Treatise on Magic

Scope and Content

Treatise on magic, entitled The Master Key to Ancient Mystery to unlock the Secret Caverns of the Magi and Restore to Light the whole Art of the Occult Science of Talismanic Sculpture which for centuries have been lost being hid under the cloak of mystery and buried in the grave of enigma... Scientifically arranged and now made practicable by W.H. Ibbett. Although a single volume, the work is divided into two 'books', each paginated separately: book one, The Master Key to Ancient Mysteries (182 pp.); and book two, The Lost Found, or the Mysteries of the Ancients (111 pp.). Book two is followed by an index to both books. The title page of book one records that it was begun in June 1854, while at the end of the book is the pencilled date 'Nov 8 [18]57'. There are numerous magical and astrological diagrams and tables throughout the volume.

Access Information

The manuscript is available for consultation by any accredited reader.

Acquisition Information

Purchased by Mrs Enriqueta Rylands, on behalf of the John Rylands Library, in 1901 from James Ludovic Lindsay, 26th Earl of Crawford.

Note

Description compiled by Henry Sullivan and Jo Humpleby, project archivists.

Other Finding Aids

Catalogued in the Hand-List of the Collection of English Manuscripts in the John Rylands Library, 1928 (English MS 44).

Custodial History

Formerly part of the Bibliotheca Lindesiana, the Library of the Earls of Crawford and Balcarres, from Haigh Hall, Wigan, Lancashire.