Dark Academia: Harrison - The Roots of Witchcraft (1973)

The Roots of Witchcraft. London: Frederick Muller, Ltd., 1973.

First British Edition [predating First American edition] (235 x 155 mm.) pp. 278.  Errata on quarter page. 32 china glazed pages of black and white illustrated figures (45 images in total). Unmarked. Minor stain to foredge, but does not affect the interior. Unclipped DJ. DJ in crisp condition with minor bumping to end bands, some evident staining to white interior DJ flaps. DJ housed in removable mylar sleeve. ISBN 0  584 10232 1. Overall VERY GOOD condition.

Britain is steeped in folk horror. Michael Harrison wrote The Roots of Witchcraft around the time when the term emerged as a genre (concurrent with ‘Wickerman’) and as a term to describe the chillingly supernatural. In a misty world of witches and ancient rites, Harrison, a detective fiction writer and Jack the Ripper speculator, brings linguistic and anthropological methods to bear to extend early 20^th century theories on the post-christianisation survivals of the worship of the Horned God.

Harrison joins Margaret Murray, credited with the Witch Cult Hypothesis, in creeping around the past, lurking through the moors, dancing around standing stones, and taking part in creating a mysterious, romantic prehistoric Britain.