SCOTT, Walter.

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Letters on Demonology and Witchcraft. Addressed to J. G. Lockhart, Esq. First edition of this comprehensive historical overview of the occult, an early influence on the 19th-century Gothic revival and a pioneering example of scientific anthropology. Scott, a lifelong scholar of folklore, drew on his vast private library to compose the book, incorporating material from such diverse sources as legal accounts and Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft (1584). Despite his interest, the book was written as a result of financial pressure: Scott suffered a stroke in February 1830 and had large debts to pay. The work takes the form of ten letters to his son-in-law, J. G. Lockhart, and was published as part of Murray's Family Library series in September 1830. An illustrated edition, with plates by George Cruickshank, followed in November.

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