King Solomon

Les Clavicules de R[oi] Salomon traduites éxactement du text Hebreu en François le tout enrichi d'un grand nombre de figures mystérieuses, de Talisman, de Pentacules, Cercles, Canderies, & Caracteres. France, eighteenth century



Manuscript, 8 5/8 x 6½ in.; 218 x 165 mm, written in a cursive hand in dark brown, light brown and red ink, 179 pages, many full-page, half-page and quarter-page pen-and-ink drawings with either red, blue, green or brown watercolor washes, many circular diagrams and tables; some light marginal spotting. Contemporary red morocco, gilt roll-tooled frame made of four tools, spine gilt with urn stamps in compartments, edges gilt.

Les Clavicules de R[oi] Salomon traduites éxactement du text Hebreu en François le tout enrichi d'un grand nombre de figures mystérieuses, de Talisman, de Pentacules, Cercles, Canderies, & Caracteres. France, eighteenth century Manuscript, 8 5/8 x 6½ in.; 218 x 165 mm, written in a cursive hand in dark brown, light brown and red ink, 179 pages, many full-page, half-page and quarter-page pen-and-ink drawings with either red, blue, green or brown watercolor washes, many circular diagrams and tables; some light marginal spotting. Contemporary red morocco, gilt roll-tooled frame made of four tools, spine gilt with urn stamps in compartments, edges gilt.
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A number of different texts circulated in the sixteenth–eighteenth centuries under the name of the Key of Solomon, based on the medieval tradition that King Solomon knew how to control demons and make them do his bidding. His mastery of demons is a common element in later Jewish and Arab legends, and is often attributed to possession of a magic ring called the "Seal of Solomon."

This is a beautifully illustrated example. It begins with the appropriate places and times to use this art, and continues with the preparation of talismans using clean parchment, metal, or precious stones, the other instruments required, the influences of the Moon on the practice, the preparation of [circular] pentacles, the influences of days and hours, the perfumes proper to each planet, and the prayers or exorcisms to be used. There follows a primarily visual section with examples of pentacles along with tables.