Spellbound : magic, ritual and witchcraft / Sophie Page, Marina Wallace, Owen Davies, Malcolm Gaskill, Ceri Houlbrook.

  • Page, Sophie, 1972-
Date:
2018
  • Books

About this work

Description

Spellbound explores the concept of 'magical thinking', which describes how people in all ages and cultures have sought to connect with an unseen world of perceived power. This concept of magical thinking is used to explore the history of medicine and the mind, focusing in particular on magic's secular expressions. Spells, magical objects and rituals are engines of hope, and hope is essential to physical and mental health, indeed to survival. These ideas are explored and conveyed through the extraordinary visual culture of magic, offering an introduction to diverse magical objects, from the exquisite, such as engraved rings and illuminated manuscripts, to the unsettling - a shoe embedded in a wall or a bull's heart pierced with nails.

Publication/Creation

Oxford : Ashmolean, 2018.

Physical description

176 pages : illustrations (chiefly colour) ; 26 cm

Notes

Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archeology, University of Oxford, 31 August 2018 - 16 January 2019.
Exhibition included objects from Wellcome Collection Library: MS.49 (page 22-23); MS.517 (page 57); MS.5265; EPB 39440/A The history of witches and wizards: giving a true account of all their tryals in England, Scotland, Swedeland, France, and New England; with their confession and condemnation.

Bibliographic information

Includes bibliographical references.

Type/Technique

Languages

Where to find it

  • LocationStatus
    History of Medicine
    BVA.AS
    Open shelves

Permanent link

Identifiers

ISBN

  • 1910807249
  • 9781910807248