A Popular History of Witchcraft. London: Kegan Paul, Trench, 1937. First Edition. Pp xvi, 276. Yellow cloth boards in pictorial dust jacket. Boards a little dulled, head of jacket chipper, Ex libris blind stamp to endpaper; otherwise a nice bright copy.

An updated, more accessible version of Summer’s earlier History of Witchcraft and Demonology (1926). Its core argument is that witchcraft is a real, dangerous, and active force in the modern world, fundamentally unchanged across time and geography.

It explores covens, black masses, and the casting of spells, and controversially claims that modern spiritualism and even communism are continuations of the same demonic practice.

The work was influential. It helped shape modern popular culture’s image of Satanism and the occult, influencing horror films and literature.