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Description
Book Details + Condition: The Fortune Press (London). First Edition thus, 1927. Original firm vellum covers; 125 pages. Edition limited to 1290 numbered copies, the first 90 of which were on Arnold unbleached handmade paper, and bound in full vellum - which is this copy now for sale, being number 30. The remaining copies, numbered 91-1290, were printed on Batchelor handmade paper, and bound in black buckram. "De Dæmonialitate, et Incubis et Succubis" attempts to prove that spirits exist; the author differentiates these spirits from demons, to emphasize that they can be saved, and that consorting with them is not tantamount to Satanism. Much attention is given to the sexual congress between these spirits (Incubi and Succubi) and human beings. It was written by the famous Franciscan theologian Lodovico Maria Sinistrari (1622 -1701), but not published until 1875, after the heretical manuscript was discovered in a small London bookstore. The print run was very small and the book immediately rare, so Montague Summers brought out this new translation, with a thorough Introduction, under the Fortune Press imprint in 1927. The book quickly became the target of British censors, and in 1934 the work was prosecuted under the Obscene Publications Act. All copies were condemned and ordered to be destroyed. The number of copies destroyed remains unknown, but the book is incredibly scarce; more than its stated limitation suggests. Tight binding; light furling to covers, due to natural vellum; interior is clean and free of markings save Summers' signature and book number.
