Note 81 — Front matter

Or del Rio. “Disquisitiones magicae,” Louvain, 1599-1601. The edition ascribed by Grässe (and by others following him) to 1593 is a myth. If this were not abundantly proved by Delrio’s own prefaces and by the approbations of the censors, we have in the correspondence of Justus Lipsius (in his letters to Delrio) conclusive testimony. Lipsius himself suggested the title of the book, in whose progress he took the liveliest interest. In the National Library at Brussels (where I have examined it) is an earlier and much briefer draft of Delrio’s book, dated 1596 and bearing the title “De superstitione et malis artibus.”