Want to really impress the werewolf , Donald Trumps , andpizza ratsat this yr ’s Halloween party ? Bone up on the history of witchery . Thanks to Cornell University Library ’s Witchcraft Collection , becoming an skilful witch - finder is easier than ever these day .
At the very least , you wo n’t have to occupy about running out of reading material;the collectionis immense , with more than 3000 uncommon books and manuscripts . Most of the materials extend superstitious notion , beldame hunts , and persecution in Europe .
And these documents are the real deal : the program library apply original documents of beldam trials and torment sleeping accommodation depositions . It also moderate theMalleus Maleficarum , a witch - Orion ’s handbook that was like the fifteenth - 100 version ofThe Da Vinci Code : every confederacy theorist had a copy . But unlike Dan Brown ’s bestseller ( at least as far as we know ) , theMalleus Maleficarumwas creditworthy for the persecution , agony , and death of account of unacquainted hoi polloi . In fact , the book was so popular among Europe ’s inquisitors that it was reprinted at least 35 times . Cornell ’s library has 14 copies , including a first edition printed in the tardy 1400s .
If this seems like a researcher ’s dream , it ’s because it is the fulfilment of one . Most of the collection was acquire in the late 19th century by Cornell ’s co - founder and first president , a booklover list Andrew Dickson White . With the help of librarian George Lincoln Burr , White compile and curated striking collections on the French Revolution , architecture , the Protestant Reformation , and , yes , the account of witchcraft .
The Witchcraft Collection is now unresolved to the populace . Interested readers cansubmit a visitant requestthrough the library website . Do n’t feel like move around , but still want to get your hag jam ? No job . More than 100 of the collecting ’s book are available toread online .
