Necromancy in the Medici Library by Brian Johnson – Renaissance Italian Grimoire & Spirit Conjuration

necromancy grimoire, Italian grimoire, spirit conjuration

Necromancy in the Medici Library presents, for the first time in English, extensive excerpts from a remarkable Italian necromancer's handbook preserved in the Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana in Florence. Dating from the turbulent period around the turn of the sixteenth century, the manuscript offers a rare glimpse into the practical magical literature circulating among European occult practitioners of the Renaissance.

The text contains both general methods and particular rites of spirit conjuration, alongside a substantial catalogue of demonic personages. Its contents reveal a practitioner concerned with acquiring knowledge, wealth, power and love through the manipulation and invocation of supernatural forces.

Preserved within the Florentine Laurentian Library under the patronage of two Medici popes, the manuscript occupies a fascinating position within the history of Italian magic. Its appearance during an era marked by Savonarola's apocalyptic preaching, the intellectual legacy of Giovanni Pico della Mirandola and political upheaval across the Italian peninsula places the work within one of the most compelling periods of Renaissance esotericism.

This edition presents the original Latin text in parallel with a new English translation, allowing readers to examine the historical source alongside its modern rendering. A critical apparatus and introductory essay further illuminate the manuscript and its relationship to a wider network of magical texts and practitioners extending from the Papal States to England.

For readers interested in a necromancy grimoire, Renaissance magic and spirit conjuration, this volume offers an unusually direct encounter with historical magical practice. Rather than a modern reconstruction, it provides access to a surviving manuscript tradition and its original magical vocabulary, making it particularly valuable to students, researchers, practitioners and collectors of historical grimoires.

Translated and introduced by Brian Johnson, with a foreword by Dr Alexander Cummins, Necromancy in the Medici Library is an important addition to the literature of European ceremonial magic and one of the more intriguing volumes for collectors drawn to the intersection of Renaissance history, the Medici world and the grimoire tradition.

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Title: Necromancy in the Medici Library: An Edition and Translation of Excerpts from Biblioteca Medicea Laurenziana, MS Plut. 89 sup. 38

Translator and introducer: Brian Johnson

Foreword: Dr Alexander Cummins

Publisher: Hadean Press

Edition: Hardcover

Binding: Hardcover

Pages: 144

Size: 254mm x 178mm

Original language: Latin

Contents: Original Latin text in parallel with English translation, critical apparatus and introductory essay

ISBN: 978-1-907881-98-5

Publication date: May 2021