Folio (273 x 168 mm). Engraved title-page (repaired with portions provided in facsimile); letterpress title printed in red and black (marginal repairs affecting portion of rule border); numerous woodcut illustrations. (Lacking P2/3, provided in facsimile, several leaves frayed with occasional minor losses, some minor worming lower margin, some soiling or browning). Contemporary calf (rebacked, preserving original spine, overall wear). 

FIRST EDITION IN ENGLISH of Porta's treatise which "epitomizes the combination of credulity and empiricism typical of the late Renaissance: uncritical reports of the marvelous and miraculous and holdovers from medieval books of secrets are mixes with attempts to define natural magic and to apply mathematical and experimental techniques in science" (Norman). ESTC R33476; Norman 1726; Wing P-2982.