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Nov 2023

26m 3s

Magic books: a global history

IMMEDIATE MEDIA

About this episode

What are the earliest forms of written magic? How do the stories of magic and religion intersect? And how will these stories’ continued presence in popular culture influence events yet to come? Professor Owen Davies takes Lauren Good on a journey through the twisting history of the Grimoire, from the use of papyrus to the effects of ‘WitchTok’.

(Ad) Owen Davies is the author of Art of the Grimoire: An Illustrated History of Magic Books and Spells (Yale University Press, 2023). Buy it now from Amazon: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Art-Grimoire-Illustrated-History-Spells/dp/0300272014/?tag=bbchistory045-21&ascsubtag=historyextra-social-histboty

The HistoryExtra podcast is produced by the team behind BBC History Magazine.

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