Florence Estienne Méric Casaubon (14 August 1599 in Geneva – 14 July 1671 in Canterbury), son of Isaac Casaubon, was a French-English classical scholar. Although biographical dictionaries (including the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica) commonly accentuate his name to Méric, he himself did not do so.

In 1656 he wrote against enthusiasm, and circumscribed the domain of the supernatural. The next year he produced an edition of John Dee, portraying him as having dealings with the Devil. The background is of orthodox Anglicans wishing to discredit the sectarian Protestants of the period; but also to validate the existence of spirits to atheists. Casaubon was in touch with Nicholas Bernard about the Dee manuscript. Following the Restoration, Casaubon wrote supporting the traditional theories of witchcraft. He was in fact operating on several fronts: as well as attacking those who would deny the supernatural entirely, and limiting the role of reason in faith, he defended humanist learning against the claims for the new natural philosophy, emanating from figures in the Royal Society who saw it as completely replacing the old learning.

His "A Treatise proving Spirits, Witches and Supernatural Operations" is-as the title suggests-a refutation of the works of Wagstaffe and others who had argued against the belief in witchcraft and the supernatural: in particular the second part of the work contains a strong defence of traditional views of witchcraft and demonology. The text was first published by T. Garthwait under the rather innocuous title "Of credulity and incredulity in things natural, civil and divine" in 1668. It evidently did not sell well and after Casaubon's death the sheets were sold to two other London printer / publishers: Robert Pawlet (as this copy) and Brabazon Aylmer ("at the Three Pigeons in Cornhill"). They evidently colloaborated and reissued it under the more eye-catching title "A Treatise proving Spirits, Witches and Supernatural Operations" in 1672, the year after Casaubon's death. Each publisher replaced the original title-page with a new one, bearing the new title and his own imprint, and they were presumably released close to simultaneously. Details of quantities are not known, but those with the Aylmer imprint appear to be slightly more common than those with the Pawlet imprint, although both are scarce.

PROVENANCE:

Robert Oscar Lenkiewicz (31 December 1941 – 5 August 2002) was one of South West England's most celebrated artists of modern times. Perennially unfashionable in high art circles, his work was nevertheless popular with the public. He produced as many as 10,000 works (though this figure includes his prolific output as a pencil portrait artist), often on a large scale, and in themed 'projects' investigating hidden communities (Vagrancy 1973, Mental Handicap 1976) or difficult social issues (Suicide 1980, Death 1982).

Robert Lenckiewicz. Witchcraft and the Occult: Selected Books from the Collection of the late Robert Lenkiewicz, Sotheby's 20 March 2003, lot 53; Appleby Castle Library, Appleby Castle, Westmorland.

Appleby Castle is in the town of Appleby-in-Westmorland overlooking the River Eden. It consists of a 12th-century castle keep which is known as Caesar's Tower, and a mansion house. These, together with their associated buildings, are set in a courtyard surrounded by curtain walls. Caesar's Tower and the mansion house are each recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade listed building. The uninhabited parts of the castle are a scheduled ancient monument.