Moeurs et pratiques des démons.

Paris: Henri Plon, 1865. 8vo. [iv], xl, 436 pp. Original printed blue wrappers; loss to bottom corner of the rear panel, torn at the base of spine,. Unopened.
Second edition, expanded and augmented, of this comprehensive study of demonology. His final anti-Satanism diatribe, Gougenot explains here the evidence of the supernatural world and its necessary inclusion of evil spirits, which may interfere with the activities of the living in order to expand their dominion. He denounces Spiritualism as a Satanic sect through which the devil and his minions present themselves to vulnerable humans. He goes on to recount the history of magic and the occult as (truncated) it was understood in the 19th century, asserting that even though some legends of magical intervention met with positive results, the bill from the devil came due eventually.
Gougenot des Mousseaux (1805-1876) was a French author and journalist who wrote extensively on occult matters, including the Kabbalah, Freemasonry, and Spiritualism. (Inventory #: 19592)