Summers prepared scholarly histories of the occult and translated such works as the Malleus Maleficarum, knowing full well his field of study was suspect at best. However, he was also aware that myths and misperceptions abounded, and sought to dispel them through careful study of original texts. This particular work he intended for the general reader, covering the ways the image of the witch grew from ideas about heresy and the anachrist, the means by which witches worship, the complex relationships of witches and their familiars as well as both with demons, the development of the sabbat and rituals, the many roles of the witch or witchlike in holy writ, the relationship between diabolic possession and modern spiritualism, and, for better or worse, the place of the witch in drama. This facsimile includes the eight illustrations of the original 1926 publication by Kegan, Paul, Trench, Rubner & Co. Annotation 2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
