True Black Magic (La Veritable Magie Noire)

A classic grimoire, or source-work of magic. Le V ritable Magie Noire, or the book of True Black Magic, is an influential early printed grimoire, containing many interesting features. It is one of many variants of The Key of Solomon (Clavicula Salomonis), but printed as a chapbook, or example of Biblioth que bleue. As such it was small, cheap, and easy to hide or carry as an amulet. All these were important factors that lead to its popularity and worldwide distribution. For those familiar with the edition of the Key of Solomon edited by the influential occultist S. L. Mathers, much of the content looks famil-iar. But it has some unique features that draw our attention. In particu-lar, it preserves some older elements not included in the Mathers edition, including spells for love, and hindering romantic rivals. This new critical edition includes a new English translation, and complete French text.