Fulgur Books is taking pre-orders for Touch Me Not!, a book of ritual magic held at the Wellcome Institute with some stunning illustrations. You can view the manuscript here in all its glory.
Touch Me Not! is an Austrian manuscript compendium of the black magical arts, completed c.1795. Unique and otherworldly, it evokes a realm of visceral dark magic. As the co-editor Hereward Tilton notes, the manuscript ‘appears at first sight to be a ‘grimoire’ or magician’s manual intended for noviciates of black magic. Psychedelic drug use, animal sacrifice, sigillary body art, masturbation fantasy and the necromantic manipulation of gallows-corpses count among the transgressive procedures it depicts…
Hidden for decades within the Wellcome Library collection, Touch Me Not is published here as a full colour facsimile for the first time. We have commissioned a translation of the German and Latin texts from Hereward Tilton and Merlin Cox, scholars who have explored the sources for the various elements and provided copious references. There is also an introduction from Hereward that lays out the context for this extraordinary survival.
Some of the promised material sounds intriguing, although I do wonder how much of the colorful language is reflected in the manuscript. They offer a limited edition hardback and a paperback edition, which currently has a pre-order price. The latter offsets the price of overseas shipping slightly – but that’s unavoidable these days, right?
Papers Falling from an Attic Window 
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