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Rating: 
Summary: Slight dissapointment :(
Review: A fine study of a specific manuscript of renaissance magic, and also of the place of grimoires in general. The book includes the full text, in latin, of a German grimoire, full of spells and summonings of various types. A number of these are described in some detail in the book itself, but it would take a skilled practitioner (or a latin translator) to make practical magic out of them. Authentic and interesting, nevertheless.Very good chapter on the idea of the 'magical book', the book as talisman or book as entity. The grimoire also includes a detailed rite for consecrating such a book. For those interested in scolarship on goetia, summonings and renaissance occultism,this book is a must.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent analysis of a necromancer's manual in context
Review: Analyzing a 15th-century necromancer's book of experiments doesn't sound like gripping reading. Actually, it's quite fascinating reading, though this is definitely a geekbuy for the scholar of magic, mysticism, and religious trends. Simply, this book takes a largely complete necromantic manual and analyzes it in context of the time, history, and what the owner may be like. The manual in question thus becomes a touchstone for understanding a period in time, traditions, and ideas - and how they came to be. It does so quite well. There's a myriad of marvelous insights, informative information, and catalogues information, all tied together in comprehendible ways. If there is a flaw, its that the manual is included in the book - but with no translation! It's clearly aimed at scholars in that regard, but I have to wonder if a translation would have made it more useful in general. Despite this flaw, even if a near half of the book is in latin, it's really quite an interesting buy for a scholar of such things. If one has read the other books in the series, then this one is definitely worth it for its well-done contuinuing scholarship.
Rating:
Summary: An excellent analysis of a necromancer's manual in context
Review: Analyzing a 15th-century necromancer's book of experiments doesn't sound like gripping reading. Actually, it's quite fascinating reading, though this is definitely a geekbuy for the scholar of magic, mysticism, and religious trends. Simply, this book takes a largely complete necromantic manual and analyzes it in context of the time, history, and what the owner may be like. The manual in question thus becomes a touchstone for understanding a period in time, traditions, and ideas - and how they came to be. It does so quite well. There's a myriad of marvelous insights, informative information, and catalogues information, all tied together in comprehendible ways. If there is a flaw, its that the manual is included in the book - but with no translation! It's clearly aimed at scholars in that regard, but I have to wonder if a translation would have made it more useful in general. Despite this flaw, even if a near half of the book is in latin, it's really quite an interesting buy for a scholar of such things. If one has read the other books in the series, then this one is definitely worth it for its well-done contuinuing scholarship.
Rating: 
Summary: Truly the Best of the Series
Review: I consistently maintain an up to date collection of the Magic in History series, which I consider to be top notch for the occultist wishing to peruse past traditions. The series is as important for one's bookshelf and reading as Agrippa's Occult Philosophy series, in my opinion, or the Key of Solomon. However, unlike the two mentioned, most books in the series are historical suveys of theory and less practical (aka: grimoires). This particular text, however, is the exception, and is therefore by far my favorite. The book begins with summaries, in english, of various key experiments and practices outlined in the ritual handbook, followed by a full text, in Latin, of the manuscript. At the very end of the book are copies of the pages of the text itself. The manuscript is a bit of an enigma, in that the first two sections of it are missing, its authorship and ownership is uncertain, and even its date of origin cannot be verified. However, given the overlap between Agrippa's masterwork, one can see variations on magickal theory of the 15th and 16th centuries. While Agrippa dealt mostly with high magick, this manual, mislabeled necromancy, tends to stray into what is truly black arts. What is truly fascinating is that the fundamental theory and, indeed, basic practice of both the "divine" and "infernal" arts remain relatively constant, despite supposedly different sources of influence. To the modern occultist, this is a given. However, in the context of the period at which this text was supposedly written, this insight is profound and surprising. It strongly supports my personal belief that the concept of "God" and "Devil" are literally two perceptions of the same entity, and are only divided in the fragile and limited human psyche.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing bit of Latin esoterica
Review: People who are interested in works in the Latin language ought to take a special note of this book. It is one of the more curious and obscure things in print, and we're thankful for it.
This reproduces in its entirely a fifteenth century manual containing someone's collection of magic spells. Unlike the fabled Necronomicon, this one's real. The spells themselves, as Prof. Kieckhefer's commentary points out, fall into a number of predictable patterns.
Their basic premise seems to be that by using a mish-mash of sacred names in Hebrew and Greek, or invoking an even more unrecognisable congeries of infernal spirits, we can invoke the power of God to summon demons and make them do our bidding. Putting this unlikely theology into practise, though, seems frequently to require the sacrifice of a hoopoe, making the spells somewhat difficult to use for the North American reader. Good luck.
What makes this book stand out is that, unlike similar collections of magical material, this one reproduces the entire original text in fairly easy mediæval Latin. I would have some nits to pick with the editing (it seems unlikely the fellow really meant to write "eciam" so often), but having this fascinating and obscure material to peruse in the original more than compensates for any such minor flaws. Original pages are often reproduced, showing the all-important sigils and arcane symbols.
Serious diabolists may find this a must-read. Folks like myself, just interested in late Latin literature, will find it a hoot. Hope you're not a lip-reader, though.
Rating:
Summary: Intriguing bit of Latin esoterica
Review: People who are interested in works in the Latin language ought to take a special note of this book. It is one of the more curious and obscure things in print, and we're thankful for it.
This reproduces in its entirely a fifteenth century manual containing someone's collection of magic spells. Unlike the fabled Necronomicon, this one's real. The spells themselves, as Prof. Kieckhefer's commentary points out, fall into a number of predictable patterns.
Their basic premise seems to be that by using a mish-mash of sacred names in Hebrew and Greek, or invoking an even more unrecognisable congeries of infernal spirits, we can invoke the power of God to summon demons and make them do our bidding. Putting this unlikely theology into practise, though, seems frequently to require the sacrifice of a hoopoe, making the spells somewhat difficult to use for the North American reader. Good luck.
What makes this book stand out is that, unlike similar collections of magical material, this one reproduces the entire original text in fairly easy mediæval Latin. I would have some nits to pick with the editing (it seems unlikely the fellow really meant to write "eciam" so often), but having this fascinating and obscure material to peruse in the original more than compensates for any such minor flaws. Original pages are often reproduced, showing the all-important sigils and arcane symbols.
Serious diabolists may find this a must-read. Folks like myself, just interested in late Latin literature, will find it a hoot. Hope you're not a lip-reader, though.
Rating:
Summary: An Authority on Medieval Magic
Review: Professor Kieckheffer is one of the greatest authorities on medieval magic. It is especially ceremonial magic that he has placed firmly on the map of medieval intellectual history. The necromancer's manual is a fascinating text accompanied by Kieckheffer's high quality scholarship regarding social and intellectual contexts. I highly recoomend for anybody interested in the history of medieval and Renaissance magic.
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