The Long Lost Friend: A 19th Century American Grimoire - Paperback

by Daniel Harms (Author)

You are holding in your hands the most famous book of magic written in America

Originally published in 1820 near Reading, Pennsylvania, under the German title Der Lange Verborgene Freund, this text is the work of immigrant Johann George Hohman. A collection of herbal formulas and magical prayers, The Long-Lost Friend draws from the traditional folk magic of Pennsylvania Dutch customs and pow-wow healers.

This is authentic American folk magic at its best--household remedies combined with charms and incantations to cure common ailments and settle rural troubles. The most well-known grimoire of the New World, this work has influenced the practices of hoodoo, Santeria, Paganism, and other faiths. In this, the definitive edition, you'll find:

• Both the original German text and the 1856 English translation
• More than one hundred additional charms and recipes, taken from the pirated 1837 Skippacksville edition and others
• Extensive notes on the recipes, magic, Pennsylvania Dutch customs, and the origin of many of the charms
• Indices for general purposes and ingredients
• Explanations of the specialized terminology of illnesses

Whether your interest lies in folklore, ethnobotany, magic, witchcraft, or American history, this classic volume is an essential addition to your library.

Author Biography

Daniel Harms is a librarian and writer living in central New York. His major area of research is magic from antiquity to the present, especially necromancy and fairy magic. He has been published in Fortean Times, the Journal for the Academic Study for Magic, and the Enquiring Eye, as well as chapters for Palgrave Macmillan and Penn State Press books. Harms is also the author of two books on horror fiction and folklore.