Malleus Maleficarum
Subtitle: Or, The Hammer of Witches
By: Translated by Montague Summers
Publisher: Forgotten Books
Published: 2008
Number of pages: 442
ISBN-13: 9781605069418
Subjects: philosophy; witchcraft; witches
First sentence: Whether the belief that there are such beings as witches is so essential a part of the Catholic faith that obstinately to maintain the opposite manifestly savours of heresy.
Description: "The Malleus Maleficarum (Latin for “The Hammer of Witches”, or “Hexenhammer” in German) is one of the most famous medieval treatises on witches. It was written in 1486 by Heinrich Kramer and Jacob Sprenger, and was first published in Germany in 1487. Its main purpose was to challenge all arguments against the existence of witchcraft and to instruct magistrates on how to identify, interrogate and convict witches."

(Quote from malleusmaleficarum.org)