Tartarotti’s book is an explosive rebuttal to the witch trials, arguing that the superstitious hunting of witches was “a fantastic belief, the work of crazy brains and strange head.” Here he lays out an analysis and rebuttal of the idea of Witches’ Sabbat or the “Congresso notturno delle Lammie” Nocturnal Meeting of the Witches. His book argued that witchcraft as it was understood did not exist - indeed, some cults of Diana worship came to be known as witchcraft - and thus so-called witches either confessed from torture or mental illness. He would cite the recent and infamous execution of Domenica Pedrotti "la Zambanella,” burned in Nogaredo in 1717, as just such an example. A crucial text in the history of Early Modern Witch Hunts where the very existence of witchcraft itself came under sustained doubt leading to reformations in jurisprudence and eventually the end of the witch trials themselves. Includes the "Letter from Count Gianrinaldo Carli [...] concerning the origin and falsity of the doctrine of Magicians and Witches" (pp. 317-350) and Tartarotti's "Response" (pp. 351-447).
Tartarotti Girolamo - Del Congresso Notturno delle Lammie. In 4to (230 x 180 mm). xxxii 460 [ie 458] [2] pp. bound in period paper, uncut edges from printer. Frontis in red and black. Some water-staining to top pages, typical foxing and browning. In Rovereto: a spese di Giambatista Pasquali, 1749. First edition.
Tartarotti’s book is an explosive rebuttal to the witch trials, arguing that the superstitious hunting of witches was “a fantastic belief, the work of crazy brains and strange head.” Here he lays out an analysis and rebuttal of the idea of Witches’ Sabbat or the “Congresso notturno delle Lammie” Nocturnal Meeting of the Witches. His book argued that witchcraft as it was understood did not exist - indeed, some cults of Diana worship came to be known as witchcraft - and thus so-called witches either confessed from torture or mental illness. He would cite the recent and infamous execution of Domenica Pedrotti "la Zambanella,” burned in Nogaredo in 1717, as just such an example. A crucial text in the history of Early Modern Witch Hunts where the very existence of witchcraft itself came under sustained doubt leading to reformations in jurisprudence and eventually the end of the witch trials themselves. Includes the "Letter from Count Gianrinaldo Carli [...] concerning the origin and falsity of the doctrine of Magicians and Witches" (pp. 317-350) and Tartarotti's "Response" (pp. 351-447).
Tartarotti Girolamo - Del Congresso Notturno delle Lammie. In 4to (230 x 180 mm). xxxii 460 [ie 458] [2] pp. bound in period paper, uncut edges from printer. Frontis in red and black. Some water-staining to top pages, typical foxing and browning. In Rovereto: a spese di Giambatista Pasquali, 1749. First edition.
