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The Encyclopedia of Witchcraft and Demonology
An historical and human compendium, from original sources in the world's great libraries, describing the witches' sabbat and pact, incubi and succubi, eyewitness reports of trials, werewolves, and vampires, sexual relations with the devil, demoniacal possessions and exorcism, poltergeists, barbarous tortures, and the theological and legal theories of the inquisition, witchcraft, and demonology.
Clarified by hundreds of illustrations, many reproduced for the first time in several centuries.
Clarified by hundreds of illustrations, many reproduced for the first time in several centuries.
571 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1959
48 people are currently reading
2144 people want to read
About the author
Rossell Hope Robbins
18 books13 followersRossell Hope Robbins was born on July 22, 1912, in Wallasey, Cheshire, England, to Rossell Casson Robbins, formerly of Liverpool, England, and Alice Eveline Hope Robbins, formerly of Kirkcudbright, Scotland.
He began his education at Wallasey Grammar School, 1921-30, then proceeded to the University of Liverpool, where in 1933, as a student of J. H. G. Grattan, he received, with first class honors, his B.A. in English Language and Literature. In 1934 he received his diploma of education from the School of Education, Liverpool. During this period of his life Robbins also trained in music at the Matthay School of Music, Liverpool Branch (1930-36), receiving his licentiate from the Guildhall School of Music, London, in 1932. He was a member of the London Verse Speaking Choir under the direction of Marjorie Gullan from 1935-37. This early interest in music and verse has remained with him all his life. His dissertation and three of his earliest scholarly books dealt with the lyric in English, and, in 1961, Columbia University Press published his Early English Christmas Carols in a handsome gift edition with music, illustrations, and an LP record.
In 1934 Robbins was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, on an Open External Studentship to proceed to his doctorate. He was supported by a Wallasey Borough Research Scholarship and the University of Liverpool Graduate Scholarship. He received his Ph.D. in literature in 1937 as a student of G. G. Coulton. In that year he was awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship by the Harkness Foundation, which brought him to America. (He became a naturalized citizen in 1944.) Here, he continued his work on Middle English Lyrics at New York University with Carleton Brown, work which is still acknowledged as the best of its kind.
(http://www.library.rochester.edu/robb...)
He began his education at Wallasey Grammar School, 1921-30, then proceeded to the University of Liverpool, where in 1933, as a student of J. H. G. Grattan, he received, with first class honors, his B.A. in English Language and Literature. In 1934 he received his diploma of education from the School of Education, Liverpool. During this period of his life Robbins also trained in music at the Matthay School of Music, Liverpool Branch (1930-36), receiving his licentiate from the Guildhall School of Music, London, in 1932. He was a member of the London Verse Speaking Choir under the direction of Marjorie Gullan from 1935-37. This early interest in music and verse has remained with him all his life. His dissertation and three of his earliest scholarly books dealt with the lyric in English, and, in 1961, Columbia University Press published his Early English Christmas Carols in a handsome gift edition with music, illustrations, and an LP record.
In 1934 Robbins was admitted to Emmanuel College, Cambridge, on an Open External Studentship to proceed to his doctorate. He was supported by a Wallasey Borough Research Scholarship and the University of Liverpool Graduate Scholarship. He received his Ph.D. in literature in 1937 as a student of G. G. Coulton. In that year he was awarded a Commonwealth Fellowship by the Harkness Foundation, which brought him to America. (He became a naturalized citizen in 1944.) Here, he continued his work on Middle English Lyrics at New York University with Carleton Brown, work which is still acknowledged as the best of its kind.
(http://www.library.rochester.edu/robb...)
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Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews
May 3, 2015
An excellent reference source on witchcraft, and the delusions/persecutions of Western Europe, largely focused on the 15-18th centuries. It is an encyclopedia and reads like one (numerous topical entries), so don't expect it to read like a normal book.
I suppose some people could quibble that the author takes a very specific definition of witchcraft, one that excludes what people would recognize today as Wicca or what Alistair Crowley was about. Likewise, the book is quite clear in establishing that witchcraft is total bunk, so readers thinking they'll get some sort of "primer" will be very disappointed.
All told, the book is an excellent reference on the paranoia and panic that surrounded witchcraft, the extent to which people were systematically tortured and abused, and those brave few who tried to fight the nonsense with logic and reason.
