The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses

2018 Reprint of 1880 Edition. Full facsimile of the original edition. Not reproduced with Optical Recognition software. The full title of this work is: The Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses, Or, Moses‘ Magical Spirit-Art: Known as the Wonderful Arts of the Old Wise Hebrews, Taken from the Mosaic Books of the Cabala and the Talmud, For the Good Of Mankind. It is a magical text allegedly written by Moses and passed down as hidden (or lost) books of the Christian Old Testament. A grimoire, a text of magical incantations and seals, it purports to instruct the reader in the spells used to create the miracles portrayed in the Bible. While versions of The Sixth and Seventh Books were likely passed around German immigrant communities from the late 18th century, the 1849 Leipzig copy was followed by a New York printing, in German, in 1865, and an English translation in 1880. The growth of inexpensive paperback publication in the 19th century, like those of Chicago occult publisher L. W. de Laurence, helped the work gain popularity outside German communities. The boom in inexpensive publishing, and the interest in Spiritualism helped the work gain popularity in the African American population of the southern United States, and from there, the Anglophone parts of the Caribbean. There it became one of the founding works of the Rastafari movement of the early 20th century.