"The Red Dragon"
Paul Summers Young (translator)
Grimoires and their history form a spectacular evolution of magical texts that center on a profound level of literary appropriation, sensationalism, and outright plagiarism.
Most of the content of traditional "magical" texts that have come down to us over the centuries can be traced back to just a small handful of historic sources.
In the pre-printing era manuscripts would be copied, often from one owner to another due to legal uncertainties, with embellishments and additions to the text occurring as a manuscript changed hands over decades and centuries.
A new owner or scribe might add some trivial bits to the end pages, write out innumerable amendments in the margins only to have those inserted into the body of the text by the next person transcribing, or simply contain entire chapters created by an owner or appropriated from other texts both historic and then contemporary.
The "Grand Grimoire" is a book whose history is convoluted and obscure. Since the era of the printing press numerous publishers have taken advantage of its "public domain" status as an underground text to pillage from it, add to it, and otherwise milk its pages for book sales.
Scholar Owen Davies suggests its origin, despite dates on manuscripts going back to the early 16th century, is 1702, with a more widely distributed "Bibliotheque Blue" edition coming out in or around 1750.
The material that makes up the center of the text is often suggested to be from the legendary "Key of Solomon" and "Lesser Key of Solomon", themselves texts likely written only as early as the 12th century, and more likely the 15th century. Though the true origin of these tables and hierarchies of spirits goes back to the material present in the Greek Magical Papyri, and thus ultimately from antiquity.
Published first under the name "Le Dragon Rouge" in 1822 The Red Dragon contains numerous conjurations of a hierarchy of spirits headed by Lucifuge Rofocale, a manifestation of Lucifer as lord of the material world.
Black Letter Press have come out with this recent English translation from their previous Italian edition of the Red Dragon. Beautifully bound and printed on high quality paper it is small in size, a perfect pocket book conjuring guide. With vibrant red cloth covers and black & metallic gold embossing to the spine and cover, plus a black silk ribbon mounted to the binding, it is a lovely book to hold. The illustrations have been dealt with with care, as have the overall design and typesetting.
The Black Letter Press edition contains woodcut illustrations originally found in both the J. Karter, published circa 1750 and the Antonio Venitiana edition, published at Paris, 1845. Wonderfully rendered reproductions they add a great touch to the text.
Wand creation, spirit conjuration, and pact making make up the bulk of the text, with a list of short "operations" for common ailments and divinatory practices toward the end. The translation from the Italian (and French?) to English is colloquial, a relaxed vernacular writing style not hard to read or challenging, and the brief Latin passages appear untranslated.
This edition of the Red Dragon is the perfect volume for those interested in the roots of spirit conjuration, beautifully bound books, and the history of magical publications. I look forward to more of these excellent publications from Black Letter Press.
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