Witchcraft: A History in 13 Trials – Signed Copy

Marion Gibson

ISBN: 9781398508507S

£20.00

Signed hardback copy of Witchcraft by Marion Gibson

First Edition, First Printing

Hand signed by Marion Gibson to the title page

This edition features black sprayed edges

Out of stock

SKU: 9781398508507S Categories: , , ,

Description

Witchfinder General, Salem, Malleus Maleficarum. The world of witch-hunts and witch trials sounds archaic and fanciful, these terms relics of an unenlightened, brutal age. However, we often hear ‘witch-hunt’ in today’s media, and the misogyny that shaped witch trials is all too familiar. Three women were prosecuted under a version of the 1735 Witchcraft Act as recently as 2018.

In Witchcraft, Professor Marion Gibson uses thirteen significant trials to tell the global history of witchcraft and witch-hunts. As well as exploring the origins of witch-hunts through some of the most famous trials from the Middle Ages to the eighteenth century, it takes us in new and surprising directions. It shows us how witchcraft was reimagined by lawyers and radical historians in France, how suspicions of sorcery led to murder in Jazz Age Pennsylvania, the effects of colonialism and Christian missionary zeal on ‘witches’ in Africa, and how even today a witch trial can come in many guises.

Professor Gibson also tells the stories of the ‘witches’ – mostly women like Helena Scheuberin, Anny Sampson and Joan Wright, whose stories have too often been overshadowed by those of the powerful men, such as King James I and ‘Witchfinder General’ Matthew Hopkins, who hounded them.

Once a tool invented by demonologists to hurt and silence their enemies, witch trials have been twisted and transformed over the course of history and the lines between witch and witch-hunter blurred. For the fortunate, a witch-hunt is just a metaphor, but, as this book makes clear, witches are truly still on trial.

Further Information

Format Hardback
Publisher Simon & Schuster Ltd.
Published 22/06/2023
Shipping We aim to ensure the books in your order reach you in perfect condition. All our books are supplied wrapped in bubble-wrap and shipped in a book box.
Pre-Orders We aim to dispatch all pre-order titles on or around the date of publication. Sometimes, due to circumstances beyond our control, there might be a delay. Should this be the case, we will contact you to let you know.

If your order contains a combination of in stock and pre-order, not yet published titles, we will usually hold the order and dispatch when all titles are in stock. If you would like us to release parts of your order sooner, please contact us to arrange an additional postage and packaging payment.