Reginald Scot
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Reginald Scot (circa 1538 - 1599) was the English author of The Discovery of Witchcraft, which was published in 1584. It was written to show that witches did not exist, by exposing how (apparently miraculous) magic tricks were done. The book is often deemed the first textbook about conjuring.
Scot believed that the prosecution of those accused of witchcraft was irrational and un-Christian, and he held the Roman Church responsible. All obtainable copies were burned on the accession of James I in 1603 and those remaining are now rare. (In 1586, the Star Chamber greatly tightened the censorship laws.)
To this day the book is considered a "Bible" to magicians as it is one of the first English publications to explain how magic tricks could be performed. It is also the text that helped to lift the ban on "entertaining" magic that was imposed by the Catholic Church.
Bibliography
External links
- [Text of The Discovery of Witchcraft from history.hanover.edu]
- [Full text from the Esoteric Archives]
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