WIER (Jean). De præstigiis dæmonum, et incantationibus ac veneficiis libri sex, aucti et recogniti. Bâle, Officina Oporiniana, 1568 In-8, soft vellum with covers (contemporary binding). A classic work of demonology, essential to the history of witch-hunting, presented in a new, revised and expanded edition, published five years after the original by the same Basel publisher. The work was translated into French in 1567 under the title Cinq livres de l'imposture et tromperie des diables, des enchantements et sorcelleries. "The first major European work to take an empirical, scientific approach to the study of mental illness, and one of the most celebrated exposés of the witchcraft delusion" (Norman). The Brabant physician Johann Weyer (1515-1588), known as Jean Wier in French, was one of the most famous opponents of the witch-hunt of his time. In this treatise, which is his masterpiece, he argues that witchcraft does not exist and that those who claim to practise it are suffering from delusions, which should be treated as mental illnesses rather than punished as witchcraft. Jean Bodin, in his Démonomanie des sorciers, violently attacked Wier's theses, accusing him of being a demonic magician himself. Old handwritten bookplate on title. Extensive vellum damage to binding, including a portion of the first cover. Slight wetness at the head of a few leaves, tears on pp. 97-98. VD16, W2666 - Norman, n°2211 (ed. 1566).