Martin Del Rio's Disquisitions on Magic was one of the best-known witch-hunting manuals of its age, as famous in its day as the Malleus Maleficarum, the "Hammer of Witches." Our framed leaf is the title page of its first tome, from the edition of 1606. Its woodcut border pictures the most famous magic contest in the Bible: Moses and Aaron against the magicians of Pharaoh.
Del Rio (1551–1608) was born in Antwerp, took a degree in law and joined the Jesuits in 1580. He taught at Jesuit colleges all over Europe, and this title page calls him professor of Scripture at Graz. His six books first came out at Louvain in 1599 and 1600. They run from natural magic through demonic magic, witchcraft and divination, and the last two advise the judge who tries a witch and the confessor who hears one. The 1606 edition was printed at the Archbishop of Mainz's press in Ursel, northwest of Frankfurt, at the expense of Jacob König.
The border tells the story from Exodus. When Aaron threw down his rod and it became a serpent, Pharaoh's magicians did the same with theirs, though Aaron's rod swallowed them. They matched the first plagues too, turning water into blood and bringing up frogs. When Aaron struck the dust and it became gnats, they tried and failed, and told Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." The Latin Bible calls those magicians malefici, the word Del Rio's century used for witches, and the Malleus Maleficarum took its title from it. On our page the oval at the head shows the rods turning into serpents. Ten more scenes run down the sides and across the foot, one for each plague, each captioned with its chapter of Exodus. At the foot, the Jesuit monogram IHS sits in a sunburst.
All eleven scenes are complete, and the imprint and date are intact. A title page is the one leaf of a book that names itself, and this one comes framed for the wall. The inner edge is ragged where the leaf left the book, and the full description follows.
DEL RIO, Martin. Disquisitionum Magicarum libri sex, in tres tomos partiti. Auctore Martino Delrio Societatis Iesu presbytero sacræ Theologiæ Doctore, & in Academia Gretiensi, S. S. professore. Tomus primus. Nunc tertiis curis ab ipso Auctore auctior longe, Additionibus multis passim insertis, correctior quoque mendis sublatis. Cum priuileg. S. Cæs. Maiest. ad annos sex. Prodit ex Archiepiscopatus Moguntinensis Officina Vrsellana. Impensis Iacobi König. An. M.DCVI [1606]. The title leaf of the first of three tomes, a single leaf.
Physical Description: Octavo title leaf. Letterpress title in roman and italic type within a woodcut border of eleven captioned scenes from Exodus. Head, in an oval: the rods turned to serpents (Exodus 7). Right side, from the top: the river turned to blood (Exodus 7); frogs (Exodus 8); gnats, with Aaron striking the dust (Exodus 8); flies (Exodus 8). Foot, under two captions: the boils and the cattle plague (Exodus 9), with the Jesuit IHS in a sunburst between them. Left side, from the foot: hail (Exodus 9); locusts (Exodus 10); darkness (Exodus 10); Pharaoh at night, on the death of the firstborn (Exodus 11). Leaf approx. 7 x 4 in.
Binding: None. A single leaf, window-mounted under a white mat and framed in an ornate molded frame with scrolling acanthus ornament in an amber-brown finish. Frame approx. 10 x 12 in.
Condition: Inner edge ragged and frayed, with a band of brown staining along it and a small loss at the upper inner corner, clear of the border. Upper and outer margins narrow. Paper toned, with light soiling and scattered spots, mostly in the margins. The border and the letterpress are complete. "1606" written in ink below the imprint in a later hand.
Martin Del Rio's Disquisitions on Magic was one of the best-known witch-hunting manuals of its age, as famous in its day as the Malleus Maleficarum, the "Hammer of Witches." Our framed leaf is the title page of its first tome, from the edition of 1606. Its woodcut border pictures the most famous magic contest in the Bible: Moses and Aaron against the magicians of Pharaoh.
Del Rio (1551–1608) was born in Antwerp, took a degree in law and joined the Jesuits in 1580. He taught at Jesuit colleges all over Europe, and this title page calls him professor of Scripture at Graz. His six books first came out at Louvain in 1599 and 1600. They run from natural magic through demonic magic, witchcraft and divination, and the last two advise the judge who tries a witch and the confessor who hears one. The 1606 edition was printed at the Archbishop of Mainz's press in Ursel, northwest of Frankfurt, at the expense of Jacob König.
The border tells the story from Exodus. When Aaron threw down his rod and it became a serpent, Pharaoh's magicians did the same with theirs, though Aaron's rod swallowed them. They matched the first plagues too, turning water into blood and bringing up frogs. When Aaron struck the dust and it became gnats, they tried and failed, and told Pharaoh, "This is the finger of God." The Latin Bible calls those magicians malefici, the word Del Rio's century used for witches, and the Malleus Maleficarum took its title from it. On our page the oval at the head shows the rods turning into serpents. Ten more scenes run down the sides and across the foot, one for each plague, each captioned with its chapter of Exodus. At the foot, the Jesuit monogram IHS sits in a sunburst.
All eleven scenes are complete, and the imprint and date are intact. A title page is the one leaf of a book that names itself, and this one comes framed for the wall. The inner edge is ragged where the leaf left the book, and the full description follows.
DEL RIO, Martin. Disquisitionum Magicarum libri sex, in tres tomos partiti. Auctore Martino Delrio Societatis Iesu presbytero sacræ Theologiæ Doctore, & in Academia Gretiensi, S. S. professore. Tomus primus. Nunc tertiis curis ab ipso Auctore auctior longe, Additionibus multis passim insertis, correctior quoque mendis sublatis. Cum priuileg. S. Cæs. Maiest. ad annos sex. Prodit ex Archiepiscopatus Moguntinensis Officina Vrsellana. Impensis Iacobi König. An. M.DCVI [1606]. The title leaf of the first of three tomes, a single leaf.
Physical Description: Octavo title leaf. Letterpress title in roman and italic type within a woodcut border of eleven captioned scenes from Exodus. Head, in an oval: the rods turned to serpents (Exodus 7). Right side, from the top: the river turned to blood (Exodus 7); frogs (Exodus 8); gnats, with Aaron striking the dust (Exodus 8); flies (Exodus 8). Foot, under two captions: the boils and the cattle plague (Exodus 9), with the Jesuit IHS in a sunburst between them. Left side, from the foot: hail (Exodus 9); locusts (Exodus 10); darkness (Exodus 10); Pharaoh at night, on the death of the firstborn (Exodus 11). Leaf approx. 7 x 4 in.
Binding: None. A single leaf, window-mounted under a white mat and framed in an ornate molded frame with scrolling acanthus ornament in an amber-brown finish. Frame approx. 10 x 12 in.
Condition: Inner edge ragged and frayed, with a band of brown staining along it and a small loss at the upper inner corner, clear of the border. Upper and outer margins narrow. Paper toned, with light soiling and scattered spots, mostly in the margins. The border and the letterpress are complete. "1606" written in ink below the imprint in a later hand.
