Christina Hole. 
 
Scribners: 1947. First edition. Hardcover in a jacket. Large octavo. Chipping and tears along the top and bottom of the jacket, which fits a little awkwardly. Foxing and soiling on the top of both flaps. Crown and heel of the spine as well as corners of the boards are bumped. Boards have some soiling. Foxing on the top and fore edge of the text block. Fold on the bottom corner on the last 40 pages. 167 pages. Very good. 
 
Witchcraft in England takes on a historical paradox. England has left its stamp on world culture with its unique sense of magic and witchcraft, yet no other country has so removed all traces of its pagan past from daily life. The expert Hole throws a general readership back to when magic was lodged into the daily experience of everyone in the Britain, from the aristocrat and the philosopher to the peasant and the brigand. An added bonus is Melvyn Peake's many illustrations in monochrome and line, and this edition is more desirable because an illustration of his is on the cover. They are intimate and striking, with close-ups of animal familiars and the writhing of demonic possessions. 
 
"Magic was at all times a dangerous road to follow, and for some it led to dark countries where strange forms lurked and the human soul might easily become benighted and lost."