I suppose some people could quibble that the author takes a very specific definition of witchcraft, one that excludes what people would recognize today as Wicca or what Alistair Crowley was about. Likewise, the book is quite clear in establishing that witchcraft is total bunk, so readers thinking they'll get some sort of "primer" will be very disappointed.
All told, the book is an excellent reference on the paranoia and panic that surrounded witchcraft, the extent to which people were systematically tortured and abused, and those brave few who tried to fight the nonsense with logic and reason.
July 12, 2012
Just a neat book I picked up back in the 80s after studying Chaucer with Professor Robbins. Shouldn't everyone have a few bits of esoteric reference materials in their library?
March 21, 2015
A treasure trove of useful information on the witchcraft persecutions that gripped Europe, England and Colonial America especially useful as a launching pad for further reading. The bibliographies are nearly worth the price of admission; with that said I did notice some errors namely in dates and locations e.g. 1682 was listed as the year for the Essex County witchcraft trials, The Mercy Brown vampire scare was located in Rhode Island not Massachusetts, Robbins's analysis of the lithobolia outbreak on Great Island, NH in 1682 is questionable.
Read
January 12, 2008A good book that is very repetitive if you read it from A to Z, but worthwhile.
In the end, I came away from this book with a sense of how profoundly fucked the human race really is. The editors of this book give absolutely no space to the existence of witchcraft--as it should be. So don't read this book if you're some "New Age Magician" thinking it'll tell you how to read the future or summon a demon.
In the end, I came away from this book with a sense of how profoundly fucked the human race really is. The editors of this book give absolutely no space to the existence of witchcraft--as it should be. So don't read this book if you're some "New Age Magician" thinking it'll tell you how to read the future or summon a demon.
February 20, 2022
Es un libro muy denso pero muy interesante lo que se expone. Todo lo que la Iglesia ha ocultado de los libros de historia.
Recomiendo mucho su lectura.
Llevo tiempo pensando en apostatar, según he cerrado el libro he decidido empezar el proceso esta misma semana.
Recomiendo mucho su lectura.
Llevo tiempo pensando en apostatar, según he cerrado el libro he decidido empezar el proceso esta misma semana.
August 16, 2019
To put it simply, this is a remarkable book.
I've been carting this thing around for something like 30 years, referring to it occasionally but never really certain I would actually sit and read right through it. I am so glad I finally did. Robbins may not have set out to write this as a readable (rather than a reference) book, so it is certainly to his credit that it is very enjoyable to read.
To clarify the title: Robbins makes it quite clear that his definition of 'witchcraft' is that practice defined by Christian churches as heresy and persecuted during the period of the 1500s to the 1700s (with some incidents occurring on either side of that time-frame). So, all the entries herein are chiefly concerned with the 'witch craze' which seized Europe and America during those centuries. However, he digs deeply within those parameters. 'Demonology,' in this perspective, is the studies of those Christian prosecutors who made deviltry their business (both literally and figuratively).
Robbins has delved into libraries throughout western continental Europe, the UK and the US to use as much original documentation as possible in exploring and explaining the events of those times. Unlike many other occult scholars (e.g., Montague Summers), Robbins has gone the considerable length to translate all these documents from the original languages, additionally providing the original terminology when translation is perhaps tricky.
Robbins does not mask his contempt for witch-hunters and for the organised religion of the time, to say nothing of his feelings for the hundreds of people who sent their neighbours to their deaths by nothing more than accusations. At the same time, he does attempt to deliver an otherwise unbiased presentation of the facts from the documentation of the time.
My only problems with this book are two: the frequent black-and-white illustrations from various (mostly) contemporary sources are so poorly reproduced as to make some of them illegible; and the entries could benefit from a better cross-indexing, perhaps via bold print within the text or else more thorough lists at the end of each entry.
For readers with even a passing interest in the witch hunts of the 16th-18th centuries, or even those who are willing to be persuaded to what complete nonsense the modern concept of Witches is founded upon, this is an absolute marvel of a book.
I've been carting this thing around for something like 30 years, referring to it occasionally but never really certain I would actually sit and read right through it. I am so glad I finally did. Robbins may not have set out to write this as a readable (rather than a reference) book, so it is certainly to his credit that it is very enjoyable to read.
