A massive compilation recording the main features on the subject of magic during the first thirteen centuries of our era. The author takes the term magic in a wider sense than is usually done by anthropologists, and includes under it not only the ritual and practices themselves but also the ideas and beliefs relating to these. The work is arranged in the form of a chronological account of the various sources, a system which is very cumbrous for one who wishes to look up the material on a given subject alone. The author adds relatively little in the way of comment, and there is no reference made to psycho-analysis. At the same time the work is one of those collections of material which will be of great value to psycho-analysts searching the records of the past to correlate unconscious products of phantasy with the archaic ones they are in the habit of exploring in individuals.