WITCHCRAFT – MAGNETISM – MORPHINISM 1887

Published in Paris in 1887, this disturbing work by the physician Paul Regnard belongs to that fin-de-siècle literature fascinated by the dark recesses of the human mind. At a time when science sought to dispel the shadows of the supernatural, certain phenomena continued to unsettle, disturb, and obsess.

The book explores states of trance, supposed possessions, hysterical crises, and mental disturbances once attributed to invisible forces. It examines witchcraft rituals, imagined pacts with the devil, collective convulsions, and experiments in magnetism that seemed to suspend the will of their subjects. Within these pages, the boundary between medicine and demonology remains uncertain, as though scientific progress itself could not entirely dispel the ancestral fear of evil.

The numerous engravings reinforce the impression of entering a troubling world. Scenes of sabbaths, tortures inflicted upon alleged witches, convulsed bodies, faces frozen in ecstasy or terror: the iconography lends the volume an almost unsettling visual power. Some images seem to emerge from another time, bearing witness to the very real violence carried out in the name of fear and belief.

More than a simple medical treatise, this book now stands as a document of the dark imagination of modern Europe. It evokes a humanity haunted by the presence of the demon, by the fragility of the mind, and by the ever-feared possibility of losing control of oneself. Its reading reveals a universe where madness, faith, and occultism intertwine within an atmosphere heavy with mystery.

A fragile object yet charged with a strange intensity, this copy preserves the silent memory of a century that sought to explain darkness without ever fully succeeding in banishing it.

CONDITION AND BIBLIOPHILIC DESCRIPTION

Copy preserved in its original publisher’s wrappers. Beige printed cover showing light soiling, minor edge wear, and discreet creases from handling. Spine slightly marked. Interior clean and well preserved, fresh paper with occasional light foxing. Numerous illustrations in the text. A solid and attractive copy, in good overall condition for this type of publication.

Format : large octavo
Dimensions : approx. 25 × 16 cm
Size : approx. 9.8" × 6.3"
Language : French
Date : 1887
Binding : publisher’s wrappers