid treatment of an esoteric subject. --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/115393269-grimoires-a-history-of-magic-books](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/115393269-grimoires-a-history-of-magic-books) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-05-16*