CA: Three Hands Press, 2025. Limited to 1000 Copies. A FINE CLOTH COPY in fine dust jacket. The Witches' Flying Ointment, a magical salve compounded from plant poisons, human remains, suspicious fats, and other appalling ingredients, was, when rubbed on the body, alleged to have given witches the power to fly. Emerging from the shadowy religious and magical texts of medieval Europe, it was certainly considered expressly diabolic. To the ointment was attributed use as a poison, but it also possessed otherworldly magical powers: the power to enable shapeshifting, nocturnal flight, madness and frenzy, and commerce with the spirit world. Taking a wide view of the ointment through the lens of the folk herbalist, Corinne Boyer examines the broader phenomenon of magical salves, as well as preparations originating in apothecaries and early modern medicine. Attention is given not only to ingredients but to magical purpose, how the ointments were prepared and used, and in what context they appeared in print. Containing the most comprehensive collection of historical witchcraft ointment formulae, as well as extensive indices, The Devil's Ointment is an essential resource for those studying the history of European herbalism, toxicology, and witchcraft. Thirty-three Illustrations. 232 pages. Octavo.
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