Witches and vampires and ghosts, Oh My!

Front facade of Houghton Library

This post is part of an ongoing series featuring items from the newly acquired Santo Domingo collection.

Witches have always fascinated people, from the magical tales of Merlin to the Salem Witch trials, to the current trend of magic and vampires in popular culture.  Written by Colin Wilson and illustrated by Una Woodruff, Witches is an intricately and beautifully illustrated history of witchcraft.  A comprehensive guide from primitive sorcery up through modern witchcraft, Wilson touches on everything someone could want to know about witches. 

 

Next to sections on well-known witches such as Aleister Crowley, The Templars, and Jayne Mansfield, Wilson gives insight on research into magic and spells such as the witches’ salve and possession.   

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Using research from Albert Hoffman and Richard Shultes, Wilson explains the hallucinogenic results that experimenters found when searching for witches’ salve to make them fly.

Both Woodruff and Wilson have worked extensively on magic and witchcraft related projects.  You can find Introduction to the Faces of Evil by Wilson and Amarant: the flora and fauna of Atlantis by a Lady Botanist, edited and compiled by Woodruff.

Witches / written by Colin Wilson ; [illustrated by] Una Woodruff.  Limpsfield, Surrey : Paper Tiger, c1981.  BF1563 .W572 can be requested from Harvard Depository.

 

 

Thanks to Emma Clement, Santo Domingo Library Assistant, for contributing this post.