Demonology and Devil-lore: Complete edition, Vol. I and II

by Moncure Daniel Conway

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About Demonology and Devil-lore

“Man found that in the earth good things came with difficulty, while thorns and weeds sprang up everywhere. The evil powers seemed to be the strongest. The best deity had a touch of the demon in him.”

Demonology and Devil-lore is a study by American abolitionist minister and radical writer Moncure D. Conway, published in 1879. Departing the US for England in 1863, he was known as an unorthodox preacher in London, and was acquainted with many celebrated literary and scientific figures, including Charles Darwin and Dickens.

In this fascinating and in-depth work, Conway utilises examples from around the globe to discuss the genesis and decline of beliefs in demons. Classifying types of demon, he contends that these are in fact personifications of the main obstacles faced by 'primitive man', providing examples of animal demons and demons of hunger, fire and disease.

506 pages, Paperback

Published September 12, 2022

About the author

Moncure Daniel Conway was an American abolitionist minister. At various times Methodist, Unitarian, and a Freethinker, the radical writer descended from patriotic and patrician families of Virginia and Maryland but spent most of the final four decades of his life abroad in England and France, where he wrote biographies of Edmund Randolph, Nathaniel Hawthorne and Thomas Paine and his own autobiography. He led freethinkers in London's South Place Chapel, now Conway Hall.