Rare book on witchcraft discovered in Alberta library [View all]

[icymist]

Even though he thinks the weathered tome is a fascinating cultural treasure, unearthed by chance in a musty section of an Albertalibrary, Andrew Gow doesn’t like to be near it.

“It’s a very, very nasty piece of work, and I can tell you that I don’t like to touch it,” he said.

The book positions itself as a guide to expunge all evil and vanquish the dark forces of witchcraft detailed so vividly in its 150 pages of 15th-century Burgundian French.

“The real evil is actually in this book, and it’s human. It’s not magical,” said Gow, a medieval history professor. “It’s a view of one’s fellow human beings as agents of the devil that is truly evil.”

http://www.therecord.com/news/canada/article/841220---rare-book-on-witchcraft-discovered-in-alberta-library#.ULEcrYsWAa4.facebook