Author Description

”The early twentieth-century witchcraft classic that “attacks with infinite zest what is perhaps the most fascinating combination of subjects in the wide world” (The New York Times). “One of of a kind, and unique treasure of witches and witchcraft.” The Book of Witches is an exhaustive treatise on witches and witchcraft, treated scientifically, historically written by Oliver Madox Hueffer (1877 - June 22, 1931). He was an author, playwright, and war correspondent. Oliver was the younger brother of the English novelist, poet, critic and editor, Ford Madox Ford. Often described as an exaggerated version of Ford, Hueffer had an erratic career and became involved in financial and sexual exploits resembling those that haunted his more famous brother—to the point where certain characters and plot details in Hueffer’s novels could be loosely based on the life of either brother. Oliver published eight volumes of fiction under his own name between 1901 and 1931 and five as ’Jane Wardle’ 1907-10. His brother wrote that he had ’run through the careers of Man About Town, Army Officer, Actor, Stockbroker, Painter, Author and under the auspices of the father of one of his fiancées, that of Valise Manufacturer’. Badly wounded in the First World War, he lived afterwards in Versailles. ”The early twentieth-century witchcraft classic that “attacks with infinite zest what is perhaps the most fascinating combination of subjects in the wide world” (The New York Times). The Book of Witches is not an “exhaustive treatise on witches and witchcraft” but rather “a picture from which a general impression may be gained.” Oliver Madox Hueffer shows where witches have come from and why, “what she was and is... how necessary she is and must be to the happiness of mankind, and how great the responsibility of those who, disbelieving in her themselves, seek to infect others with their scepticism.” Divided into 16 chapters, Hueffer explores a variety of