[Balthasar Bekker] De betoverde weereld, zynde een grondig ondersoek

van 't gemeen gevoelen aangaande de Geesten, deselver Aart en Vermogen, Bewind en Bedrijf; als ook 't gene de Menschen door derselver kraght en gemeenschap doen. In vier Boecken ondernomen van Balthasar Bekker S.T.D. Predikant tot Amsterdam. Amsterdam, D. van den Dalen, 1691-1693, 4 parts in one volume, (20),813 [=138],(2)p; (8),262,(2); (8),32,188,(4); (6),277 [= 293] (3) p., with mezzotint portrait of the author and woodcut of a medieval drinking horn, contemporary vellum, 4to.

Here and there tanned as usual; the (often missing) portrait reinforced to the spine, reset and with short bottom margin. Very good copy with extremely appropriate old owner's name on the title: "G.V.J. Hell". The original edition, with Bekker's autograph in pen at the beginning of each part. This is Bekker's most important and infuential work, in which he critically discusses folk belief in devils, witchcraft, sorcery and black magic. The work became an immediate bestseller and was translated into German, French and English. However, the author was also accused of heresy and denounced in hundreds of pamphlets. See Knuttel, Verboden boeken 53. For that reason he was dismissed as a minister in 1692. In the third part this copy contains the Naakte uitbeeldinge (32 p.), a summary of the work that is sometimes encountered independently.