Dictionnaire infernal, tome 1

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Le Breton chose to depict Behemoth as a bipedal version of the latter, clutching his hairy, engorged belly like some sort of malevolent Ganesh. Collin de Plancy’s dictionary may be a grimoire, or his grimoire may be a dictionary, but fundamentally the distinction between them is less stark than might be supposed. Grimoires exist”, he goes on, “because of the desire to create a physical record of magical knowledge, reflecting concerns regarding the uncontrollable and corruptible nature of . This connection between the ideals of the Enlightenment and the old world of magic and superstition from which these demons sprung was, in many ways, made literal by the figure of Collin de Plancy himself. In his later editions of the Dictionnaire Infernal, he affirmed the existence and power of the demons and added many engravings and stories to illustrate their nature and actions.

De Plancy published dozens of titles in his lifetime, but he never surpassed the success (or infamy) of the Dictionnaire Infernal, which first appeared in 1818 and was followed by several updated editions. It is one of the most comprehensive and influential works on the subject, containing entries on demons, occult phenomena, and superstitions. For Dr Johnson and his Dictionary of the English Language, or James Murray, who, in the Bodleian’s scriptorium, assembled the testament to humanity that is the Oxford English Dictionary, positivist knowledge could be found in the process of collection and measurement. Since 1863, the illustrations from de Plancy’s book have also been used to accompany esoteric titles such as new printings of the Lesser Key of Solomon, plus any number of books on magic and demonology (thanks, Public Domain! The information in this book is stuff that can be found online but is much better to have a physical copy of in your hands.If there is any consolation to be found, it’s that controlling our demons is possible if we’re able to name them, whether they are of the supernatural or of the rationalist variety — and in either case, a dictionary is what we shall need. Altogether, Louis Breton executed 550 illustrations including a set of 72 depictions of demons, which were published by J. The text and images of the spirits, from the 1863 edition are presented here, in this Infernal Dictionary. He became an ardent defender of the faith and denounced his previous writings as erroneous and dangerous. It was written by Jacques Auguste Simon Collin de Plancy and first published in 1818[citation needed].

The preface authoritatively claimed that Collin de Plancy had “reconfigured his labors, recognizing that superstitious, foolish beliefs, occult sects and practices .Associated with lust, Asmodeus is presented as a fearsome three-headed monstrosity, though not one above doing the bidding of King Solomon (regarded by the occult tradition as having had a special ability to control demons), who “loaded him with irons and forced him to help build the temple of Jerusalem. There is ambiguity in the book’s project itself, for what could be more modern than the dictionary, and yet what could be more antique than the knowledge collected in this particular dictionary?

But the cards, merely human artifacts, not knowing either the future, nor the present, nor the past, have nothing of the individuality of the person consulting them. He first published the Dictionnaire Infernal in 1818, as a skeptical and rational investigation of the occult world.And it’s a good thing he did, as the bizarre images that accompanied the text are some of the most indelible depictions of demons ever created. English: The Dictionnaire Infernal (1818) is a 19th century reference book on demons and demonology. For example, the book reassures its contemporaries as to the torments of Hell: "To deny that there are sorrows and rewards after death is to deny the existence of God; since God exists, it must be necessarily so. We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.

Among the spirits presented in de Plancy’s book are well-known evils such as Lucifer and greedy Mammon, but also more obscure devils such as the lower demon Ukobach, who tends to fireworks and oils, and the bellows-bearing fallen angel Xaphan. He also aimed to provide instruction on both the history and the practical utility of the more exalted among Satan’s minions. Then there is Bael, “the first king of hell” who has “three heads, one of which has the shape of a toad, the other that of a man, and the third of a cat”, to which le Breton made the fine addition of a number of fur-covered arachnid legs. He collaborated with Jacques Paul Migne, a French priest, to complete a Dictionary of the Occult Sciences or Theological Encyclopaedia, which is described as an authentic Roman Catholic work.

This influence is most clearly seen in the sixth and final 1863 edition of the book, which is decorated with many engravings and seeks to affirm the existence of the demons. He also participated in a scientific voyage to the South Pacific, where he observed and depicted the flora and fauna of various islands. For a thousand different people they will have the same result; and consulted twenty times about the same subject, they will produce twenty contradictory productions" (p. He joined forces with Collin de Plancy to provide 69 engravings of various demons for the 1863 edition of the Dictionnaire Infernal.