Despite supernatural scepticism, stories about spirits were regularly printed and shared throughout the 18th and 19th centuries. This case-study in the transmission of a single story (of a young gunsmith near Bristol conjuring spirits, leading to his early death) reveals both how and why successive generations found meaning in such accounts.

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Authors and Affiliations

University of Exeter, UK

Jonathan Barry

About the author

Jonathan Barry is Professor of Early Modern History and a Wellcome Trust Senior Investigator in medical humanities at Exeter University, UK. He has published widely in urban, social, cultural, religious and medical history, including Witchcraft and Demonology in South-West England 1640-1789 (Palgrave Macmillan, 2012) and edited many books including Witchcraft in Early Modern Europe (1996) and (with Owen Davies) Palgrave Advances in Witchcraft Historiography (Palgrave Macmillan, 2007).

Bibliographic Information

Book Title: Raising Spirits
Book Subtitle: How a Conjuror’s Tale Was Transmitted across the Enlightenment
Authors: Jonathan Barry
Series Title: Palgrave Historical Studies in Witchcraft and Magic
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137378941
Publisher: Palgrave Pivot London
eBook Packages: Palgrave History Collection, History (R0)
Copyright Information: Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited 2013
Hardcover ISBN: 978-1-137-37893-4Published: 19 November 2013
eBook ISBN: 978-1-137-37894-1Published: 19 November 2013
Series ISSN: 2731-5630
Series E-ISSN: 2731-5649
Edition Number: 1
Number of Pages: X, 146
Topics: Social History, History of Britain and Ireland, Cultural History, History of Religion, Modern History, Comparative Religion

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Table of contents (8 chapters)

Front Matter

Back Matter

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