[STREGONERIA - MALLEUS MALEFICARUM] - SPRENGER, Jacobus (1436-1495) - [Heinrich KRAMER (1430-1505)] - Malleus maleficarum, in tres divisus partes. Venice: Antonio Bertano, 1574.   A renowned treatise on witchcraft, a text that became a fundamental guide for witch hunts and was also widely adopted within the courts. The two authors, Dominican friars, obtained full authority as inquisitors in some regions of Germany with a bulla issued by Innocent VIII in 1484, of which the text is printed at the beginning of the Malleus published for the first time three years later. The text is divided into three parts: the first exposes the nature of witchcraft, emphasizing how women practice it more easily as more fragile beings; in the second its various manifestations are investigated; finally, the third provides practical instructions to be able to counter it, from the capture of witches to their interrogation, detention and trial. By welcoming both literary and "scientific" sources as well as folk tales and popular beliefs, the work was therefore a complete and organic synthesis and obtained immediate success.   8vo (150 x 100mm). Printer's device on title, woodcut initials (lacking final leaf with printer's device, tiny wormhole on title not touching text, tear to leaf E with loss of a few letters, some browning and light spotting). Contemporary vellum, early paper spine label, manuscript title on spine and lower edge (spine label with faded title and worn, some wormholes also at endpapers, rubbing).

Estimate € 1,500 - 2,500

Sold € 5,000