superstition, witchcraft

Witchcraft, Its Power in the World Today

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(Scan by Rev. Byrd)

Subtitle: Its Power in the World Today
Author: William Seabrook

 
Edition Cited in The Compleat Witch
 
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & Co.
City: New York
Year: 1940
Pages: 387
Binding: Hardback
Size: 5.75″ x 8.5″
Front Dust Jacket Flap Copy

(from the cited edition)
 
William Seabrook addresses this book to rational people only. It consists of the candid adventures of a great reporter among living witches in the world today. It is one man’s testimony to the existence and the limitations of witchcraft now. It is the lowdown on actual sorcery (Black Magic and White Magic too) by one who confesses not merely to have witnessed the stuff, but to have been a practitioner himself, for both good and evil.

In his earlier great books of travel and adventure, Seabrook left many questions concerning witchcraft wide open, and suppressed many episodes because their treatment would have seemed out of place. But these things cannot stay suppressed: the dirty doings of modern witches, white and black; the current sorcerers, incantations, human vampires on the Riviera; panther men in Africa and Satanists in Paris; Devil worshipers in New York; werewolves in Washington Square — take these things how you will, there are observed experiences which remain intractable, and there are stories which, for fascination and for candor, beat anything that you have ever read.

Back Cover Copy
(from the cited edition)
 

WILLIAM SEABROOK
 

William Seabrook was born in 1886 in Westminster, Maryland. After receiving his education in southern universities and spending a year on the Augusta Chronicle, his restless spirit led him to Switzerland, where for nine months he worked his way through the University of Geneva studying philosophy and metaphysics. The next year and and a half he spent wandering about Europe, before he returned to Atlanta and entered the advertising business. After the war, at the encouragement of H. L. Mencken, he began to write. His books won him a firm place in the literature not only of America, but of England, France, Germany, Spain, Sweden, and Italy. Mr. Seabrook died in 1945.
 

Table of Contents
(from the cited edition)

Foreword

Exploding a Non Sequitur Perched on the Horns of a Dilema
Part One
THE WITCH AND HER DOLL

I. Concerning Dolls in General
II. The Witch’s Doll and It’s Equivalent
III. Monstrous Doll in Africa
IV. Ten Cent Store Doll in France
V. Wooden Doll in a Cave
VI. Sawdust Doll in Brambles
VII. Doll de Luxe in London
VIII. Mail-studded Doll in Toulon
Part Two
THE VAMPIRE AND WEREWOLF

I. Concerning Vampires and Werewolves in General
II. World Champion Lady Vampire of All Time
III. Vampire 1932 from Brooklyn, N. Y.
IV. Panther-Man from the Ivory Coast
V. Lady Hyena with Jeweled Earrings
VI. The Caged White Werewolf of the Saraban
VII. Werewolf in Washington Square
Part Three
WHITE MAGIC, PROFESSOR RHINE, THE SUPERNORMAL, AND JUSTINE

I. Presentation of an Open Question, to Which a Negative Answer May Not Be the Final Word
II. “Astral Body” on a Boat
III. Our Modern Cagliostros
IV. Upton Sinclair’s “Mental Radio”
V. W. E. Woodward With a Hatpin Driven through His Jaws
VI. Justine Dervish Dangling
VII. Justine in the Mask

Part Four
APPENDIX: SUPPLEMENTARY NOTES, ANECDOTES AND ILLUSTRATIONS

Notes on Foreword
We Have a Benevolent White Witch

Notes on Part One
Apropos of Shooting ’em
Current American Witchcraft Cases
Apropos of the York Hex Murder
Mother Goose, Edith Sitwell, Gertrude Stein
The Magical Properties of Salt and Metals

Notes on Part Two
Panther Societies in London
Torture to Drive Out Devils

Notes on Part Three
The Universe Outside Sensory Perception
Rhine’s Figures
Possibility of Precognition
A Fine New Crop of White Magicians
Krishnamurti Blew up as a World-Savior
Pierre Bernard (Oom the Omnipotent)
Magic Pentagrams and Circles
Nostradamus Is Again a Best Seller
Blanking the Mind
Upton Sinclair’s Mental Radio Drawings
Bishop Arthur A. Ford of the Spiritualist Church
One “Swami” Who Knows
Dervish Dangling’s Equivalents Among the Eskimos

 

Online Resources
 
Archive.org | GoodReads | Google Books | LibraryThing
OpenLibrary | Project Gutenberg | Wikipedia | WorldCat


Editions
(arranged by year)

(Scan by Rev. Byrd)
 
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1940
Publisher: Harcourt, Brace & Co.; New York
Pages: 387
Binding: Hardback
Size: 5.75″ x 8.5″
Cover Price:
ISBN: 
LoC: 
Notes: 



(Internet Source)
 
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1941
Publisher: George Harrap; London
Pages: 
Binding: Hardback
Size: 296
Cover Price:
ISBN: 
LoC: 
Notes: First UK edition


(Internet Source)
 
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1968 
Publisher:
Pages: 
Binding: Paperback
Size: 
Cover Price:
ISBN: 
LoC: 
Notes: First Paperback Edition


(Internet Source)
 
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 19 (?)
Publisher: Lancer
Pages: 
Binding: Paperback
Size: 
Cover Price:
ISBN: 
LoC: 
Notes: 

(Internet Source)
 
Title: (if different)
Subtitle: (if different)
Year: 1972
Publisher: White Lion Publishing; London
Pages: 
Binding: Paperback
Size: 
Cover Price:
ISBN: 
LoC: 
Notes: 

 

Additional Photos/Images
 
Misc. Quotes
“To poison the mind of an individual against some other individual is an easy, all-too-common practice – so common that the phrase describing it is familiar in all languages. ‘His mind was poisoned against her.’ Thus friendships, loves, and family ties are broken.  Thus Othello, his mind poisoned by Iago, murders Desdemona.”

 

Disclaimer
 
Due to the obscurity of some titles, the contents of The Compleat Witch Illustrated Bibliography Project may contain information that is inaccurate or incomplete. We encourage readers to submit corrections and pertinent addenda like images, quotes, or other information, either as a Comment on the appropriate post or via The Compleat Witch Illustrated Bibliography Facebook page.

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