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Liber Quattuor Experimentorum
Or the Four Experiments of the Spirits 
Birto, Agares, Bealpharos and Vassago
Frederick Hockley
Transcribed and Reformatted by A.D. Mercer

Liber Quattuor Experimentorum is a practical grimoire written to enable the adept to summon and communicate with the four spirits Birto, Agares, Bealpharos and Vassago.

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Liber Quattuor Experimentorum (The Four Experiments) is based on the manuscript held in the Wellcome Collection - MS 2842 (with additional material drawn from  MS 3203)

For the first time, this manuscript has been published in its entirety.
The book contains a full-colour reproduction of Frederick Hockley's original handwritten manuscript, A verbatim transcription of the original text and a complete transcription in modern English with all missing text and imagery included in order to make this a fully workable grimoire, making this the most complete edition of the manuscript published to date.
Also included are studies of the four spirits, examining their origins and development, together with a history of the Four Experiments and the different versions found in related manuscripts.
The volume also includes the version of the Four Experiments contained in Wellcome MS 3203, Henry Dawson Lea's Five Treatises upon Magic, reproduced in full alongside a new transcription, with the illustrations redrawn for clarity.
The final section reproduces The Experiment of Bealphares from Reginald Scot's The Discoverie of Witchcraft, which appears to preserve the source material from which the Bealpharos experiment later developed.

 

 

 

Contents

Introduction 

            Hockley - A Brief Introduction

            The Many Versions of the Four Experiments

 

The Four Spirits or Demons.

            Birto

            Agares

            Bealphorus

            Vassago

 

 

Hockley MS 2842 - The Four Experiments

            Introduction to the Transcription

            Full Transcription of MS 2842

            Facsimile of the Original MS 2842

            Full Transcription in Modern English.

 

 

Lea MS 3203 - Alternate Edition of The Four Experiments

            Introduction

            Full Transcription of MS 3203

            Facsimile of the Original MS 3203

 

Appendix

An Experiment of Bealphares from Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft. Original Text.
An Experiment of Bealphares from Scot's Discoverie of Witchcraft. Modern Transcription.

Availability: single-format copy in Wintan leather.

Hardback £60 - limited to 140 copies. 156 pages. Bound in Wintan Leather.

A5 format - case binding with gold foil blocking to cover & spine, deep red endpapers,

with red and black head and tail bands. Printed on 120gsm Munken Pure cream paper, stitched.

Each copy will contain a signed and numbered bookplate uniquely designed for the book.

The bookmark is exclusive to online orders placed with Ninth Circle Press

Please note that we are aware of a minor typo on the cover, which has given Mr Hockley the more archaic rendition of his first name, lacking the second ‘e’. This was unfortunately not picked up before going to print. 

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