Bygone Beliefs: Alchemy, Magic, Talismans, etc, (Hardcover)

Originally published in 1920, this rare early work on ancient beliefs is both expensive and hard to find in its first edition. Obscure Books Press have now republished it, using the original text and illustrations. The author was an expert in the study of superstitions and the occult and wrote several books on these and other related subjects, as well as being a prolific contributor to The Occult Review. In this book he expounds on his opinion that there is a reason for every belief, even the most fantastic, and that it should be our objective to discover this reason. He considers that it is too easy for the superficial thinker to dismiss much of the thought of the past as mere superstition, not worth the trouble of investigation: but that is not scientific. The book's two hundred and twenty pages contain twelve comprehensive chapters plus many illustrations: Some Characteristics of Medieval Thought Pythagoras and His Philosophy. Medicine and Magic. Superstitions Concerning Birds. The Powder of Sympathy: A Curious Medical Superstition. The Belief in Talismans. Ceremonial Magic in Theory and Practice. Architectural Symbolism. The Quest of the Philosopher's Stone. The Phallic Element in Alchemical Doctrine. Roger Bacon: An Appreciation. The Cambridge Platonists. Everything possible to be believed is an image of truth. William Blake.