PETIT ALBERT “Les Secrets Merveilleux de la Magie Naturelle” [Beringos Fratres, 1668]

PETIT ALBERT. Les Secrets Merveilleux de la Magie Naturelle du Petit Albert, Tirés de l’ouvrage latin intitulé: Alberti Parvi Lucii, Libellus de mirabilibus naturae Arcanis, et d’autres écrivains philosophes.

Lyon: Chez les Héritiers de Beringos Fratres, à l’Enseigne d’Agrippa, 1668 [c. 1860]. French language. 6.25" x 4". 180 pp. Quarter brown leather over marbled boards with red morocco spine label lettered in gilt; small gilt ornament at foot. Numerous woodcut illustrations throughout. Binding tight; edges of boards rubbed; minor foxing throughout. Very Good.

A classic 19th-century French grimoire in its widely circulated form, issued with the characteristic false Lyon imprint and archaic date. Long associated with folk magic and practical occult traditions, the Petit Albert was among the most popular handbooks of “natural magic,” blending astrology, talismanic diagrams, and recipes for charms and cures. This example, printed on wove paper and illustrated throughout with bold woodcuts—from talismanic tables to vivid allegorical scenes—captures the visual and practical appeal that made the text a staple of everyday occult practice. Surviving here in a striking period marbled binding, it remains as much an object of use as of curiosity.