We all know well the extremes that a witch hunt or a search for supposed demons could reach in the past, but literature was not left behind with its warnings and representations. One of the most striking is the «Compendium rarissimum totius Artis Magicae sistematisatae per celeberrimos Artis hujus Magistros», which claims to be from the year 1057, but which experts place in the second half of the 18th century...
Its references do not leave much to the imagination: Death on a famished horse, witches with three nipples, demons devouring human flesh, and all the variants of genitals you can visualize (in some cases, including snakes and worms), with great emphasis on the phallic. The available information suggests that the book was designed to be presented as a relic from the year 1057, but experts indicate that the true year of its creation would be 1775. Below you can explore our gallery with the main illustrations of the book, or go to the Wellcome Library, where you will find its digital reproduction.