To clarify the title: Robbins makes it quite clear that his definition of 'witchcraft' is that practice defined by Christian churches as heresy and persecuted during the period of the 1500s to the 1700s (with some incidents occurring on either side of that time-frame). So, all the entries herein are chiefly concerned with the 'witch craze' which seized Europe and America during those centuries. However, he digs deeply within those parameters. 'Demonology,' in this perspective, is the studies of those Christian prosecutors who made deviltry their business (both literally and figuratively).
Robbins has delved into libraries throughout western continental Europe, the UK and the US to use as much original documentation as possible in exploring and explaining the events of those times. Unlike many other occult scholars (e.g., Montague Summers), Robbins has gone the considerable length to translate all these documents from the original languages, additionally providing the original terminology when translation is perhaps tricky.
Robbins does not mask his contempt for witch-hunters and for the organised religion of the time, to say nothing of his feelings for the hundreds of people who sent their neighbours to their deaths by nothing more than accusations. At the same time, he does attempt to deliver an otherwise unbiased presentation of the facts from the documentation of the time.
My only problems with this book are two: the frequent black-and-white illustrations from various (mostly) contemporary sources are so poorly reproduced as to make some of them illegible; and the entries could benefit from a better cross-indexing, perhaps via bold print within the text or else more thorough lists at the end of each entry.
For readers with even a passing interest in the witch hunts of the 16th-18th centuries, or even those who are willing to be persuaded to what complete nonsense the modern concept of Witches is founded upon, this is an absolute marvel of a book.
January 8, 2017
I remember wanting to read this book for years. When I happened across this in an old book shop, I knew it was fate. The first thing that grabbed me was the cover. I know we are not to judge a book by its cover, but what can I sat it was Gothic and pulled me in. I love how it carries elements of folklore, social beliefs, and fears of the day. I have researched the paranormal as a writer myself for a long time. Still, I found cases that I scarcely knew existed. Anyone who loves startling cases of real life magic, demons, and macabre history this book is for you!
March 31, 2024
This is not a book about how to cast spells, or what attire to wear to look the part, moping about in a robe and hat. It is a thorough treatment of the hysteria that gripped Europe and, for a short time, the New England colonies of America. This is a must read for those interested in first hand accounts of the torture endured, often to the death, by those accused of witchcraft, considered heresy against the Church in the age of 'Enlightenment'.
July 9, 2017
“The words witch and witchcraft, in everyday usage for over a thousand years, have undergone several changes of meaning; and today witchcraft, having reverted to its original connotation of magic and sorcery, does not convey the precise and limited definition it once had during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries."
January 1, 2023
This is a good reference book, to be taken with a grain of salt. It is a product of it's time.
(2007)
(2007)
September 13, 2022
Robbins's book - not to be confused with the 1970s coffee table book of the same name - is a decent reference guide to the early modern witchcraft persecutions. Full review: https://fakegeekboy.wordpress.com/201...
August 9, 2021
If you want to learn about witchcraft, don't read some shit written by an internet influencer, read this.
September 28, 2023
Highly recommend to anyone wanting to research the academic history of witchcraft. It's easy to read and well sourced.
August 8, 2025
All my enemies better watch out
June 12, 2007
This book is an encyclopedia of witchcraft and magic throughout the world. It is organized by region. It is a comphrensive read, but it is somewhat slanted and biased. It is told from a Christian perspective and seems to have a slant that magic and witchcraft is "bad" or "evil" in most forms.
December 14, 2011
I read this when I just have free time. It's pretty massive, but very interesting.
June 22, 2012
Well written.
Read
December 2, 2012very very informative and easily read.
Read
August 21, 20135 stars.
January 10, 2014
A very useful encyclopedia on witchcraft and demonology. It's not the be all end all, but it is a good one to have on the reference shelf.
June 6, 2014
Mine's the 2nd edition, September 1960.
January 4, 2015
Долу-горе полезно за бъдещата ми вещерска кариера. :D
July 5, 2015
This book wasn't nearly as interesting as I thought it was going to be. The Vampire Encyclopedia was much better. I found myself easier bored and skimming through much of the book.
Want to read
July 17, 2011still to read full
Displaying 1 - 25 of 25 reviews