Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft: With linked Table of Contents

By Walter Scott

In ill health following a stroke, Sir Walter Scott wrote 'Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft' at the behest of his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart, who worked for a publishing firm. The book proved popular and Scott was paid six hundred pounds, which he desperately needed. (Despite his success as a novelist, Scott was almost ruined when the Ballantyne publishing firm, where he was a partner, went bankrupt in 1826.) 'Letters' was written when educated society believed itself in enlightened times due to advances in modern science. 'Letters', however, revealed that all social classes still held beliefs in ghosts, witches, warlocks, fairies, elves, diabolism, the occult, and even werewolves. Sourcing from prior sixteenth- and seventeenth-century treatises on demonology along with contemporary accounts from England, Europe, and North America (Cotton Mather's Magnalia Christi, for one), Scott's discourses on the psychological, religious, physical, and preternatural explanations for these beliefs are essential reading for acolytes of the dark and macabre; the letters dealing with witch hunts, trials (Letters Eight and Nine), and torture are morbidly compelling. Scott was neither fully pro-rational modernity nor totally anti-superstitious past, as his skepticism of one of the "new" sciences (skullology, as he calls it) is made clear in a private letter to a friend. Thus, 'Letters' is both a personal and intellectual examination of conflicting belief systems, when popular science began to challenge superstition in earnest.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Wilder Publications
• Release date: Nov 28, 2014
• ISBN: 9781633845725

Walter Scott

Sir Walter Scott was born in Scotland in 1771 and achieved international fame with his work. In 1813 he was offered the position of Poet Laureate, but turned it down. Scott mainly wrote poetry before trying his hand at novels. His first novel, Waverley, was published anonymously, as were many novels that he wrote later, despite the fact that his identity became widely known.

Reviews for Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft

[longshadow-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft Addressed to J.G. Lockhart, Esq., By Sir Walter Scott, Bart A history of witchcraft up to and including the time of Sir Walter Scott, in a series of letters to J.G. Lockhart, Esq., Scott's son-in-law, and biographer. Subjects include: Immortality of the Soul Wizards of the Pharoahs Creed of the Zoroasters Fairy Superstitions Cases of Demoniacs Witches of the Hebrews Satyrs of the North Evidence of Ghosts Intercourse with Supernatural World Delusions of the Touch Proper Witch Hunting Hardback. Published 1831 for Harper's Family Library, No. 11, 338 pages, plus ads in the back. Cloth cover with ads on the back cover. Some foxing. Covers foxed and with some darkened spots.