Benedicti Pererii Valentini e Societate Iesu Aduersus fallaces & superstitiosas artes, id est, De magia, de obseruatione somniorum, & de diuinatione astrologica. Libri tres [...]

8vo (176x104 mm). [10], 253 [i.e. 248], [10] pp. Collation: A-R⁸. Leaf R8 is a blank. Title page printed in red and black with the printer's device in the center. Woodcut headpieces and initials. Uniformly browned, scattered staining, loss of paper to the upper outer corner of the first four leaves not affecting the text, minimal marginal paper losses to the final leaves. Contemporary vellum, inked title on spine (traces of ties, slightly stained). Manuscript ownership entry on title page. A genuine copy.

Benito Pereira, after completing his studies at the University of Valencia, entered the Society of Jesus in 1552. After moving to Italy, he spent an initial period in Sicily and then moved to Rome, where he deepened his philosophical studies at the Roman College, becoming a lecturer in literature, philosophy, theology and Holy Scripture. Throughout his life he was committed to opposing the principle of authority introduced by the scholastic tradition. He left a large number of manuscripts.

In the present work, divided into three books, the author proposes the distinction between natural and non-natural magic. Within natural magic, Pereira identifies, alongside "human" and "divine" magic, a "daemonic" magic, based on the teachings given by the devils to their followers. In the second book Pereira presents a series of studies related to the interpretations of visions. In the third book, perhaps inspired by the 1586 bull of Sixtus V, the author provides arguments to show how judicial astrology is opposed to Christian faith. The work had numerous reissues after the first edition published by David Sartorius in Ingolstadt in 1591 and was used by exorcists and alchemists as a manual. The present is the fifth edition of the work.

Italian Union Catalogue, IT\ICCU\TO0E\002843; De Backer -Sommervogel, VI, col. 504, no. 4.

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