Demonology and Devil-Lore 1

by Moncure Daniel Conway

Demonology and Devil Lore 1 & 2 were both published in 1897. Within the demonology scope, this rare and mostly forgotten, almost 1000 pages thick masterpiece, remains unsurpassed in quality and completeness. Even in the 21st century the works offer fascinating missing links for both the academic and student of occult traditions.

Author Moncure Daniel Conway divides Volume 1 in three parts and deals mainly with the evolution and thematic classification of ex-gods, demons and nature creatures. Part 1 offers information about the dawn of dualism, the political degradation of gods into demons due to theological animosity, and the difference between demon and devil. Part 2 examines the demonic realm, according to themes like hunger, heat, cold, the Elements, animals, darkness, dogs, storm, Walpurgis night, cats etc.. Part 3 is focussed extensively on the serpent, dragon, worm, the decline and generalization of demons, and we also encounter the werewolf and basilisk, among much more.

Volume 2 deals mainly with the diabolic, with the Devil himself, his cultural history and related themes like Ahriman, Lilith, the witches Sabbath, the Wild Hunt, Faust and Mephistopheles, to name just a few.

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490 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1881

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.