This text is composed of three different, previously untranslated, texts, sharing key similarities and at the same time each unique in their own way. The
Nigromantisches Kunst-Buch, a text related to the
Ars Goetia in technique and attributed to King Solomon, details the conjuration and entrapment of spirits into a bottle; The
Experimentir Buch, a magical manual containing instructions on consecrating the
Liber Spirituum.or Book of Spirits, the creation of ritual implements and pentacles; and finally
Der Schlü ssel von dem Zwange der Hölle, a book pseudo-epigraphically attributed to Dr. Johannes Faust consisting on conjurations, a spirit list and unique experiments.
This first volume contains an introduction which analyses the influence of alchemical literature on the Faustian grimoires and the role of the spirits in these texts. It also contains two appendices, one dealing with the mysterious Martagon of Solomon and the change of this plant’s meaning and use in the magical texts; and the other with the subject of the Bond, Imprisonment of Spirits and the Triangle of Art as they relate to the present text.