La magie blanche dévoilée ou Explication des tours surprenants, qui font depuis peu l'admiration de la capitale et de la province, avec des réflexions sur la baguette divinatoire, les automates joueurs d'échec &c. &c. [- Supplément [...]].

2 parts in 1 vol. 8vo: front.-engr. title-xvi-138, front.-engr. title-vi-[2]-287 pp.; 2 pl. (sl. marg. damp stain to 1st front. & title, occ. foxing).

Contemp. three-quarter calf, paper covers, gilt ruled flat spine (staining, partly rubbed).

First edition of this "curieux et intéressant ouvrage" (Caillet 2862), complete with the supplement often lacking. Illustrated with 2 engr. titles, 2 frontispieces, some woodcuts in text, 1 full-p. ill. and 2 copperplates at the end of the vol. Without the 2 last ff. of part I usually lacking (one to be sent to Decremps to receive the chargeable explanation of a tour and the other written with invisible ink). This work, one of the best on magic of its time, was written by the French magician Decremps (1746-1826) to explain the magic tours of Giovanni Pinetti (1750-ca. 1803), known as "The Professor of Natural Magic".
Ref. Caillet 2861. - Conlon 84:984. - Not in Dorbon/Biblioth. esoterica.
Prov. [Georges Petit].