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At the dawn of the 19th century, most popular domestic tip books contained ritual magic or at least prayers and explicit superstition. By the time of this particular work in the late 19th century, those had disappeared leaving herbal medicine, simple tips, recipes, and so forth; indeed, the path from grimoire, to this type of text, to modern woodcrafting and recipe books is fascinating.

It contains a slew of herbal remedies for disease and injury, as well as tips for basic issues such as illness in livestock and so forth- although some of the remedies are not a great idea, some of them remain in alternative medicine even today. It ought to be noted that this booklet had a very long printing run; I have seen scans of editions post-dating this one by 20 years.

66 pages.

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This semi-short work is a fine one, because it combines herbal remedies (the recipes thereof, that is) with what amounts to diagnosis, and bridges the gap between prior works (which tended to be quite superstitious) and latter ones (which were more scientific in the truly modern sense. In the mid 19th century, the scientific and the spiritual segued into one another seamlessly. The incantations of grimoires slowly got displaced by the apothecary receipts of the more recent era. It includes as well a short lecture on health which is at times hilarious, blaming "self abuse" (now known as masturbation) for lunacy and various developmental disabilities.

I cannot recommend the concoctions utilized here in this booklet but some of the species and preparations are indeed chemically active and at the time would likely have been tested with at least some degree of rigor. It is an interesting look at the eras' medicinal lore. One of the best, actually.

65 pages.

Years End Petit Albert Update

As some of you may know, two years ago a hardcover and leather bound fine edition of the Petit Albert was produced by Ouroboros Press with yours truly having reworked the volume. The fact that a book bearing my name was truly, professionally produced in this manner is up there in the top five or so things I've accomplished that I am most proud of.

If you are interested in fine editions of this sort, the Petit Albert is one of the best grimoires- at once a compilation of folk spells and a receipt book (the predecessor of the modern term "recipe"- which originally included everything from folk medicine to culinary content to methods for removing stains or making candles or bird food) and comes from France, during the 18th century. It is a cosmopolitan grimoire, containing self-proclaimed foreign spells and tips of various sorts, and also touching on the hand of glory- one of the most famous (and diabolical) objects spoken of in any occult lore.

I have a copy of this work (one of only a few works I have physically obtained that I myself have worked on or released) and the quality is quite high. At 178 pages, it's a sometimes amusing, often thought provoking read.

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The Petit Albert: Cloth, Leather, and Vellum Bound editions from Ouroboros Press: Pre-order Today!

RESERVE A COPY: LIMITED EDITIONS AVAILABLE

I am extremely excited to announce that at long last, after centuries of waiting, the world will soon be able to enjoy a proper, physical, non-paperback edition of one of the greatest of all grimoires ever penned by mankind; the infamous, notorious Petit Albert; the Little Albert of Hand of Glory fame, now to be released by Ouroboros Press.

A thousand cloth-bound copies of this work are being printed along with 475 leather bound and 25 vellum-bound editions; this fully illustrated grimoire is somewhere just shy of the Grimorium Verum in terms of its diabolical nature, and contains a large number of folkish rites and practices which drew from cultures beyond the borders of France and were essentially cosmopolitan and eclectic. The content ranges specifically from obtaining love and sex, to talismans, to medicinal compounds, to (oddly enough) restoring the hymen and preventing your girlfriend from having sex outside of your relationship. Add this to its recipes for soap and liquors and you have a rather strange mix of magick from the period which would directly, it seems, inspire the late 19th centuries' recipe books and family "physician" manuscripts of such great lore.

For those who were interested in patronizing such a release, now it has finally come to be.

Three More Works Coming Soon

Because I felt sick (and a little under the weather even after the sickness subsided) I didn't do much for a few days there, but now I'm roaring ahead and finishing up with three entirely separate works.

First, "Weeds as Medicine" which was actually put out under US government contract back at the dawn of the 20th century. Part of it is utilitarian but it is also an interesting herbal. It's about half done save for the illustrations.

Second, "Valuable Herbal Prescriptions" which is done except for the illustrations which I have not had the gumption to render yet; it's a 50-ish page herbal medicine tract.

Third, "Demons and Tongues" which is one part early 20th century demonology, one part anti-pentecostal manifesto, and quite interesting. I am almost 3/4 done editing this work which, thankfully, has no illustrations.

The Canadian Herbal: Now Available!

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I am very excited by this work; not only because of its region of manufacture but because it is the perfect combination of a receipt book and herbal; two types of texts of great interest to me.

Containing simple herbal remedies for dozens of conditions, it also briefly lists a few dozen botanical species of note that grow within what was once the British dominion of Canada. Added to this is a sort of short philosophical entry on the basic premise of disease.

60 pages.

Primitive Physic: Now Available!

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This wonderful text dates all the way back to the middle of the 18th century. Mostly herbal and folk remedies, it is an extensive receipt-style work covering over 100 specific conditions for which, often, there are several distinct methods of cure listed. Some of the remedies it lists are dangerous and as such I will mention here that in no way do I condone or encourage its use as a medical guide.

Some things are mentioned more frequently within Wesley's treatise here; agrimony, chamomile, vitriol, and a few other materials are listed dozens of times; others, such as quicksilver, are less frequently employed in his physic system. Overall, it's one of the more comprehensive guides to folk remedy from its era, predating many similar types of work that came half a century or more after its manufacture.

122 pages.