Published in 1631 in Rinteln, a small town in Lower Saxony, Friederich Spee’s Cautio Criminalis, seu de Processibus Contra Sagas is a first edition in much later boards of a book that has been described as the first serious attack on witchcraft trials and their use of torture.
The work of a German Jesuit priest and poet, it had considerable moral impact and ran to many editions and translations through the 17th century.
No other copy is found in auction records., but this one sold for £2600 by Bloomsbury Auctions (24/18/12% buyer’s premium) on March 30.